AI model comparison
Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs Claude Sonnet 4
Pricing, context window, benchmarks, and features compared side by side. Or skip the guesswork and send one prompt to both.
Anthropic
Claude Sonnet 4.6
Sonnet 4.6 is Anthropic's most capable Sonnet-class model yet, with frontier performance across coding, agents, and professional work.
- Input / 1M
- $3
- Output / 1M
- $15
- Context
- 1M
Anthropic
Claude Sonnet 4
Claude Sonnet 4 significantly enhances the capabilities of its predecessor, Sonnet 3.7, excelling in both coding and reasoning tasks with improved precision and controllability.
- Input / 1M
- $3
- Output / 1M
- $15
- 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 Sonnet 4.6
30.1 vs 18.9 on Artificial Analysis
Larger context window
Claude Sonnet 4.6
1M vs 200K tokens
Newer release
Claude Sonnet 4.6
Released February 17, 2026
Benchmarks
Benchmark scores
Independent scores from Artificial Analysis. Higher is better.
Intelligence index
Claude Sonnet 4.630.1Claude Sonnet 418.9Coding index
Claude Sonnet 4.663Claude Sonnet 437.6Agentic index
Claude Sonnet 4.631.8Claude Sonnet 4Not availablePricing
Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs Claude Sonnet 4 API pricing
Per-token API rates. Cheaper option highlighted.
| Metric | Claude Sonnet 4.6 | Claude Sonnet 4 |
|---|---|---|
| Input tokensPer 1M tokens | $3 | $3 |
| Output tokensPer 1M tokens | $15 | $15 |
| Cached input (read)Per 1M tokens | $0.30 | $0.30 |
| Cache writePer 1M tokens | $3.75 | $3.75 |
| Long-context pricingPer 1M tokens, for very long prompts | Same rate at any length | $6 in / $22.50 out above 200K |
| 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 Sonnet 4.6$13.50Claude Sonnet 4$13.50Coding task
30K in, 4K out
Claude Sonnet 4.6$150$69 cachedClaude Sonnet 4$150$69 cachedLong document summary
150K in, 2K out
Claude Sonnet 4.6$480$75 cachedClaude Sonnet 4$480$75 cachedSpecs
Context window and capabilities
How much each model can read, how much it can write, and what it accepts as input.
| Metric | Claude Sonnet 4.6 | Claude Sonnet 4 |
|---|---|---|
| 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 | Medium | Not available |
| Release date | February 17, 2026 | May 22, 2025 |
Features
Supported features
API features available for each model.
| Metric | Claude Sonnet 4.6 | Claude Sonnet 4 |
|---|---|---|
| Tool calling | Supported | Supported |
| Structured outputs | Supported | Not supported |
| JSON mode | Supported | Not supported |
| Reasoning | Supported | Supported |
| Temperature | Supported | Supported |
| Stop sequences | Supported | Supported |
| Deterministic seed | Not supported | Not supported |
| Verbosity control | Supported | Not supported |
Keep exploring
More on these models
Other head-to-heads, the full model page, and the alternatives list for each model.
Claude Sonnet 4.6View full model details- Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs GLM 5.2
- Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs Claude Sonnet 5
- Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs Gemini 3.5 Flash
- Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs GPT-5.3-Codex
- Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs Claude Opus 4.6
- Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs GPT-5.2
- Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview
- Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs Qwen3.7 Max
- Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs Claude Opus 4.5
- Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs GPT-5.2-Codex
- Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs Claude Sonnet 4.5
- Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs Claude Opus 4.1
Claude Sonnet 4View full model details- Claude Sonnet 4 vs GPT-5.1
- Claude Sonnet 4 vs GPT-5.1-Codex
- Claude Sonnet 4 vs GPT-5
- Claude Sonnet 4 vs Claude Opus 4.1
- Claude Sonnet 4 vs o3 Pro
- Claude Sonnet 4 vs Qwen3.5 397B A17B
- Claude Sonnet 4 vs Claude Sonnet 4.5
- Claude Sonnet 4 vs o3
- Claude Sonnet 4 vs Claude Haiku 4.5
- Claude Sonnet 4 vs o4 Mini
- Claude Sonnet 4 vs Gemini 2.5 Pro
- Claude Sonnet 4 vs o1
Our take
Claude Sonnet 4.6 scores higher on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index (30.1 vs 18.9). Claude Sonnet 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 Sonnet 4.6 or Claude Sonnet 4 cheaper?
Claude Sonnet 4.6 and Claude Sonnet 4 cost the same for a typical chat (2K input tokens and 500 output tokens). Claude Sonnet 4.6 costs $3 per 1M input tokens and $15 per 1M output tokens, and Claude Sonnet 4 costs $3 per 1M input tokens and $15 per 1M output tokens.
Which has a bigger context window, Claude Sonnet 4.6 or Claude Sonnet 4?
Claude Sonnet 4.6 supports up to 1M tokens of context, compared with 200K for Claude Sonnet 4.
Is Claude Sonnet 4.6 smarter than Claude Sonnet 4?
On the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, Claude Sonnet 4.6 scores 30.1 and Claude Sonnet 4 scores 18.9, putting Claude Sonnet 4.6 ahead. Benchmarks don't capture everything, so the best test is running your own prompts through both.
Can I use Claude Sonnet 4.6 and Claude Sonnet 4 at the same time?
Yes. Shortcut Chat sends one prompt to multiple models at once, so you can see Claude Sonnet 4.6 and Claude Sonnet 4 answer side by side and keep the better response.
Why choose? Ask both.
Send one prompt to Claude Sonnet 4.6 and Claude Sonnet 4 at the same time. Compare the answers side by side and keep the best one.