API cost decision in 10 seconds

Claude Opus Latest vs 🔥Claude Sonnet 4.6

Pick Claude Sonnet 4.6 when budget is the priority.

Pricing data updated:  Prices normalized to USD per 1M tokens Sample workload: 1M input + 500K output

Budget verdict

Pick Claude Sonnet 4.6 when budget is the priority.

On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Claude Sonnet 4.6 is estimated at $10.5 vs $17.5 for Claude Opus Latest, saving $7 (40% lower).

Cost-first pickClaude Sonnet 4.6
Context-first pickTie
Sample savings$740%
10x traffic gap$70

The reported context window is tied, so cost and provider fit carry more weight. At 10x that traffic, the same price gap is about $70. Use the calculator below to replace the sample workload with your own token volume.

Cost sensitivity

Workload Sensitivity

Same prices, different token mixes.

Claude Sonnet 4.6 stays cheaper across input-heavy, balanced, and output-heavy sample workloads.

Workload shapeToken mixBetter pickClaude Opus LatestClaude Sonnet 4.6
Input-heavy / RAG 5M input + 500K output Claude Sonnet 4.6 $37.5 $22.5
Balanced workload 1M input + 1M output Claude Sonnet 4.6 $30 $18
Output-heavy chatbot 1M input + 5M output Claude Sonnet 4.6 $130 $78
Cheaper inputClaude Sonnet 4.6$5 vs $3 / 1M
Cheaper outputClaude Sonnet 4.6$25 vs $15 / 1M
Larger contextTie1M vs 1M
Sample workloadClaude Sonnet 4.6$17.5 vs $10.5

Estimate your workload cost

Your Workload Cost

Prices are normalized to USD per 1M tokens.
Claude Opus LatestCalculating…Estimated API cost
Claude Sonnet 4.6Calculating…Estimated API cost
Cheaper for this workloadCalculating…Difference: calculating…

This estimate uses normalized public API pricing per 1M tokens. It is a planning aid, not a billing quote. Verify provider pricing, limits, and terms before production use.

Quick Decision

Verdict

Claude Sonnet 4.6 has the lower input price, Claude Sonnet 4.6 has the lower output price, and Tie offers the larger context window.

For a 1M input token plus 500K output token workload, the estimated API cost is $17.5 for Claude Opus Latest and $10.5 for Claude Sonnet 4.6.

Best Fit

Choose Claude Opus Latest when its provider, model quality, latency, or availability is more important than the numeric price/context winner.

Choose Claude Sonnet 4.6 when you care most about lower input-token price, and lower output-token price.

Head-to-Head Specs
FeatureClaude Opus Latest
(Anthropic)		🔥Claude Sonnet 4.6
(Anthropic)
Input Price
prompt tokens per 1M		$5$3
Completion Price
per 1M tokens		$25$15
Sample Workload Cost
1M input + 500K output		$17.5$10.5
Context Window1M1M
Release Date2026-04-212026-02-17
Popularity#4
Claude Opus Latest

This model always redirects to the latest model in the Claude Opus family.

Claude Sonnet 4.6

Sonnet 4.6 is Anthropic's most capable Sonnet-class model yet, with frontier performance across coding, agents, and professional work. It excels at iterative development, complex codebase navigation, end-to-end project management with...

Use-Case Decision Matrix

Use caseBetter pickWhy
Budget-constrained productionClaude Sonnet 4.6On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Claude Sonnet 4.6 is estimated at $10.5 vs $17.5 for Claude Opus Latest, saving $7 (40% lower).
High-volume input processingClaude Sonnet 4.6Lower prompt-token price matters most when prompts or retrieved passages dominate the bill.
Long responses and chatbotsClaude Sonnet 4.6Lower output-token price matters most when assistants generate many completion tokens.
RAG or long-document workTieA larger context window leaves more room for retrieved passages and source files.