Claude 3.5 Haiku vs Claude Sonnet 4.6
Claude 3.5 Haiku (2024) and Claude Sonnet 4.6 (2026) are frontier-tier reasoning models from Anthropic. Claude 3.5 Haiku ships a 200k-token context window, while Claude Sonnet 4.6 ships a 1m-token context window. On pricing, Claude 3.5 Haiku costs $0.80/1M input tokens versus $3/1M 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 3.5 Haiku is ~275% cheaper at $0.80/1M; pay for Claude Sonnet 4.6 only for coding workflow support.
Decision scorecard
Local evidence first| Signal | Claude 3.5 Haiku | 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 | $4/1M tokens | $15/1M tokens |
| Provider routes | 6 tracked | 6 tracked |
| Shared benchmarks | 0 shared | 0 shared |
Decision tradeoffs
- Claude 3.5 Haiku has the lower cheapest tracked output price at $4/1M tokens.
- Local decision data tags Claude 3.5 Haiku for Coding, RAG, and Agents.
- Claude Sonnet 4.6 has the larger context window for long prompts, retrieval packs, or transcript analysis.
- Claude Sonnet 4.6 uniquely exposes Multimodal, Function calling, and Tool use in local model data.
- Local decision data tags Claude Sonnet 4.6 for Coding, RAG, and Agents.
Monthly cost at traffic
Estimate token spend from the cheapest tracked input and output route or tier on this page.
Claude 3.5 Haiku
$1,640
Cheapest tracked route/tier: Anthropic
Claude Sonnet 4.6
$6,150
Cheapest tracked route/tier: OpenRouter
Estimated monthly gap: $4,510. Batch, cache, alternate speed tiers, and negotiated pricing are excluded from this local estimate.
Switch friction
- Provider overlap exists on OpenRouter, Anthropic, and AWS Bedrock; start route-level A/B tests there.
- Claude Sonnet 4.6 is $11/1M tokens higher on cheapest tracked output pricing, so quality gains need to justify the spend.
- Claude Sonnet 4.6 adds Multimodal, Function calling, and Tool use in local capability data.
- Provider overlap exists on Anthropic, OpenRouter, and AWS Bedrock; start route-level A/B tests there.
- Claude 3.5 Haiku is $11/1M tokens lower on cheapest tracked output pricing before cache, batch, or negotiated discounts.
- Check replacement coverage for Multimodal, Function calling, and Tool use before moving production traffic.
Specs
| Specification | ||
|---|---|---|
| Released | 2024-10-22 | 2026-02-17 |
| Context window | 200k | 1m |
| Parameters | — | — |
| Architecture | Decoder Only | Decoder Only |
| License | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| Openness | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| Commercial use | Commercial use: conditional | Commercial use: conditional |
| Knowledge cutoff | - | 2025-08 |
Pricing and availability
| Pricing attribute | Claude 3.5 Haiku | Claude Sonnet 4.6 |
|---|---|---|
| Input price | $0.80/1M tokens | $3/1M tokens |
| Output price | $4/1M tokens | $15/1M tokens |
| Providers |
Capabilities
| Capability | Claude 3.5 Haiku | Claude Sonnet 4.6 |
|---|---|---|
| Vision | Yes | Yes |
| Multimodal | No | 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
No shared benchmark scores are currently available for this pair.
Deep dive
The capability footprint differs most on multimodal input: Claude Sonnet 4.6, function calling: Claude Sonnet 4.6, and tool use: Claude Sonnet 4.6. Both models share vision, reasoning mode, structured outputs, and code execution, 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 3.5 Haiku lists $0.80/1M input and $4/1M 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 3.5 Haiku lower by about $4.84 per million blended tokens. Availability is 6 providers versus 6, so concentration risk also matters.
Choose Claude 3.5 Haiku when coding workflow support and lower input-token cost are central to the workload. Choose Claude Sonnet 4.6 when coding workflow support and larger context windows are more important. For production, rerun your own prompts through the exact provider, region, and tool stack you plan to ship. This keeps the decision grounded in measurable tradeoffs instead of brand-level assumptions.
FAQ
Which has a larger context window, Claude 3.5 Haiku or Claude Sonnet 4.6?
Claude Sonnet 4.6 supports 1m tokens, while Claude 3.5 Haiku 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 3.5 Haiku or Claude Sonnet 4.6?
Claude 3.5 Haiku is cheaper on tracked token pricing. Claude 3.5 Haiku costs $0.80/1M input and $4/1M 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 3.5 Haiku or Claude Sonnet 4.6 open source?
Claude 3.5 Haiku 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 3.5 Haiku or Claude Sonnet 4.6?
Both Claude 3.5 Haiku 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 3.5 Haiku or Claude Sonnet 4.6?
Claude Sonnet 4.6 has the clearer documented multimodal input signal in this comparison. If multimodal input is mission-critical, validate it against the provider endpoint because model-level support and API-level exposure can differ.
Where can I run Claude 3.5 Haiku and Claude Sonnet 4.6?
Claude 3.5 Haiku is available on Anthropic, OpenRouter, AWS Bedrock, GCP Vertex AI, 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.