Claude 3 Opus vs Claude Opus 4.6
Claude 3 Opus (2024) and Claude Opus 4.6 (2026) are frontier-tier reasoning models from Anthropic. Claude 3 Opus ships a 200k-token context window, while Claude Opus 4.6 ships a 1m-token context window. On MMLU PRO, Claude Opus 4.6 leads by 20.6 pts. On pricing, Claude Opus 4.6 costs $5/1M input tokens versus $7.50/1M for the alternative. This comparison covers specs, pricing, API access, capabilities, benchmarks, input and output token costs, and production fit for coding and agent workloads.
Claude Opus 4.6 is ~50% cheaper at $5/1M; pay for Claude 3 Opus only for coding workflow support.
Decision scorecard
Local evidence first| Signal | Claude 3 Opus | Claude Opus 4.6 |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | reasoning-heavy apps, multimodal apps, and provider-routed production | reasoning-heavy apps, multimodal apps, and tool-calling agents |
| Decision fit | Coding, RAG, and Agents | Coding, RAG, and Agents |
| Context window | 200k | 1m |
| Cheapest output | $37.50/1M tokens | $25/1M tokens |
| Provider routes | 4 tracked | 6 tracked |
| Shared benchmarks | 5 shared | MMLU PRO leader |
Decision tradeoffs
- Local decision data tags Claude 3 Opus for Coding, RAG, and Agents.
- Claude Opus 4.6 holds a shared-benchmark lead on MMLU PRO, ahead by 20.6 points.
- Claude Opus 4.6 has the larger context window for long prompts, retrieval packs, or transcript analysis.
- Claude Opus 4.6 has the lower cheapest tracked output price at $25/1M tokens.
- Claude Opus 4.6 has broader tracked provider coverage for fallback and procurement flexibility.
- Claude Opus 4.6 uniquely exposes Function calling and Tool use in local model data.
Monthly cost at traffic
Estimate token spend from the cheapest tracked input and output route or tier on this page.
Claude 3 Opus
$15,375
Cheapest tracked route/tier: Replicate API
Claude Opus 4.6
$10,250
Cheapest tracked route/tier: Anthropic
Estimated monthly gap: $5,125. Batch, cache, alternate speed tiers, and negotiated pricing are excluded from this local estimate.
Switch friction
- Provider overlap exists on Anthropic, AWS Bedrock, and GCP Vertex AI; start route-level A/B tests there.
- Claude Opus 4.6 is $12.50/1M tokens lower on cheapest tracked output pricing before cache, batch, or negotiated discounts.
- Claude Opus 4.6 adds Function calling and Tool use in local capability data.
- Use this scaffold for expensive reasoning or analysis workloads that may benefit from the current Opus line.
- Lead with whether the workload is quality-bound enough to justify Opus-tier output pricing.
- Compare benchmark rank and provider availability before claiming a default upgrade.
- Provider overlap exists on AWS Bedrock, GCP Vertex AI, and Anthropic; start route-level A/B tests there.
- Claude 3 Opus is $12.50/1M tokens higher on cheapest tracked output pricing, so quality gains need to justify the spend.
- Check replacement coverage for Function calling and Tool use before moving production traffic.
