Claude 4.6 Opus vs Claude 4.5 Sonnet
Compare Claude 4.6 Opus and Claude 4.5 Sonnet across pricing, context window, capabilities, benchmarks, and API access to choose the better fit for long-context workloads versus reasoning-heavy tasks.
Overview Comparison
Structured side-by-side differences for the highest-signal model metadata.
Provider
The entity that currently provides this model.
Model ID
The routed model identifier exposed by upstream providers.
Input Context Window
The number of tokens supported by the input context window.
Maximum Output Tokens
The number of tokens that can be generated by the model in a single request.
Open Source
Whether the model's code is available for public use.
Release Date
When the model was first released.
Knowledge Cut-off Date
When the model's knowledge was last updated.
API Providers
The providers that currently expose the model through an API.
Modalities
Types of data each model can process or return.
Pricing Comparison
Compare current token pricing before you choose the cheaper or more scalable API option.
Capabilities Comparison
See where each model overlaps, where they differ, and which one supports more of the features you care about.
Benchmark Comparison
Shared benchmark rows make it easier to compare performance where both models have published scores.
| Benchmark | Claude 4.6 Opus | Claude 4.5 Sonnet |
|---|---|---|
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ARC-AGI-2
Novel abstract reasoning and pattern recognition
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BigLaw Bench
Legal reasoning and analysis tasks
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GPQA Diamond
PhD-level science questions (biology, physics, chemistry)
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HLE
Questions that challenge frontier models across many domains
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LiveCodeBench
Real-world coding tasks from recent competitions
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MMLU-Pro
Expert knowledge across 14 academic disciplines
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OSWorld
Autonomous computer use and desktop tasks
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SciCode
Scientific research coding and numerical methods
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SWE-bench Verified
Real GitHub issues requiring multi-file code fixes
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Terminal-Bench
Agentic coding and terminal command tasks
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Terminal-Bench 2.0
Agentic coding and terminal command tasks
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τ²-bench Retail
Agentic tool use in retail scenarios
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τ²-bench Telecom
Agentic tool use in telecom scenarios
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What Reddit discussions say about Claude 4.6 Opus vs Claude 4.5 Sonnet
Claude 4.6 Opus and Claude 4.5 Sonnet are both surfacing live Reddit discussions, giving this comparison a community layer beyond specs and benchmarks.
The most visible threads right now are clustered in r/LocalLLaMA, r/singularity, r/ClaudeAI.
[https://www.anthropic.com/news/claude-sonnet-4-5](https://www.anthropic.com/news/claude-sonnet-4-5)
Zhipu AI (Z.ai) officially released **GLM-4.7** today, December 22, 2025. The new flagship shows major gains in coding and complex reasoning, specifically targeting Western SOTA models.
**LMArena Code Arena (Blind Test):** #1 among open-source models, outperforming **GPT-5.2**.
**LiveCodeBench V6:** Scored **84.8**, surpassing **Claude 4.5 Sonnet**.
**AIME 2025 (Math):** Outperformed both **Claude 4.5 Sonnet** and **GPT-5.1**.
**Human Last Exam (HLE):** Scored **42%** (38% improvement over GLM-4.6), approaching GPT-5.1 performance.
**τ²-Bench:** Reached parity with Claude 4.5 Sonnet in real-world interaction.
**Technical Specs & Features:**
**Context Window & Speed:** 200K tokens (128K max output) and 55+ tokens per second.
**Thinking Mode:** Includes a dedicated "Deep Thinking" mode for multi-step reasoning.
**Agentic Coding:** Optimized for end-to-end task execution in tools like Claude Code, Cline and Roo Code.
**Pricing:** Launching a $3/month plan for direct integration into coding agents.
**Source: Z.ai Official (GLM 4.7 Docs)**
Anyone else here doing full-stack Next.js in Cursor and watching the Claude quota evaporate before lunch? I used to be in the same boat — massive context windows from all the components, pages, and DB logic would smoke the default limits fast.
Not anymore. I’ve been on this setup for weeks and basically never hit a wall while still getting top-tier answers. Here’s exactly what I do:
**1. .cursorrules is non-negotiable**
I keep one in the root of every project. The key line I added: “Never explain the code to me. Just output the code blocks.”
That single rule saves me thousands of output tokens a day. No more walls of “here’s what I changed and why” — just the goods.
**2. Stopped using Cursor’s built-in Claude quota**
I killed the default Cursor Pro subscription for the heavy stuff. Instead I use my own API keys and point Cursor’s “OpenAI Compatible” base URL at LLM Router Gateway.
Inside [llmrouter](https://llmrouter.app/) routing settings I set up simple tags routing like this:
* **UI & CSS tweaks**: gemini-3.1-flash → gpt-5.4-mini
* **Deep backend / complex logic**: claude-opus-4.6 → deepseek-v3.2
* **General / quick questions**: llama-4-scout
I sorted the fallback chains by speed vs intelligence. The router auto-detects the query type, so 90% of my UI polish and small fixes go to Gemini (basically free + huge context). I only actually hit Claude Opus 4.6 when I’m doing nasty database refactors or tricky architecture stuff. My Anthropic bill dropped \~70% overnight.
**3. Cmd+K for everything small**
Don’t open the full chat sidebar just to rename a variable or extract a component. Highlight the code, hit Cmd+K, let a fast model handle the inline edit. Saves a ton of tokens and feels way snappier.
That’s it. Super simple but it completely changed how much I can actually use Cursor in a day.
