Claude Opus 4.6 vs Claude Sonnet 4.6
Benchmark Performance
Available Benchmarks
| Benchmark | Claude Opus 4.6 | Claude Sonnet 4.6 |
|---|---|---|
| ARC-AGI-1verified-v1-b2e2a31b3d53 · verified_score · leader | 94.00100% of row best · percent · Claude Opus 4.6 (120K, High) | 86.5092% of row best · percent · Claude Sonnet 4.6 (High) |
| ARC-AGI-2verified-v2-326661568d5f · verified_score · leader | 69.17100% of row best · percent · Claude Opus 4.6 (120K, High) | 60.4287% of row best · percent · Claude Sonnet 4.6 (High) |
| LMArena Agent Arenaagent-2026-08-31-011508720696 · outcome_score · leader | 5.22100% of row best · score · Claude Opus 4.6; 95% CI [3.87284067, 6.56107425]; sessions 36365; observations 1299912; rank 17 | 0.9596% of row best · score · Claude Sonnet 4.6; 95% CI [-0.31540788, 2.21833799]; sessions 38385; observations 1371137; rank 31 |
| LMArena Document Arenadocument-2026-07-30-011508720696 · arena_rating · leader | 1,505.91100% of row best · rating · claude-opus-4-6-thinking; 95% CI [1498.85646357, 1512.96777060]; votes 24973; rank 3 | 1,482.8098% of row best · rating · claude-sonnet-4-6; 95% CI [1476.49799837, 1489.09368537]; votes 54427; rank 8 |
| LMArena Search Arenasearch-2026-08-24-011508720696 · arena_rating · leader | 1,253.42100% of row best · rating · claude-opus-4-6-search; 95% CI [1248.44594166, 1258.38585709]; votes 134699; rank 2 | 1,221.2397% of row best · rating · claude-sonnet-4-6-search; 95% CI [1216.39472071, 1226.06821163]; votes 134905; rank 7 |
| LMArena Text Arenatext-2026-09-01-011508720696 · arena_rating · leader | 1,497.70100% of row best · rating · claude-opus-4-6; 95% CI [1494.29292018, 1501.10380984]; votes 76032; rank 4 | 1,458.0197% of row best · rating · claude-sonnet-4-6; 95% CI [1454.41608210, 1461.60383515]; votes 66343; rank 32 |
| LMArena Vision Arenavision-2026-08-27-011508720696 · arena_rating · leader | 1,311.43100% of row best · rating · claude-opus-4-6; 95% CI [1304.90444379, 1317.95290154]; votes 25210; rank 7 | 1,282.2598% of row best · rating · claude-sonnet-4-6; 95% CI [1275.84615489, 1288.65223369]; votes 25610; rank 25 |
| LiveBench2026-06-25 · overall · leader | 78.69100% of row best · percent · claude-opus-4-6-thinking-auto-high-effort · 9,651 output tokens / case | 77.1198% of row best · percent · claude-sonnet-4-6-thinking-auto-medium-effort · 13,226 output tokens / case |
| ToneBench2026-08-28-10-task-cd9819ab6e4d · overall_score · leader | 84.21100% of row best · points · Claude Opus 4.6 · 2,607 output tokens / case | 83.6399% of row best · points · Claude Sonnet 4.6 · 2,525 output tokens / case |
| Overall ResultCounted from the protocol-matched rows above | 9 benchmark winsOverall lead | 0 benchmark wins |
Third-party benchmark Only like-for-like primary-publisher results are shown; raw scores, relative scores, configuration, and token spend remain visible.
Technical Differences
Side-by-Side Facts
| Field | Claude Opus 4.6 | Claude Sonnet 4.6 |
|---|---|---|
| Developer | Anthropic | Anthropic |
| Family | Claude 4 | Claude 4 |
| Model | Claude Opus 4.6 | Claude Sonnet 4.6 |
| Version | Claude Opus 4.6 | Claude Sonnet 4.6 |
| Lifecycle | active | active |
| Released | 2026-02-05 | 2026-02-17 |
| Knowledge cutoff | 2025-05-01 | 2025-08-01 |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image |
| Output modalities | Text | Text |
| Context window | 1,000,000 | 1,000,000 |
| Total parameters | Unknown | Unknown |
| Active parameters | Unknown | Unknown |
| License | Unknown | Unknown |
| Open weights | No | No |
| API available | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hostable | No | No |
| Provider access | Anthropic (Standard) | Anthropic (Standard), Deepinfra (Standard) |
| Capabilities | chat, generation, reasoning, structured_outputs, tools | chat, generation, reasoning, structured_outputs, tools |
15 comparable fields · 5 material differences · Pair passes the primary-source comparison gate
Claude Opus 4.6 Capabilities
Claude Sonnet 4.6 Capabilities
Primary Evidence
Sources and Freshness
Questions
Claude Opus 4.6 vs Claude Sonnet 4.6 FAQs
Is Claude Opus 4.6 or Claude Sonnet 4.6 better for coding?+
This comparison does not currently contain a protocol-matched coding benchmark for both Claude Opus 4.6 and Claude Sonnet 4.6, so Model Markets cannot name a coding leader from pricing, context size, or capability labels alone.
Which is cheaper, Claude Opus 4.6 or Claude Sonnet 4.6?+
Claude Opus 4.6 is $5.00 and Claude Sonnet 4.6 is $3.00 per million tokens, so Claude Sonnet 4.6 is cheaper on this metric. Claude Opus 4.6 is $25.00 and Claude Sonnet 4.6 is $15.00 per million tokens, so Claude Sonnet 4.6 is cheaper on this metric.
Which has a larger context window, Claude Opus 4.6 or Claude Sonnet 4.6?+
Neither model has a larger sourced context window in this comparison. Claude Opus 4.6 is 1,000,000 and Claude Sonnet 4.6 is 1,000,000.
Which performs better in benchmarks, Claude Opus 4.6 or Claude Sonnet 4.6?+
Claude Opus 4.6 leads the current overall benchmark count. The result uses 9 protocol-matched benchmarks from 4 publishers; it is not a universal quality score.
Can Claude Opus 4.6 or Claude Sonnet 4.6 be self-hosted?+
Both models have the same recorded self-hosting status: unsupported. Claude Opus 4.6 is not marked open weight; Claude Sonnet 4.6 is not marked open weight.
Can Claude Opus 4.6 and Claude Sonnet 4.6 understand images?+
Claude Opus 4.6 is documented with image input; Claude Sonnet 4.6 is documented with image input. This reflects supported input modalities, not vision quality.
Which can generate longer answers, Claude Opus 4.6 or Claude Sonnet 4.6?+
Neither has a larger sourced maximum output. Claude Opus 4.6 is 128,000 and Claude Sonnet 4.6 is 128,000.
Do Claude Opus 4.6 and Claude Sonnet 4.6 support reasoning and tool use?+
Claude Opus 4.6: reasoning, tool calling, and image input. Claude Sonnet 4.6: reasoning, tool calling, and image input. Feature support does not establish relative quality.
Which is available from more inference providers, Claude Opus 4.6 or Claude Sonnet 4.6?+
Claude Opus 4.6 has 1 sourced provider route; Claude Sonnet 4.6 has 2, so Claude Sonnet 4.6 has broader tracked availability.
Which offers better value, Claude Opus 4.6 or Claude Sonnet 4.6?+
There is no universal value winner. Compare the input and output prices above with the matched benchmark result for your workload: cheaper tokens can be offset by different quality, token usage, latency, or provider availability.