Claude 3 Opus vs Claude Sonnet 4.6
Claude 3 Opus (2024) and Claude Sonnet 4.6 (2026) are frontier-tier reasoning models from Anthropic. Claude 3 Opus ships a 200k-token context window, while Claude Sonnet 4.6 ships a 1m-token context window. On MMLU PRO, Claude Sonnet 4.6 leads by 18.8 pts. On pricing, Claude Sonnet 4.6 costs $3/1M 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 Sonnet 4.6 is ~150% cheaper at $3/1M; pay for Claude 3 Opus only for coding workflow support.
Decision scorecard
Local evidence first| Signal | Claude 3 Opus | Claude Sonnet 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 | $15/1M 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 Sonnet 4.6 holds a shared-benchmark lead on MMLU PRO, ahead by 18.8 points.
- Claude Sonnet 4.6 has the larger context window for long prompts, retrieval packs, or transcript analysis.
- Claude Sonnet 4.6 has the lower cheapest tracked output price at $15/1M tokens.
- Claude Sonnet 4.6 has broader tracked provider coverage for fallback and procurement flexibility.
- Claude Sonnet 4.6 uniquely exposes Function calling, Tool use, and Computer 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 Sonnet 4.6
$6,150
Cheapest tracked route/tier: OpenRouter
Estimated monthly gap: $9,225. 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 Sonnet 4.6 is $22.50/1M tokens lower on cheapest tracked output pricing before cache, batch, or negotiated discounts.
- Claude Sonnet 4.6 adds Function calling, Tool use, and Computer use in local capability data.
- Provider overlap exists on AWS Bedrock, GCP Vertex AI, and Anthropic; start route-level A/B tests there.
- Claude 3 Opus is $22.50/1M tokens higher on cheapest tracked output pricing, so quality gains need to justify the spend.
- Check replacement coverage for Function calling, Tool use, and Computer use before moving production traffic.
Specs
| Specification | ||
|---|---|---|
| Released | 2024-03-04 | 2026-02-17 |
| 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 | 2025-08 |
Pricing and availability
| Pricing attribute | Claude 3 Opus | Claude Sonnet 4.6 |
|---|---|---|
| Input price | $7.50/1M tokens | $3/1M tokens |
| Output price | $37.50/1M tokens | $15/1M tokens |
| Providers |
Capabilities
| Capability | Claude 3 Opus | Claude Sonnet 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 | Yes |
| Parallel agents | No | Yes |
Benchmarks
| Benchmark | Claude 3 Opus | Claude Sonnet 4.6 |
|---|---|---|
| MMLU PRO | 68.5 | 87.3 |
| Massive Multi-discipline Multimodal Understanding | 59.4 | 83.6 |
| HumanEval | 84.9 | 98.0 |
| Chatbot Arena | 1248.0 | 1459.0 |
| Massive Multitask Language Understanding | 88.7 | 89.3 |
Deep dive
On shared benchmark coverage, MMLU PRO has Claude 3 Opus at 68.5 and Claude Sonnet 4.6 at 87.3, with Claude Sonnet 4.6 ahead by 18.8 points; Massive Multi-discipline Multimodal Understanding has Claude 3 Opus at 59.4 and Claude Sonnet 4.6 at 83.6, with Claude Sonnet 4.6 ahead by 24.2 points; HumanEval has Claude 3 Opus at 84.9 and Claude Sonnet 4.6 at 98, with Claude Sonnet 4.6 ahead by 13.1 points. The largest visible gap is 24.2 points on Massive Multi-discipline Multimodal Understanding, 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 Sonnet 4.6 and tool use: Claude Sonnet 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 Sonnet 4.6 lists $3/1M input and $15/1M output tokens on the cheapest tracked provider. A 70/30 input-output blend puts Claude Sonnet 4.6 lower by about $9.90 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 Sonnet 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 Sonnet 4.6?
Claude Sonnet 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 Sonnet 4.6?
Claude Sonnet 4.6 is cheaper on tracked token pricing. Claude 3 Opus costs $7.50/1M input and $37.50/1M output tokens. Claude Sonnet 4.6 costs $3/1M input and $15/1M output tokens. Provider discounts or batch pricing can still change the final bill.
Is Claude 3 Opus or Claude Sonnet 4.6 open source?
Claude 3 Opus is listed under Proprietary. Claude Sonnet 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 Sonnet 4.6?
Both Claude 3 Opus and Claude Sonnet 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 Sonnet 4.6?
Both Claude 3 Opus and Claude Sonnet 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 Sonnet 4.6?
Claude 3 Opus is available on AWS Bedrock, GCP Vertex AI, Anthropic, and Replicate API. Claude Sonnet 4.6 is available on OpenRouter, Anthropic, AWS Bedrock, GCP Vertex AI, and Microsoft Foundry. 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.