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Claude Opus 4.8 vs Claude Sonnet 4.6 — Price, Context, and Capability Compared

Verdict

Claude Opus 4.8 costs 1.7× more per blended million tokens than Claude Sonnet 4.6. Claude Opus 4.8 has the larger context window (500,000 tokens). Default to Claude Sonnet 4.6 unless you specifically need Claude Opus 4.8's edge.

Spec comparison

Claude Opus 4.8Claude Sonnet 4.6
Price (input)$5.00/M$3.00/M
Price (output)$25.00/M$15.00/M
Blended price$10.00/M$6.00/M
Context window500,000 tokens300,000 tokens
Max output64,000 tokens64,000 tokens
Modalitiestext, visiontext, vision
Reasoning modeYesYes
Released2026-042026-03
Speed58 t/s76 t/s

Cost at scale (3:1 blended)

Tokens / monthClaude Opus 4.8Claude Sonnet 4.6Delta
1,000,000$10.00$6.00$4.00 (1.7×)
10,000,000$100.00$60.00$40.00 (1.7×)
100,000,000$1000.00$600.00$400.00 (1.7×)

Choose Claude Opus 4.8 if…

  • Elite coding and multi-step reasoning
  • Strong instruction following on ambiguous prompts
  • Extended-thinking mode
  • Complex, multi-step tasks where Fable 5’s premium isn’t justified.

Choose Claude Sonnet 4.6 if…

  • Best intelligence-per-dollar in the Claude lineup
  • Fast enough for interactive coding agents
  • Reliable structured output
  • Enterprise workloads that need Opus-adjacent quality at Sonnet pricing.

Run this exact matchup right now

Send the same prompt to Claude Opus 4.8 and Claude Sonnet 4.6 side by side and see the outputs yourself.

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FAQ

Is Claude Opus 4.8 cheaper than Claude Sonnet 4.6?

Claude Sonnet 4.6 is cheaper, at $6.00 per million blended tokens vs $10.00 for Claude Opus 4.8.

Which has the bigger context window, Claude Opus 4.8 or Claude Sonnet 4.6?

Claude Opus 4.8 has the larger context window: 500,000 tokens vs 300,000.

Can Claude Opus 4.8 replace Claude Sonnet 4.6 for coding?

Both are viable for coding. Elite coding and multi-step reasoning (Claude Opus 4.8) vs Best intelligence-per-dollar in the Claude lineup (Claude Sonnet 4.6) — pick based on which strength matters more for your workload.

Which is faster, Claude Opus 4.8 or Claude Sonnet 4.6?

Claude Sonnet 4.6 is faster: 76 t/s vs 58 t/s, measured on our speed benchmarks.

Related

Claude Opus 4.8 pricingClaude Sonnet 4.6 pricingvs Grok 4.3vs Gemini 3.1 Provs Claude Opus 4vs Claude Fable 5Premium model tests

Pricing verified 2026-04-06. Specs verified 2026-08-08.