Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs Claude Sonnet 5
Benchmark Performance
Available Benchmarks
| Benchmark | Claude Sonnet 4.6 | Claude Sonnet 5 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Agent Arenaagent-2026-08-31-011508720696 · outcome_score · leader | 0.9594% of row best · score · Claude Sonnet 4.6; 95% CI [-0.31540788, 2.21833799]; sessions 38385; observations 1371137; rank 31 | 7.48100% of row best · score · Claude Sonnet 5 (High); 95% CI [5.31247081, 9.65098366]; sessions 27467; observations 2696236; rank 8 |
| LMArena Document Arenadocument-2026-07-30-011508720696 · arena_rating · statistical tie | 1,482.80100% of row best · rating · claude-sonnet-4-6; 95% CI [1476.49799837, 1489.09368537]; votes 54427; rank 8 | 1,470.2299% of row best · rating · claude-sonnet-5-high; 95% CI [1459.84859101, 1480.59820001]; votes 3601; rank 14 |
| LMArena Text Arenatext-2026-09-01-011508720696 · arena_rating · leader | 1,458.01100% of row best · rating · claude-sonnet-4-6; 95% CI [1454.41608210, 1461.60383515]; votes 66343; rank 32 | 1,442.9599% of row best · rating · claude-sonnet-5-high; 95% CI [1438.22001632, 1447.67497803]; votes 31096; rank 56 |
| LMArena Vision Arenavision-2026-08-27-011508720696 · arena_rating · statistical tie | 1,282.25100% of row best · rating · claude-sonnet-4-6; 95% CI [1275.84615489, 1288.65223369]; votes 25610; rank 25 | 1,277.94100% of row best · rating · claude-sonnet-5-high; 95% CI [1269.73992861, 1286.14906472]; votes 8522; rank 29 |
| Overall ResultCounted from the protocol-matched rows above · 2 ties | 1 benchmark winTied overall | 1 benchmark winTied overall |
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 Sonnet 4.6 | Claude Sonnet 5 |
|---|---|---|
| Developer | Anthropic | Anthropic |
| Family | Claude 4 | Claude 5 |
| Model | Claude Sonnet 4.6 | Claude Sonnet 5 |
| Version | Claude Sonnet 4.6 | Claude Sonnet 5 |
| Lifecycle | active | active |
| Released | 2026-02-17 | 2026-06-30 |
| Knowledge cutoff | 2025-08-01 | Unknown |
| 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), Deepinfra (Standard) | Anthropic (Standard), Deepinfra (Standard), Openrouter (Standard) |
| Capabilities | chat, generation, reasoning, structured_outputs, tools | chat, generation, reasoning, tools |
14 comparable fields · 6 material differences · Pair passes the primary-source comparison gate
Claude Sonnet 4.6 Capabilities
Claude Sonnet 5 Capabilities
Primary Evidence
Sources and Freshness
Questions
Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs Claude Sonnet 5 FAQs
Is Claude Sonnet 4.6 or Claude Sonnet 5 better for coding?+
This comparison does not currently contain a protocol-matched coding benchmark for both Claude Sonnet 4.6 and Claude Sonnet 5, so Model Markets cannot name a coding leader from pricing, context size, or capability labels alone.
Which is cheaper, Claude Sonnet 4.6 or Claude Sonnet 5?+
Claude Sonnet 4.6 is $3.00 and Claude Sonnet 5 is $2.00 per million tokens, so Claude Sonnet 5 is cheaper on this metric. Claude Sonnet 4.6 is $15.00 and Claude Sonnet 5 is $10.00 per million tokens, so Claude Sonnet 5 is cheaper on this metric.
Which has a larger context window, Claude Sonnet 4.6 or Claude Sonnet 5?+
Neither model has a larger sourced context window in this comparison. Claude Sonnet 4.6 is 1,000,000 and Claude Sonnet 5 is 1,000,000.
Which performs better in benchmarks, Claude Sonnet 4.6 or Claude Sonnet 5?+
There is no overall benchmark winner: An overall winner requires at least two decisive benchmarks from at least two original publishers.
Can Claude Sonnet 4.6 or Claude Sonnet 5 be self-hosted?+
Both models have the same recorded self-hosting status: unsupported. Claude Sonnet 4.6 is not marked open weight; Claude Sonnet 5 is not marked open weight.
Can Claude Sonnet 4.6 and Claude Sonnet 5 understand images?+
Claude Sonnet 4.6 is documented with image input; Claude Sonnet 5 is documented with image input. This reflects supported input modalities, not vision quality.
Which can generate longer answers, Claude Sonnet 4.6 or Claude Sonnet 5?+
Neither has a larger sourced maximum output. Claude Sonnet 4.6 is 128,000 and Claude Sonnet 5 is 128,000.
Do Claude Sonnet 4.6 and Claude Sonnet 5 support reasoning and tool use?+
Claude Sonnet 4.6: reasoning, tool calling, and image input. Claude Sonnet 5: reasoning, tool calling, and image input. Feature support does not establish relative quality.
Which is available from more inference providers, Claude Sonnet 4.6 or Claude Sonnet 5?+
Claude Sonnet 4.6 has 2 sourced provider routes; Claude Sonnet 5 has 3, so Claude Sonnet 5 has broader tracked availability.
Which offers better value, Claude Sonnet 4.6 or Claude Sonnet 5?+
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.