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HomeModelsClaude Sonnet 4.6
AnthropicPremium

Claude Sonnet 4.6

Best daily driver for coding and writing — the model most developers actually reach for.

97
Coding
98
Writing
93
Research
60
Images
42
Value
93
Long Context
Published benchmarks
79.6%
SWE-bench
1,340
Arena Elo
88.3%
MMLU
68%
GPQA
85.1%
MATH
Use this when

Daily coding, writing, and long-document work at a strong price-to-quality ratio

Skip this if

You specifically need desktop-control capabilities (GPT-5.5/GPT-5.4) or the absolute highest coding ceiling (Opus 4.7).

Pricing
$3.00/1M in
$15.00/1M out
→0%since Jun 2026
Context
1M tokens
Speed
Balanced

Claude Sonnet 4.6specs & pricing

Verified Sep 4, 2026 against the AI Gateway catalog
Input price
$3.00 / 1M tokens
Output price
$15.00 / 1M tokens
Cached input(prompt-cache read)
$0.30 / 1M tokens
Cache write
$3.75 / 1M tokens
Context window
1M tokens
Max output
128k tokens
Knowledge cutoff
Aug 31, 2025
Released
Feb 17, 2026
Input modalities
Text, Image, PDF
Output modalities
Text
Reasoning mode
Yes
Tool use
Yes
Gateway model ID
anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.6

Compare every model's knowledge cutoff, max output, and context window.

Powers Cursor and Windsurf by default. If your team already uses either, you're already using this model.

How to access
Subscription
Claude Pro — $20/mo
Free tier
Claude Free — Limited access
API
$3/1M input tokens
Subscription = chat interface. API = build with it. Compare all subscription plans · Claude Pro usage limits
Switch to instead if...
Best overall
GPT-6 Astra
Cheaper option
Claude 3.5 Haiku
Faster option
Claude 3.5 Sonnet

Strengths

Strong coding quality with 1M context at $3/1M input

Default model in Cursor and Windsurf, the two most popular AI coding editors

Best writing quality in its price tier — tone, long-form clarity, editorial polish

Weaknesses

Claude Opus 4.7 has a higher current premium coding ceiling

GPT-5.5 or GPT-5.4 are better picks when OpenAI computer-use workflows are the priority

Real-world use cases

What people actually use Claude Sonnet 4.6 for.

Daily coding in Cursor — debugging, refactoring, and feature implementation

Drafting polished client reports, strategy memos, and long-form editorial content

Answering research questions with up to 1M tokens of document context

How Claude Sonnet 4.6 compares

The nearest models people weigh against it, and what actually separates them.

vs Claude 3.5 Haiku — Against Claude 3.5 Haiku (Anthropic), Claude Sonnet 4.6 costs about 73% more per token, takes 5x the context and answers slower. Claude 3.5 Haiku is the one to check first if the price difference matters more than the ceiling.

vs Claude 3.5 Sonnet — Against Claude 3.5 Sonnet (Anthropic), Claude Sonnet 4.6 runs about 50% cheaper per token and takes 5x the context. Take Claude Sonnet 4.6 unless you specifically need what Claude 3.5 Sonnet does better.

vs Claude Fable 5 — Against Claude Fable 5 (Anthropic), Claude Sonnet 4.6 runs about 70% cheaper per token and answers faster. Take Claude Sonnet 4.6 unless you specifically need what Claude Fable 5 does better.

Price History

Claude Sonnet 4.6 pricing over time

→0% since Jun 12

$3.24$2.78$2.31$1.85$1.38Jun 12Jul 4Jul 22Aug 8Sep 2Sep 20

90 data points · tracked daily since Jun 12, 2026

Ready to try it?

Start using Claude Sonnet 4.6

Daily coding, writing, and long-document work at a strong price-to-quality ratio. Start free — no card required.

Try Claude Sonnet 4.6 freeCompare alternatives

Recommendations are made independently based on real-world use and public benchmarks. See our disclosures for details.

Compare alternatives

Similar models worth checking before you commit.

All Claude Sonnet 4.6 alternatives →
AnthropicBalanced

Claude 3.5 Haiku

Claude 3.5 Haiku is Anthropic's fastest and most affordable model in the Claude 3.5 family, designed for high-throughput tasks requiring quick responses without sacrificing Claude's core instruction-following quality. It handles a massive 200K context window while maintaining speed suitable for production pipelines.

Verdict
The fastest way to get Claude's quality in production — just don't confuse 'fast' with 'cheap'.
Quality score
64%
Pricing
$0.80/1M in
$4.00/1M out
Speed
Very fast
5/5 speed
Context
200k tokens
Output cost of $4/1M is notably higher than competing fast/mini models. Input cost at ~$0.80/1M is competitive. Best value emerges in input-heavy pipelines like document classification or RAG retrieval where output tokens are minimal.
FastLong ContextBudget-FriendlyClaude FamilyAgentic
Best for
High-volume, latency-sensitive applications like chatbots, classification, data extraction, and agentic tool use where speed and cost matter more than peak reasoning depth.
View model
AnthropicPremium

Claude 3.5 Sonnet

Claude 3.5 Sonnet is Anthropic's mid-cycle flagship model, balancing strong reasoning, coding, and instruction-following with a 200K context window. It sits between Haiku and Opus in Anthropic's lineup, offering near-flagship quality at a lower cost than top-tier models.

