Claude Sonnet 4.6 is $18 cheaper per 1M input tokens (85.7% lower; 7x difference).
API cost decision in 10 seconds
🔥Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs GPT-5.2 Pro
Pick Claude Sonnet 4.6 when budget and context both matter.
Page updated:
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 $105 for GPT-5.2 Pro, saving $94.5 (90% lower).
Cost-first pickClaude Sonnet 4.6
Context-first pickClaude Sonnet 4.6
Sample savings$94.590%
10x traffic gap$945
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 $945. 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 | GPT-5.2 Pro |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Input-heavy / RAG | 5M input + 500K output | Claude Sonnet 4.6 | $22.5 | $189 |
| Balanced workload | 1M input + 1M output | Claude Sonnet 4.6 | $18 | $189 |
| Output-heavy chatbot | 1M input + 5M output | Claude Sonnet 4.6 | $78 | $861 |
Claude Sonnet 4.6 is $153 cheaper per 1M output tokens (91.1% lower; 11.2x difference).
Claude Sonnet 4.6 has 600K more context (2.5x larger).
Claude Sonnet 4.6 is $94.5 cheaper on the standard workload (90% 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 $105 for GPT-5.2 Pro.
Choose Claude Sonnet 4.6 when you care most about lower input-token price, lower output-token price, and larger context window.
Choose GPT-5.2 Pro 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 $105 for GPT-5.2 Pro, saving $94.5 (90% lower).
- Claude Sonnet 4.6 is $94.5 cheaper on the standard workload (90% lower).
- Claude Sonnet 4.6 is $18 cheaper per 1M input tokens (85.7% lower; 7x difference).
- Claude Sonnet 4.6 is $153 cheaper per 1M output tokens (91.1% lower; 11.2x difference).
- Claude Sonnet 4.6 has 600K more context (2.5x larger).
| Feature | 🔥Claude Sonnet 4.6 (Anthropic) | GPT-5.2 Pro (OpenAI) |
|---|---|---|
| Input Price prompt tokens per 1M | $3 | $21 |
| Completion Price per 1M tokens | $15 | $168 |
| Sample Workload Cost 1M input + 500K output | $10.5 | $105 |
| Context Window | 1M | 400K |
| 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 $105 for GPT-5.2 Pro, saving $94.5 (90% 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.
- DeepSeek V4 Flash · DeepSeek · #1
- Hy3 preview · Tencent · #2
- Claude Opus 4.7 · Anthropic · #3
- Owl Alpha · OpenRouter · #5
Cheaper alternatives
Review low-cost models sorted by a standard 1M input plus 500K output workload.
Open cheapest modelsLarger context alternatives
Find models with larger context windows for RAG, long documents, and codebase review.
Open largest context modelsProvider catalogs
Compare models within provider hubs before choosing a final API vendor.
Open provider hubsAnthropic catalog
Review all tracked Anthropic models before deciding whether this matchup is the right shortlist.
Open Anthropic modelsOpenAI catalog
Check other OpenAI models with comparable pricing, context, or release timing.
Open OpenAI modelsSonnet 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...
GPT-5.2 Pro is OpenAI’s most advanced model, offering major improvements in agentic coding and long context performance over GPT-5 Pro. It is optimized for complex tasks that require step-by-step reasoning,...