Claude Opus 4.8 vs Claude Sonnet 5
API pricing, context window and capabilities for Claude Opus 4.8 and Claude Sonnet 5, side by side. Prices are the cheapest listed serving route per 1M tokens, from LiteLLM and OpenRouter.
Verdict
computed from the published numbersClaude Opus 4.8 wins on Terminal-Bench and on intelligence. Claude Sonnet 5 wins on price.
Price
Claude Sonnet 5
Terminal-Bench
Claude Opus 4.8
Intelligence
Claude Opus 4.8
Context window
Tied
Key takeaways
who wins on what, from the published numbersClaude Opus 4.8 wins
No clear edge on the tracked metrics.
Claude Sonnet 5 wins
- Cheaper input ($5.00 vs $2.00 /1M)
- Cheaper output ($25.00 vs $10.00 /1M)
- More serving providers (8 vs 9)
Cheaper overall
Claude Sonnet 5
$2.00 + $10.00 /1M
Larger context
Tied
More providers
Claude Sonnet 5
9 providers
Pricing & specs
cheapest listed route · per 1M tokensOn-demand listed rates, OpenRouter routed quotes and Vercel reseller quotes. Enterprise commitments can be materially lower.
| Claude Opus 4.8 | Claude Sonnet 5 | |
|---|---|---|
| Input $/1M | $5.00via Anthropic | $2.00via Anthropic best |
| Output $/1M | $25.00via Anthropic | $10.00via Anthropic best |
| Context window | 1M | 1M |
| Max output | 128K | 128K |
| Serving providers | 8 | 9 best |
| Date | Released May 28, 2026 | Released Jun 30, 2026 |
Benchmarks
Benchmark scores, side by side| Claude Opus 4.8 | Claude Sonnet 5 | |
|---|---|---|
| Intelligence | 41.8 best | 38.2 |
| Terminal-Bench | 85% best | 81% |
| GPQA Diamond | 92% best | 91% |
| Output speed | 62 t/s | 85 t/s best |
| Latency (TTFT) | 56.16s best | 187.72s |
Cost calculator
choose a serving route for each sideInput tokens / month
Output tokens / month
Claude Opus 4.8
via Azure
$50
Claude Sonnet 5
via Azure
$20
Capabilities
feature support, side by side| Feature | Claude Opus 4.8 | Claude Sonnet 5 |
|---|---|---|
| Vision | ✓ | ✓ |
| Tool use | ✓ | ✓ |
| Reasoning | ✓ | ✓ |
| Audio | — | — |
| Prompt caching | ✓ | ✓ |
| Structured output | ✓ | ✓ |
| Web search | ✓ | ✓ |
Related comparisons
Frequently asked questions
Which is cheaper, Claude Opus 4.8 or Claude Sonnet 5?
Claude Sonnet 5 is cheaper for input ($5.00 vs $2.00 per 1M tokens) from Anthropic. Claude Sonnet 5 is cheaper for output ($25.00 vs $10.00 per 1M tokens) from Anthropic.
What is the context window difference between Claude Opus 4.8 and Claude Sonnet 5?
Both Claude Opus 4.8 and Claude Sonnet 5 have about a 1M-token context window.
How do Claude Opus 4.8 and Claude Sonnet 5 compare on benchmarks?
On the tracked benchmarks, Claude Opus 4.8 leads on Terminal-Bench, and Claude Opus 4.8 leads on intelligence.
Listed prices from LiteLLM, OpenRouter and Vercel · last checked Oct 14, 2026
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