Claude Sonnet 4 vs Stable Code 3B
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 |
Stable Code 3B
Stability AIStability AI's code-focused model. Small, efficient model for code completion and generation.
| Input | $0.050/M |
| Output | $0.200/M |
| Context | 32K tokens |
| Best For | Code completion, IDE integration, lightweight coding assistant |
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 | Stable Code 3B | Savings |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small Script (1K lines) | $0.62 | <$0.01 | Stable Code 3B saves $0.61 (99%) |
| Medium Feature (10K lines) | $4.66 | $0.06 | Stable Code 3B saves $4.60 (99%) |
| Large Project (50K lines) | $23.29 | $0.29 | Stable Code 3B saves $23.00 (99%) |
| Code Review (5K lines) | $1.20 | $0.01 | Stable Code 3B saves $1.19 (99%) |
Verdict
Stable Code 3B wins on both price and performance — $0.050/M input with a benchmark score of N/A/100.
For most developers, this is the clear choice between these two models.
Compare with Other Models
Claude Opus 4
AnthropicAnthropic's most powerful model. Best for complex reasoning and challenging coding tasks.
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.