Claude 3.5 Sonnet vs Llama 4 Maverick 17B
Claude 3.5 Sonnet (2024) and Llama 4 Maverick 17B (2025) are frontier reasoning models from Anthropic and AI at Meta. Claude 3.5 Sonnet ships a 200k-token context window, while Llama 4 Maverick 17B ships a 128k-token context window. On HumanEval, Claude 3.5 Sonnet leads by 14.6 pts. On pricing, Llama 4 Maverick 17B costs $0.24/1M input tokens versus $3/1M for the alternative. This comparison covers specs, pricing, capabilities, benchmarks, provider availability, and production fit.
Llama 4 Maverick 17B is ~1150% cheaper at $0.24/1M; pay for Claude 3.5 Sonnet only for coding workflow support.
Decision scorecard
Local evidence first| Signal | Claude 3.5 Sonnet | Llama 4 Maverick 17B |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | reasoning-heavy apps, multimodal apps, and tool-calling agents | multimodal apps |
| Decision fit | Coding, RAG, and Agents | Coding, RAG, and Agents |
| Context window | 200k | 128k |
| Cheapest output | $15/1M tokens | $0.97/1M tokens |
| Provider routes | 6 tracked | 1 tracked |
| Shared benchmarks | HumanEval leader | 3 rows |
Decision tradeoffs
- Claude 3.5 Sonnet leads the largest shared benchmark signal on HumanEval by 14.6 points.
- Claude 3.5 Sonnet has the larger context window for long prompts, retrieval packs, or transcript analysis.
- Claude 3.5 Sonnet has broader tracked provider coverage for fallback and procurement flexibility.
- Claude 3.5 Sonnet uniquely exposes Vision, Reasoning, and Function calling in local model data.
- Local decision data tags Claude 3.5 Sonnet for Coding, RAG, and Agents.
- Llama 4 Maverick 17B leads the largest shared benchmark signal on BigCodeBench by 5.1 points.
- Llama 4 Maverick 17B has the lower cheapest tracked output price at $0.97/1M tokens.
- Local decision data tags Llama 4 Maverick 17B 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 Sonnet
$6,150
Cheapest tracked route/tier: GCP Vertex AI
Llama 4 Maverick 17B
$435
Cheapest tracked route/tier: AWS Bedrock
Estimated monthly gap: $5,716. Batch, cache, alternate speed tiers, and negotiated pricing are excluded from this local estimate.
Switch friction
- Provider overlap exists on AWS Bedrock; start route-level A/B tests there.
- Llama 4 Maverick 17B is $14.03/1M tokens lower on cheapest tracked output pricing before cache, batch, or negotiated discounts.
- Check replacement coverage for Vision, Reasoning, and Function calling before moving production traffic.
- Provider overlap exists on AWS Bedrock; start route-level A/B tests there.
- Claude 3.5 Sonnet is $14.03/1M tokens higher on cheapest tracked output pricing, so quality gains need to justify the spend.
- Claude 3.5 Sonnet adds Vision, Reasoning, and Function calling in local capability data.
Specs
| Specification | ||
|---|---|---|
| Released | 2024-06-20 | 2025-10-01 |
| Context window | 200k | 128k |
| Parameters | 70B | 17 |
| Architecture | decoder only | - |
| License | Unknown | Open Source |
| Knowledge cutoff | 2024-04 | 2024-08 |
Pricing and availability
| Pricing attribute | Claude 3.5 Sonnet | Llama 4 Maverick 17B |
|---|---|---|
| Input price | $3/1M tokens | $0.24/1M tokens |
| Output price | $15/1M tokens | $0.97/1M tokens |
| Providers |
Capabilities
| Capability | Claude 3.5 Sonnet | Llama 4 Maverick 17B |
|---|---|---|
| Vision | Yes | No |
| Multimodal | Yes | Yes |
| Reasoning | Yes | No |
| Function calling | Yes | No |
| Tool use | No | No |
| Structured outputs | Yes | Yes |
| Code execution | Yes | Yes |
| IDE integration | No | No |
| Computer use | No | No |
| Parallel agents | No | No |
Benchmarks
| Benchmark | Claude 3.5 Sonnet | Llama 4 Maverick 17B |
|---|---|---|
| HumanEval | 92.0 | 77.4 |
| Aider Polyglot | 51.6 | 15.6 |
| BigCodeBench | 44.6 | 49.7 |
Deep dive
On shared benchmark coverage, HumanEval has Claude 3.5 Sonnet at 92 and Llama 4 Maverick 17B at 77.4, with Claude 3.5 Sonnet ahead by 14.6 points; Aider Polyglot has Claude 3.5 Sonnet at 51.6 and Llama 4 Maverick 17B at 15.6, with Claude 3.5 Sonnet ahead by 36 points; BigCodeBench has Claude 3.5 Sonnet at 44.6 and Llama 4 Maverick 17B at 49.7, with Llama 4 Maverick 17B ahead by 5.1 points. The largest visible gap is 36 points on Aider Polyglot, 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 vision: Claude 3.5 Sonnet, reasoning mode: Claude 3.5 Sonnet, and function calling: Claude 3.5 Sonnet. Both models share multimodal input, 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 Sonnet lists $3/1M input and $15/1M output tokens on the cheapest tracked provider, while Llama 4 Maverick 17B lists $0.24/1M input and $0.97/1M output tokens on the cheapest tracked provider. A 70/30 input-output blend puts Llama 4 Maverick 17B lower by about $6.14 per million blended tokens. Availability is 6 providers versus 1, so concentration risk also matters.
Choose Claude 3.5 Sonnet when coding workflow support, larger context windows, and broader provider choice are central to the workload. Choose Llama 4 Maverick 17B when coding workflow support 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 3.5 Sonnet or Llama 4 Maverick 17B?
Claude 3.5 Sonnet supports 200k tokens, while Llama 4 Maverick 17B supports 128k 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 Sonnet or Llama 4 Maverick 17B?
Llama 4 Maverick 17B is cheaper on tracked token pricing. Claude 3.5 Sonnet costs $3/1M input and $15/1M output tokens. Llama 4 Maverick 17B costs $0.24/1M input and $0.97/1M output tokens. Provider discounts or batch pricing can still change the final bill.
Is Claude 3.5 Sonnet or Llama 4 Maverick 17B open source?
Claude 3.5 Sonnet is listed under Unknown. Llama 4 Maverick 17B is listed under Open Source. 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 Sonnet or Llama 4 Maverick 17B?
Claude 3.5 Sonnet has the clearer documented vision signal in this comparison. If vision is mission-critical, validate it against the provider endpoint because model-level support and API-level exposure can differ.
Which is better for multimodal input, Claude 3.5 Sonnet or Llama 4 Maverick 17B?
Both Claude 3.5 Sonnet and Llama 4 Maverick 17B 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 3.5 Sonnet and Llama 4 Maverick 17B?
Claude 3.5 Sonnet is available on GCP Vertex AI, AWS Bedrock, Anthropic, OpenRouter, and Microsoft Foundry. Llama 4 Maverick 17B is available on AWS Bedrock. Provider coverage can affect latency, region availability, compliance posture, and fallback options.
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Last reviewed: 2026-05-16. Data sourced from public model cards and provider documentation.