Claude Sonnet 4.6 is $2 cheaper per 1M input tokens (40% lower; 1.67x difference).
API cost decision in 10 seconds
🔥Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs Claude Opus 4.5
Pick Claude Sonnet 4.6 when budget and context both matter.
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Data confirmed:
Prices normalized to USD per 1M tokens
Sample workload: 1M input + 500K output
Budget verdict
Pick Claude Sonnet 4.6 when budget and context both matter.
On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Claude Sonnet 4.6 is estimated at $10.5 vs $17.5 for Claude Opus 4.5, saving $7 (40% lower).
Cost-first pickClaude Sonnet 4.6
Context-first pickClaude Sonnet 4.6
Sample savings$740%
10x traffic gap$70
Claude Sonnet 4.6 is cheaper on the standard workload and also has the larger context window. 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
Claude Sonnet 4.6 stays cheaper across input-heavy, balanced, and output-heavy sample workloads.
| Workload shape | Token mix | Better pick | Claude Sonnet 4.6 | Claude Opus 4.5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Input-heavy / RAG | 5M input + 500K output | Claude Sonnet 4.6 | $22.5 | $37.5 |
| Balanced workload | 1M input + 1M output | Claude Sonnet 4.6 | $18 | $30 |
| Output-heavy chatbot | 1M input + 5M output | Claude Sonnet 4.6 | $78 | $130 |
Claude Sonnet 4.6 is $10 cheaper per 1M output tokens (40% lower; 1.67x difference).
Claude Sonnet 4.6 has 800K more context (5x larger).
Claude Sonnet 4.6 is $7 cheaper on the standard workload (40% lower).
Estimate your workload cost
Your Workload Cost
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
Claude Sonnet 4.6 has the lower input price; Claude Sonnet 4.6 has the lower output price; Claude Sonnet 4.6 offers the larger context window. For the 1M input plus 500K output sample, Claude Sonnet 4.6 is cheaper for the standard workload.
For a 1M input token plus 500K output token workload, the estimated API cost is $10.5 for Claude Sonnet 4.6 and $17.5 for Claude Opus 4.5.
Choose Claude Sonnet 4.6 when you care most about lower input-token price, lower output-token price, and larger context window.
Choose Claude Opus 4.5 when its provider, model quality, latency, or availability is more important than the numeric price/context winner.
- On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Claude Sonnet 4.6 is estimated at $10.5 vs $17.5 for Claude Opus 4.5, saving $7 (40% lower).
- Claude Sonnet 4.6 is $7 cheaper on the standard workload (40% lower).
- Claude Sonnet 4.6 is $2 cheaper per 1M input tokens (40% lower; 1.67x difference).
- Claude Sonnet 4.6 is $10 cheaper per 1M output tokens (40% lower; 1.67x difference).
- Claude Sonnet 4.6 has 800K more context (5x larger).
| Feature | 🔥Claude Sonnet 4.6 (Anthropic) | Claude Opus 4.5 (Anthropic) |
|---|---|---|
| Input Price prompt tokens per 1M | $3 | $5 |
| Completion Price per 1M tokens | $15 | $25 |
| Sample Workload Cost 1M input + 500K output | $10.5 | $17.5 |
| Context Window | 1M | 200K |
| Release Date | ||
| Popularity | #4 |
Use-Case Decision Matrix
| Use case | Better pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Budget-constrained production | Claude Sonnet 4.6 | On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Claude Sonnet 4.6 is estimated at $10.5 vs $17.5 for Claude Opus 4.5, saving $7 (40% lower). |
| High-volume input processing | Claude Sonnet 4.6 | Lower prompt-token price matters most when prompts, retrieved passages, or documents dominate the bill. |
| Long responses and chatbots | Claude Sonnet 4.6 | Lower output-token price matters most when assistants generate many completion tokens. |
| RAG or long-document work | Claude Sonnet 4.6 | A larger context window leaves more room for retrieved passages, conversation history, or source files. |
Related Alternatives
- Claude 3 Haiku can replace Claude Sonnet 4.6 when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.88.
- Claude 3.5 Haiku can replace Claude Sonnet 4.6 when lower sample workload cost matters most: $2.8.
- Anthropic Claude Haiku Latest can replace Claude Sonnet 4.6 when lower sample workload cost matters most: $3.5.
- Claude Haiku 4.5 can replace Claude Sonnet 4.6 when lower sample workload cost matters most: $3.5.
- Llama 4 Scout offers 10M context with $0.23 sample workload cost.
- Grok 4.20 Multi-Agent offers 2M context with $5 sample workload cost.
- Grok 4.20 offers 2M context with $2.5 sample workload cost.
- GPT-5.5 offers 1.05M context with $20 sample workload cost.
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- Claude Opus 4.7 · Anthropic · #3
- Owl Alpha · OpenRouter · #5
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