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Claude 3.5 Sonnet vs Claude Opus 4.5

Head-to-head comparison across 2benchmark categories. Overall scores shown here use BenchLM's provisional ranking lane.

Claude 3.5 Sonnet

42

VS

Claude Opus 4.5

80

0 categoriesvs2 categories

Verified leaderboard positions: Claude 3.5 Sonnet unranked · Claude Opus 4.5 #7

Pick Claude Opus 4.5 if you want the stronger benchmark profile. Claude 3.5 Sonnet only becomes the better choice if its workflow or ecosystem matters more than the raw scoreboard.

Category Radar

Head-to-Head by Category

Category Breakdown

Coding

Claude Opus 4.5
49vs65.9

+16.9 difference

Knowledge

Claude Opus 4.5
59.4vs66.2

+6.8 difference

Operational Comparison

Claude 3.5 Sonnet

Claude Opus 4.5

Price (per 1M tokens)

$null / $null

$null / $null

Speed

N/A

46 t/s

Latency (TTFT)

N/A

1.01s

Context Window

200K

200K

Quick Verdict

Pick Claude Opus 4.5 if you want the stronger benchmark profile. Claude 3.5 Sonnet only becomes the better choice if its workflow or ecosystem matters more than the raw scoreboard.

Claude Opus 4.5 is clearly ahead on the provisional aggregate, 80 to 42. The gap is large enough that you do not need to squint at the spreadsheet to see the difference.

Claude Opus 4.5's sharpest advantage is in coding, where it averages 65.9 against 49. The single biggest benchmark swing on the page is SWE-bench Verified, 49% to 80.9%.

Benchmark Deep Dive

Frequently Asked Questions (3)

Which is better, Claude 3.5 Sonnet or Claude Opus 4.5?

Claude Opus 4.5 is ahead on BenchLM's provisional leaderboard, 80 to 42. The biggest single separator in this matchup is SWE-bench Verified, where the scores are 49% and 80.9%.

Which is better for knowledge tasks, Claude 3.5 Sonnet or Claude Opus 4.5?

Claude Opus 4.5 has the edge for knowledge tasks in this comparison, averaging 66.2 versus 59.4. Inside this category, GPQA is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for coding, Claude 3.5 Sonnet or Claude Opus 4.5?

Claude Opus 4.5 has the edge for coding in this comparison, averaging 65.9 versus 49. Inside this category, SWE-bench Verified is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

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Last updated: April 20, 2026

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