AI model comparison
Claude Opus 4.6 vs Claude Opus 4.5
Pricing, context window, benchmarks, and features compared side by side. Or skip the guesswork and send one prompt to both.
Anthropic
Claude Opus 4.6
Opus 4.6 is Anthropic’s strongest model for coding and long-running professional tasks.
- Input / 1M
- $5
- Output / 1M
- $25
- Context
- 1M
Anthropic
Claude Opus 4.5
Claude Opus 4.5 is Anthropic’s frontier reasoning model optimized for complex software engineering, agentic workflows, and long-horizon computer use.
- Input / 1M
- $5
- Output / 1M
- $25
- Context
- 200K
At a glance
Quick verdict
How the two models stack up on the things people ask about most.
Lower price
Tie
Same price for a typical chat
Higher intelligence score
Claude Opus 4.6
31.9 vs 29.1 on Artificial Analysis
Larger context window
Claude Opus 4.6
1M vs 200K tokens
Newer release
Claude Opus 4.6
Released February 4, 2026
Benchmarks
Benchmark scores
Independent scores from Artificial Analysis. Higher is better.
Intelligence index
Claude Opus 4.631.9Claude Opus 4.529.1Coding index
Claude Opus 4.6Not availableClaude Opus 4.5Not availableAgentic index
Claude Opus 4.6Not availableClaude Opus 4.5Not availablePricing
Claude Opus 4.6 vs Claude Opus 4.5 API pricing
Per-token API rates. Cheaper option highlighted.
| Metric | Claude Opus 4.6 | Claude Opus 4.5 |
|---|---|---|
| Input tokensPer 1M tokens | $5 | $5 |
| Output tokensPer 1M tokens | $25 | $25 |
| Cached input (read)Per 1M tokens | $0.50 | $0.50 |
| Cache writePer 1M tokens | $6.25 | $6.25 |
| Web searchPer request | $0.01 | $0.01 |
What it costs in practice
Estimated cost per 1,000 requests at standard rates. Coding and long-document figures also show the cost when the input is already cached.
Chat message
2K in, 500 out
Claude Opus 4.6$22.50Claude Opus 4.5$22.50Coding task
30K in, 4K out
Claude Opus 4.6$250$115 cachedClaude Opus 4.5$250$115 cachedLong document summary
150K in, 2K out
Claude Opus 4.6$800$125 cachedClaude Opus 4.5$800$125 cachedSpecs
Context window and capabilities
How much each model can read, how much it can write, and what it accepts as input.
| Metric | Claude Opus 4.6 | Claude Opus 4.5 |
|---|---|---|
| Context window | 1M tokens | 200K tokens |
| Max output | 128K tokens | 64K tokens |
| Input types | File, Image, Text | File, Image, Text |
| Output types | Text | Text |
| Reasoning effort levels | Max, High, Medium, Low | Not available |
| Default reasoning effort | High | Not available |
| Release date | February 4, 2026 | November 24, 2025 |
Features
Supported features
API features available for each model.
| Metric | Claude Opus 4.6 | Claude Opus 4.5 |
|---|---|---|
| Tool calling | Supported | Supported |
| Structured outputs | Supported | Supported |
| JSON mode | Supported | Supported |
| Reasoning | Supported | Supported |
| Temperature | Supported | Supported |
| Stop sequences | Supported | Supported |
| Deterministic seed | Not supported | Not supported |
| Verbosity control | Supported | Supported |
Keep exploring
More on these models
Other head-to-heads, the full model page, and the alternatives list for each model.
Claude Opus 4.6View full model details- Claude Opus 4.6 vs Claude Opus 4.8
- Claude Opus 4.6 vs Claude Opus 4.7
- Claude Opus 4.6 vs Claude Sonnet 5
- Claude Opus 4.6 vs GLM 5.2
- Claude Opus 4.6 vs Gemini 3.5 Flash
- Claude Opus 4.6 vs GPT-5.3-Codex
- Claude Opus 4.6 vs GPT-5.2
- Claude Opus 4.6 vs Claude Sonnet 4.6
- Claude Opus 4.6 vs Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview
- Claude Opus 4.6 vs Claude Opus 4.1
Claude Opus 4.5View full model details- Claude Opus 4.5 vs Claude Sonnet 5
- Claude Opus 4.5 vs GLM 5.2
- Claude Opus 4.5 vs GPT-5.3-Codex
- Claude Opus 4.5 vs GPT-5.2
- Claude Opus 4.5 vs Claude Sonnet 4.6
- Claude Opus 4.5 vs Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview
- Claude Opus 4.5 vs Qwen3.7 Max
- Claude Opus 4.5 vs GPT-5.2-Codex
- Claude Opus 4.5 vs Claude Opus 4.1
- Claude Opus 4.5 vs Claude Sonnet 4.5
Our take
Claude Opus 4.6 scores higher on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index (31.9 vs 29.1). Claude Opus 4.6 has the larger context window (1M vs 200K tokens). The right pick depends on your workload, so the quickest way to settle it is to send the same prompt to both and compare.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Is Claude Opus 4.6 or Claude Opus 4.5 cheaper?
Claude Opus 4.6 and Claude Opus 4.5 cost the same for a typical chat (2K input tokens and 500 output tokens). Claude Opus 4.6 costs $5 per 1M input tokens and $25 per 1M output tokens, and Claude Opus 4.5 costs $5 per 1M input tokens and $25 per 1M output tokens.
Which has a bigger context window, Claude Opus 4.6 or Claude Opus 4.5?
Claude Opus 4.6 supports up to 1M tokens of context, compared with 200K for Claude Opus 4.5.
Is Claude Opus 4.6 smarter than Claude Opus 4.5?
On the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, Claude Opus 4.6 scores 31.9 and Claude Opus 4.5 scores 29.1, putting Claude Opus 4.6 ahead. Benchmarks don't capture everything, so the best test is running your own prompts through both.
Can I use Claude Opus 4.6 and Claude Opus 4.5 at the same time?
Yes. Shortcut Chat sends one prompt to multiple models at once, so you can see Claude Opus 4.6 and Claude Opus 4.5 answer side by side and keep the better response.
Why choose? Ask both.
Send one prompt to Claude Opus 4.6 and Claude Opus 4.5 at the same time. Compare the answers side by side and keep the best one.