Claude Sonnet 4 vs Claude Opus 4
Performance benchmarks + pricing comparison — updated April 2026
Claude Sonnet 4
AnthropicAnthropic's balanced model for coding and general tasks. Best price-performance ratio in the Claude family.
| Input | $3.00/M |
| Output | $15.00/M |
| Context | 200K tokens |
| Best For | Day-to-day coding, code review, documentation |
| Benchmark | 78/100 |
Claude Opus 4
AnthropicAnthropic's most powerful model. Best for complex reasoning and challenging coding tasks.
| Input | $15.00/M |
| Output | $75.00/M |
| Context | 200K tokens |
| Best For | Complex architecture decisions, debugging hard bugs, research |
| Benchmark | 86/100 |
Benchmark Performance Comparison
Third-party benchmark scores — higher is better. Data sourced from SWE-bench, LiveCodeBench, HumanEval, and BigCodeBench.
| Benchmark | Claude Sonnet 4 | Claude Opus 4 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall Score | 78 | 86 | Claude Opus 4 leads by 8pts |
| SWE-bench Verified | 74 | 84 | Claude Opus 4 leads by 10pts |
| LiveCodeBench | 82 | 88 | Claude Opus 4 leads by 6pts |
| HumanEval | 92 | 96 | Claude Opus 4 leads by 4pts |
| BigCodeBench | 64 | 76 | Claude Opus 4 leads by 12pts |
Cost Comparison by Scenario
Estimated cost per project with 30% cache hit rate. Actual costs may vary based on usage patterns.
| Scenario | Claude Sonnet 4 | Claude Opus 4 | Savings |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small Script (1K lines) | $0.62 | $3.08 | Claude Sonnet 4 saves $2.46 (80%) |
| Medium Feature (10K lines) | $4.66 | $23.29 | Claude Sonnet 4 saves $18.63 (80%) |
| Large Project (50K lines) | $23.29 | $116.44 | Claude Sonnet 4 saves $93.15 (80%) |
| Code Review (5K lines) | $1.20 | $6.02 | Claude Sonnet 4 saves $4.81 (80%) |
Value Analysis (Price per Benchmark Score Point)
Lower is better — how much you pay for each point of benchmark performance.
| Model | Overall Score | Price per Score Point | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Sonnet 4 | 78 | $0.038/pt | Better value |
| Claude Opus 4 | 86 | $0.174/pt | Higher cost per point |
Claude Sonnet 4 delivers the best value at $0.038 per score point.
Strengths & Weaknesses
Claude Sonnet 4
- + Price-performance leader
- + Strong at web development
- + Excellent code review
- - Struggles with complex algorithms
- - Less consistent on system design
Claude Opus 4
- + Best at complex reasoning
- + Strong system design
- + Excellent debugging
- - Expensive for bulk tasks
- - Slower response times
Verdict
Claude Sonnet 4 is cheaper at $3.00/M, but Claude Opus 4 scores higher on benchmarks (86 vs 78).
Choose Claude Sonnet 4 for cost-sensitive projects, Claude Opus 4 when performance matters most.
Compare with Other Models
Claude 3.5 Sonnet
AnthropicPrevious generation Sonnet. Still excellent for coding tasks at the same price point.
Claude 3.5 Haiku
AnthropicFast, cost-effective model for high-volume tasks. Great for code review and simple queries.
Claude 3 Opus
AnthropicFirst generation Opus. Highest reasoning capability in the Claude 3 family.
Claude 3 Sonnet
AnthropicFirst generation Sonnet. Balanced performance for general tasks.
Claude 3 Haiku
AnthropicCheapest Claude model. Fast responses for simple tasks and basic coding.
GPT-4o
OpenAIOpenAI's flagship multimodal model. Strong coding and reasoning at competitive pricing.