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Claude Opus 4.8 vs Claude Sonnet 4.6

Token pricing, context window and real monthly cost, side by side. Claude Sonnet 4.6 is the cheaper of the two for a typical workload — about 1.7× less.

cheaper for a typical workload
Claude Sonnet 4.6
saves 40% vs Claude Opus 4.8 at 1,500 in / 500 out × 200,000/mo
Claude Opus 4.8 $4,000/mo
Claude Sonnet 4.6 $2,400/mo
Mid vs Flagship a smaller technical class than Claude Opus 4.8 — cheaper, but not a drop-in substitute

Positioned by published specs — size, context and modality — not measured performance; a smaller model can sometimes outperform a larger one on your task.

Cost versus technical classClaude Opus 4.8: $4,000/mo, Flagship class. Claude Sonnet 4.6: $2,400/mo, Mid class. Plotted by monthly cost (horizontal) against technical class from size and context (vertical).best valuepremiumbudgetoverpricedClaude Opus 4.8$4,000/mo · FlagshipClaude Sonnet 4.6$2,400/mo · Mid← lower cost · monthly $ · higher cost →
↑ technical class (size & context)
One class apart

Claude Opus 4.8 is one class larger (Flagship vs Mid). Lean to the cheaper Claude Sonnet 4.6 unless your task is demanding enough to need the larger class.

Claude Opus 4.8 versus Claude Sonnet 4.6 specifications and price.
metric Claude Opus 4.8 Claude Sonnet 4.6
Input / 1M $5.00 $3.00
Output / 1M $25.00 $15.00
Context 1M 1M
Technical class Flagship Mid
Cost @ typical workload $4,000/mo $2,400/mo
Modality text + image text + image
Price source list list
Provider Anthropic Anthropic

Snapshot . Cost uses a typical workload; tune it in the calculator. How we measure →

Which should you pick?

On a typical workload, Claude Sonnet 4.6 costs $2,400/mo against Claude Opus 4.8's $4,000/mo — roughly 1.7× cheaper. But the ranking depends on your output-to-input ratio: output is the pricier direction for both, so an output-heavy job (code generation, long answers) widens the gap while an input-heavy one (summarization, retrieval) narrows it. Both share the same context window, so that's not a deciding factor here. By technical class (size and context, not measured capability), Claude Opus 4.8 is a Flagship and Claude Sonnet 4.6 a Mid — so the lower price partly reflects a smaller class, not just a discount.

These are list and routed market prices, not measured outcomes. Two models at the same rate can still cost different amounts to finish the same task, because verbose or reasoning-heavy models emit more tokens. That gap is exactly what measured cost-per-task captures. The technical-class read above is likewise spec-based — size, context and modality, not measured performance — so a smaller model can still outperform a larger one on your specific task.

Frequently asked questions

Is Claude Opus 4.8 or Claude Sonnet 4.6 cheaper?

For a typical workload (1,500 input + 500 output tokens × 200,000 requests/month), Claude Sonnet 4.6 costs $2,400/mo versus $4,000/mo for Claude Opus 4.8 — about 1.7× less. Because output is priced higher than input, the winner can flip if your workload writes much more or less than this; check your own numbers in the calculator.

What's the difference between Claude Opus 4.8 and Claude Sonnet 4.6 from Anthropic?

Same provider, different tier. On price, Claude Opus 4.8 is $5.00/$25.00 per 1M (in/out) and Claude Sonnet 4.6 is $3.00/$15.00. By technical class (size & context) it's Flagship (Claude Opus 4.8) versus Mid (Claude Sonnet 4.6).

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