Specs
| Specification | ||
|---|---|---|
| Released | 2024-03-04 | 2026-02-05 |
| Context window | 200k | 1m |
| Parameters | 2T | — |
| Architecture | Decoder Only | Decoder Only |
| License | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| Openness | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| Commercial use | Commercial use: conditional | Commercial use: conditional |
| Knowledge cutoff | 2023-08 | 2025-12 |
Pricing and availability
| Pricing attribute | Claude 3 Opus | Claude Opus 4.6 |
|---|---|---|
| Input price | $7.50/1M tokens | $5/1M tokens |
| Output price | $37.50/1M tokens | $25/1M tokens |
| Providers |
Capabilities
| Capability | Claude 3 Opus | Claude Opus 4.6 |
|---|---|---|
| Vision | Yes | Yes |
| Multimodal | Yes | Yes |
| Reasoning | Yes | Yes |
| Function calling | No | Yes |
| Tool use | No | Yes |
| Structured outputs | Yes | Yes |
| Code execution | Yes | Yes |
| IDE integration | No | No |
| Computer use | No | No |
| Parallel agents | No | No |
Benchmarks
| Benchmark | Claude 3 Opus | Claude Opus 4.6 |
|---|---|---|
| MMLU PRO | 68.5 | 89.1 |
| Massive Multi-discipline Multimodal Understanding | 59.4 | 76.5 |
| HumanEval | 84.9 | 95.0 |
| Chatbot Arena | 1248.0 | 1501.0 |
| Massive Multitask Language Understanding | 88.7 | 91.1 |
Deep dive
On shared benchmark coverage, MMLU PRO has Claude 3 Opus at 68.5 and Claude Opus 4.6 at 89.1, with Claude Opus 4.6 ahead by 20.6 points; Massive Multi-discipline Multimodal Understanding has Claude 3 Opus at 59.4 and Claude Opus 4.6 at 76.5, with Claude Opus 4.6 ahead by 17.1 points; HumanEval has Claude 3 Opus at 84.9 and Claude Opus 4.6 at 95, with Claude Opus 4.6 ahead by 10.1 points. The largest visible gap is 20.6 points on MMLU PRO, which matters most when that benchmark mirrors your workload. Treat isolated benchmark wins as directional, because provider routing, prompt style, and tool access can move real application results.
The capability footprint differs most on function calling: Claude Opus 4.6 and tool use: Claude Opus 4.6. Both models share vision, multimodal input, reasoning mode, and structured outputs, so the practical split is not just feature count. Use those differences to decide whether the page is about raw model quality, agentic coding support, multimodal ingestion, or predictable structured API behavior.
For cost, Claude 3 Opus lists $7.50/1M input and $37.50/1M output tokens on the cheapest tracked provider, while Claude Opus 4.6 lists $5/1M input and $25/1M output tokens on the cheapest tracked provider. A 70/30 input-output blend puts Claude Opus 4.6 lower by about $5.50 per million blended tokens. Availability is 4 providers versus 6, so concentration risk also matters.
Choose Claude 3 Opus when coding workflow support are central to the workload. Choose Claude Opus 4.6 when coding workflow support, larger context windows, and lower input-token cost are more important. For production, rerun your own prompts through the exact provider, region, and tool stack you plan to ship.
FAQ
Which has a larger context window, Claude 3 Opus or Claude Opus 4.6?
Claude Opus 4.6 supports 1m tokens, while Claude 3 Opus supports 200k tokens. That gap matters most for long documents, large codebases, retrieval-heavy agents, and conversations where earlier context must remain visible.
Which is cheaper, Claude 3 Opus or Claude Opus 4.6?
Claude Opus 4.6 is cheaper on tracked token pricing. Claude 3 Opus costs $7.50/1M input and $37.50/1M output tokens. Claude Opus 4.6 costs $5/1M input and $25/1M output tokens. Provider discounts or batch pricing can still change the final bill.
Is Claude 3 Opus or Claude Opus 4.6 open source?
Claude 3 Opus is listed under Proprietary. Claude Opus 4.6 is listed under Proprietary. License labels affect whether you can self-host, redistribute weights, or rely only on hosted APIs, so confirm the upstream license before deployment.
Which is better for vision, Claude 3 Opus or Claude Opus 4.6?
Both Claude 3 Opus and Claude Opus 4.6 expose vision. The better choice depends on benchmark fit, context budget, pricing, and whether your provider route exposes the same capability surface.
Which is better for multimodal input, Claude 3 Opus or Claude Opus 4.6?
Both Claude 3 Opus and Claude Opus 4.6 expose multimodal input. The better choice depends on benchmark fit, context budget, pricing, and whether your provider route exposes the same capability surface.
Where can I run Claude 3 Opus and Claude Opus 4.6?
Claude 3 Opus is available on AWS Bedrock, GCP Vertex AI, Anthropic, and Replicate API. Claude Opus 4.6 is available on Anthropic, AWS Bedrock, GCP Vertex AI, Microsoft Foundry, and OpenRouter. Provider coverage can affect latency, region availability, compliance posture, and fallback options.
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Last reviewed: 2026-06-15. Data sourced from public model cards and provider documentation.