How are you all managing the limits? Using a Cursor Team? Or did you build your own router hacks too? Drop your setups — always looking to steal better ideas.
Time and time again I find posts about these fine tunes that promise increased intelligence and reasoning with base models, and I continuously try them, realize they're botched, and delete them shortly after. I sometimes do resort to a lower quant since they are bigger, in this case, a 40b variant of Qwen 3.5 27b, but they seem to always let me down. I've resorted to not downloading any model with "Claude Opus 4.6" in the name.
Kudos to everyone who tries to make the foundation models more intelligent, but imo, it never works.
Note that this example is anecdotal evidence on a single prompt, but it's overall always the case of decreased intelligence when using with a local agent setup + llama.cpp in WSL2. This is irrespective of the quant as well - I've tried many.
One thing to notice however, the reasoning/thinking is significantly less, perhaps that's part of the problem.
Have any you found these better than base, ever?
The attached screenshots are:
./llama-server -hf mradermacher/Qwen3.5-27B-heretic-GGUF:Q4_K_S --temp 1.0 --top-p 0.8 --top-k 20 --min-p 0.00 --fit on --alias default --jinja --flash-attn on --ctx-size 262144 --ctx-checkpoints 256 --cache-ram -1 --cache-type-k q4_0 --cache-type-v q4_0 --threads 8 --threads-batch 16 --no-mmap
./llama-server -hf mradermacher/Qwen3.5-40B-Claude-4.6-Opus-Deckard-Heretic-Uncensored-Thinking-i1-GGUF:i1-Q3_K_S --temp 1.0 --top-p 0.8 --top-k 20 --min-p 0.00 --fit on --alias default --jinja --flash-attn on --ctx-size 131072 --ctx-checkpoints 256 --cache-ram -1 --cache-type-k q4_0 --cache-type-v q4_0 --threads 8 --threads-batch 16 --no-mmap
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2842987
Prompt injection is essentially a way for malicious people to hijack the LLM's usual behavior. That may include fabricated evidence put into the model or the external context (eg a completely white-out text not seen by humans). The authors were able to get all the latest LLMs to recommend thalidomide in a hypothetical encounter with a pregnant woman, 80 to 100 percent of the time. That's a major reason I won't let an agentic AI touch private information or use an AI browser.
AI tools related to Claude 4.6 Opus vs Claude 4.5 Sonnet
These tools are closely connected to one or both models in this comparison and can help you evaluate real-world fit.
LongShot AI
LongShot AI is an AI-powered content creation platform built to help users plan, generate, and optimize articles for search engines like Google, ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini. It provides features such as real-time content generation, fact-checking, semantic SEO, and custom AI tools to produce high-quality, SEO-optimized content. LongShot AI balances creativity with optimization to help users create content that engages audiences and improves search rankings.
Claudeai.ai
Claudeai.ai is a platform powered by Anthropic's Claude 2 language model. It provides global access to Claude 2's features, including support for processing various text files, a 100K token context limit, and the ability to interact with up to 5 files at once. While not affiliated with Anthropic, Claudeai.ai uses the Claude 2 API to offer a user experience similar to the official website, accessible without regional restrictions.
Sudowrite
Sudowrite is an AI writing assistant tailored for fiction authors, novelists, and screenwriters. It helps users overcome writer's block, brainstorm concepts, generate prose, expand scenes, refine sentences, and receive feedback on drafts. By utilizing various large language models, it supports the entire writing process—from initial outlining to final editing—to make writing more efficient, enjoyable, and collaborative.
Engine
Engine is a suite of LLM-powered no-code tools that enables the creation of hosted API endpoints, HTML pages, and images using natural language. Additionally, it functions as an AI software engineer for teams, integrating with platforms like Jira, Trello, and Linear to convert tickets into pull requests, helping to automate development tasks and clear backlogs.
Which model should you choose?
Use the summary below to decide which model better fits your workflow, budget, and feature requirements.
Claude 4.6 Opus
Claude 4.6 Opus is a stronger fit for long-context workloads, reasoning-heavy tasks, tool-augmented workflows.
Claude 4.5 Sonnet
Claude 4.5 Sonnet is a stronger fit for reasoning-heavy tasks, tool-augmented workflows, multimodal applications.
Choose Claude 4.6 Opus if you prioritize long-context workloads, reasoning-heavy tasks, tool-augmented workflows. Choose Claude 4.5 Sonnet if your workflow depends more on reasoning-heavy tasks, tool-augmented workflows, multimodal applications.
Common questions about Claude 4.6 Opus vs Claude 4.5 Sonnet
What is the main difference between Claude 4.6 Opus and Claude 4.5 Sonnet?
Claude 4.6 Opus leans toward long-context workloads, reasoning-heavy tasks, tool-augmented workflows, while Claude 4.5 Sonnet is better suited to reasoning-heavy tasks, tool-augmented workflows, multimodal applications.
Which model is cheaper: Claude 4.6 Opus or Claude 4.5 Sonnet?
Claude 4.5 Sonnet starts lower on input pricing at $3.0000 per 1M input tokens, compared with $5.0000 for Claude 4.6 Opus.
Which model has the larger context window: Claude 4.6 Opus or Claude 4.5 Sonnet?
Claude 4.6 Opus is listed with a context window of 1M, while Claude 4.5 Sonnet is listed with 200,000.
How should I evaluate Claude 4.6 Opus vs Claude 4.5 Sonnet for my use case?
This comparison currently includes 13 shared benchmark rows, helping you compare practical performance across overlapping evaluations.