Verdict
One of the best models for coding and complex instruction-following, but its premium pricing demands premium use cases.
Quality score
81%
Pricing
$6.00/1M in
$30.00/1M out
Speed
Balanced
3/5 speed
Context
200k tokens
Pricing at $6 input / $30 output per million tokens is significantly higher than GPT-4o ($2.50/$10). Best accessed via Anthropic API or Amazon Bedrock. Claude 3.5 Sonnet (October 2024 version) supersedes the June 2024 release with improved performance.
CodingLong ContextInstruction FollowingReasoningPremium
Best for
Complex coding tasks, multi-step reasoning, and long-document analysis where GPT-4o-class quality is needed without paying for the absolute top tier.
View model
AnthropicPremium

Claude Fable 5

Anthropic's new Mythos-class flagship and the most capable coding model anyone can use — 80.3% SWE-Bench Pro, an 11-point jump over Opus 4.8. 1M context, 128K output, native parallel subagents. Released June 9, 2026.

Verdict
New global #1 — 80.3% SWE-Bench Pro, the most capable model generally available.
Quality score
98%
Pricing
$10.00/1M in
$50.00/1M out
Speed
Deliberate
2/5 speed
Context
1M tokens
Launched June 9, 2026 as the public, Mythos-class release. Available on the Claude API, Microsoft Foundry, and Google Vertex AI. Free for all users until June 22, 2026. Same underlying model as Claude Mythos 5, with safeguards that block specific high-risk cyber responses.
Coding leaderSWE-Bench Pro #1Mythos-classParallel subagentsAgenticLong contextPremiumNew
Best for
The hardest coding tasks, autonomous multi-step agents, and frontier-grade reasoning
View model

Claude Sonnet 4.6 head-to-head

All Claude Sonnet 4.6 alternatives →ChatGPT vs Claude →Claude vs Gemini →Grok vs Claude →DeepSeek vs Claude →Mistral vs Claude →GPT-4o vs Claude Sonnet 4.6 →GPT-5.4 vs Claude Sonnet 4.6 →Claude Opus 4.7 vs Claude Sonnet 4.6 →Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs Gemini 3.1 Pro →Llama 4 vs Claude →GPT-5.5 vs Claude Sonnet 4.6 →DeepSeek V3 vs Claude Sonnet 4.6 →DeepSeek R1 vs Claude Sonnet 4.6 →Grok 4 vs Claude Sonnet 4.6 →GPT-5.2 vs Claude Sonnet 4.6 →GPT-4o vs Claude Sonnet 4.6 →GPT-5.2 Mini vs Claude Sonnet 4.6 →GPT-4o Mini vs Claude Sonnet 4.6 →View benchmark scores →

Change history

Pricing moves, ranking shifts, and capability updates.

PricingSep 1, 2026

Claude Sonnet 4.6 — output price cut

Claude Sonnet 4.6 output pricing changed from $15.00/1M to $7.50/1M (↓ cheaper, 50% cut).

View model
PricingSep 1, 2026

Claude Sonnet 4.6 — input price cut

Claude Sonnet 4.6 input pricing changed from $3.00/1M to $1.50/1M (↓ cheaper, 50% cut).

View model
PricingAug 24, 2026

Claude Sonnet 4.6 — output price cut

Claude Sonnet 4.6 output pricing changed from $15.00/1M to $7.50/1M (↓ cheaper, 50% cut).

View model
PricingAug 24, 2026

Claude Sonnet 4.6 — input price cut

Claude Sonnet 4.6 input pricing changed from $3.00/1M to $1.50/1M (↓ cheaper, 50% cut).

View model

FAQ

How much does Claude Sonnet 4.6 cost?

Claude Sonnet 4.6 costs $3 per million input tokens and $15 per million output tokens on the API, with cached input at $0.3 per million. A month of 10M input and 2M output tokens runs about $60.00 at list price, before any batch or caching discounts.

What is the context window of Claude Sonnet 4.6?

Claude Sonnet 4.6 has a 1M tokens context window, with up to 128k tokens of output per response. That is the total of prompt plus response the model can hold in one request.

What is the knowledge cutoff of Claude Sonnet 4.6?

Claude Sonnet 4.6's training data runs through August 31, 2025, and the model was released on February 17, 2026. For anything after that date it needs web search or documents in the prompt.

What is Claude Sonnet 4.6 best for?

Claude Sonnet 4.6 is best for daily coding, writing, and long-document work at a strong price-to-quality ratio. It is a strong fit when that workflow matters more than the tradeoffs around premium pricing and balanced speed.

When should I avoid Claude Sonnet 4.6?

You specifically need desktop-control capabilities (GPT-5.5/GPT-5.4) or the absolute highest coding ceiling (Opus 4.7).

What is a cheaper alternative to Claude Sonnet 4.6?

Claude 3.5 Haiku (Anthropic) at $0.80/1M/1M input against Claude Sonnet 4.6's $3.00/1M/1M — roughly 73% less per token all in. The fastest way to get Claude's quality in production — just don't confuse 'fast' with 'cheap'. Compare it first if Claude Sonnet 4.6's pricing is the thing stopping you.

What is a faster alternative to Claude Sonnet 4.6?

Claude 3.5 Sonnet — balanced against Claude Sonnet 4.6's balanced, with 200k tokens of context. Worth the swap when response time is what your users notice rather than the last few points of reasoning depth.

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