Claude Opus 5 vs Claude Sonnet 5
Anthropic vs Anthropic · Prices checked 12 August 2026
On blended cost Claude Sonnet 5 undercuts Claude Opus 5 by about 2.5×: $4.40 per million tokens versus $11.00. A single 100K-input, 10K-output job costs $0.300 on Claude Sonnet 5 against $0.750 on Claude Opus 5.
Context is level at 1,000,000 tokens on each side. Claude Opus 5 was released Jul 2026; Claude Sonnet 5 Jun 2026.
Pricing and capacity
| Metric | Claude Opus 5 | Claude Sonnet 5 | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Input / 1M tokens | $5.00 | $2.00 | 2.5× |
| Output / 1M tokens | $25.00 | $10.00 | 2.5× |
| Blended · 70/30calculated | $11.00 | $4.40 | 2.5× |
| Blended · 50/50calculated | $15.00 | $6.00 | 2.5× |
| Blended · 80/20calculated | $9.00 | $3.60 | 2.5× |
| Blended · 20/80calculated | $21.00 | $8.40 | 2.5× |
| Job cost · 100K + 10Kcalculated | $0.750 | $0.300 | 2.5× |
| Job cost · 1M + 100Kcalculated | $7.50 | $3.00 | 2.5× |
| Context window | 1,000,000 | 1,000,000 | level |
Input and output rates are as published by each provider. Blended and job-cost rows are calculated comparison metrics, not published prices — how they are derived.
Benchmarks
These two models do not currently report scores on any of the same benchmark suites, so there is no like-for-like capability comparison to show. Rather than pad the page with one-sided numbers, the benchmark leaderboards list every score we do hold.
What each model is for
Claude Opus 5
Anthropic · Frontier
Anthropic positions Opus 5 as the model to reach for by default rather than to ration: it launched at $5/$25 per MTok, half the price of the previous Opus flagship, while keeping the 1M-token context window and multimodal text, image and file input. It sits below Fable 5 in the Claude ladder and above Sonnet 5.
- Frontier capability at half the previous Opus price
- 1M-token context
- Agentic coding and tool use
- Text, image & file input
Claude Sonnet 5
Anthropic · Balanced
The most agentic Sonnet Anthropic has shipped: it plans, drives tools like browsers and terminals, and runs autonomously at a level that previously needed a larger model, with performance close to Opus 4.8 at a fraction of the price. Launch pricing is $2/$10 per MTok through 31 August 2026, after which it moves to $3/$15.
- Autonomous multi-step agent runs
- Browser and terminal tool use
- Near-Opus performance at Sonnet pricing
- 1M-token context
Frequently asked questions
Which is cheaper, Claude Opus 5 or Claude Sonnet 5?
On blended cost Claude Sonnet 5 undercuts Claude Opus 5 by about 2.5×: $4.40 per million tokens versus $11.00. A single 100K-input, 10K-output job costs $0.300 on Claude Sonnet 5 against $0.750 on Claude Opus 5. Blended cost weights input at 70% and output at 30%; price your own token split for an exact answer, since the cheaper model on a blended basis is not always cheaper for your workload.
Which has the larger context window, Claude Opus 5 or Claude Sonnet 5?
Context is level at 1,000,000 tokens on each side. The context window caps everything in a single request: prompt, retrieved documents, conversation history and the model’s own output all share it.
Can I compare Claude Opus 5 and Claude Sonnet 5 on my own numbers?
Yes. Open both in the side-by-side comparison tool to see every field at once, or use the token calculator to price your actual prompt and monthly request volume against each model. Both are free and need no sign-up.
Price it for your own workload
Related matchups
Terms used on this page
Prices and scores are recomputed on every deploy from the catalogue. Prices checked 12 August 2026.