Claude Sonnet 5 vs GPT-5.6 Terra
Anthropic vs OpenAI · Prices checked 12 August 2026
On price Claude Sonnet 5 edges it, $4.40 per million tokens blended versus $5.00, about 12 per cent less. A single 100K-input, 10K-output job costs $0.300 on Claude Sonnet 5 against $0.320 on GPT-5.6 Terra.
GPT-5.6 Terra reads more in one request: 1,050,000 tokens of context against 1,000,000. Claude Sonnet 5 was released Jun 2026; GPT-5.6 Terra Jul 2026.
Pricing and capacity
| Metric | Claude Sonnet 5 | GPT-5.6 Terra | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Input / 1M tokens | $2.00 | $2.00 | level |
| Output / 1M tokens | $10.00 | $12.00 | 17% |
| Blended · 70/30calculated | $4.40 | $5.00 | 12% |
| Blended · 50/50calculated | $6.00 | $7.00 | 14% |
| Blended · 80/20calculated | $3.60 | $4.00 | 10% |
| Blended · 20/80calculated | $8.40 | $10.00 | 16% |
| Job cost · 100K + 10Kcalculated | $0.300 | $0.320 | 6% |
| Job cost · 1M + 100Kcalculated | $3.00 | $3.20 | 6% |
| Context window | 1,000,000 | 1,050,000 | 5% |
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 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
GPT-5.6 Terra
OpenAI · Balanced
The balanced everyday tier of GPT-5.6, which OpenAI describes as competitive with GPT-5.5 at a lower price. Terra is the cheaper path for scoped implementation work and first-pass review, where Sol's full reasoning budget is more than the task needs. Standard short-context pricing is $2/$12 per MTok with cached input at $0.20, roughly 60% below Sol for the same context window.
- GPT-5.5-class performance at lower cost
- Scoped implementation work
- First-pass code review
- Tool calling
Frequently asked questions
Which is cheaper, Claude Sonnet 5 or GPT-5.6 Terra?
On price Claude Sonnet 5 edges it, $4.40 per million tokens blended versus $5.00, about 12 per cent less. A single 100K-input, 10K-output job costs $0.300 on Claude Sonnet 5 against $0.320 on GPT-5.6 Terra. 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 Sonnet 5 or GPT-5.6 Terra?
GPT-5.6 Terra reads more in one request: 1,050,000 tokens of context against 1,000,000. 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 Sonnet 5 and GPT-5.6 Terra 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.