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Model comparison

Claude 4.1 Opus vs Claude Sonnet 4.5

Data verified

Head-to-head evidence from 3 shared benchmark results across 3 categories. Overall scores shown here use the public BenchAlign v5 ranking lane.

45.88/100
Margin
7.7pts
winning →
53.61/100
0 category wins1 category wins

Public leaderboard positions: Claude 4.1 Opus #142 (Supported); Claude Sonnet 4.5 #96 (Estimated). Intervals and evidence labels describe ranking uncertainty, not a guarantee for a specific workload.

Evidence parity. Claude 4.1 Opus and Claude Sonnet 4.5 share 3 comparable benchmark results. 1 of 8 categories are comparable. 1 result is unique to Claude 4.1 Opus; 9 to Claude Sonnet 4.5.

Updated July 22, 2026
Shared results
3
Claude 4.1 Opus only
1
Claude Sonnet 4.5 only
9
Comparable categories
1 / 8

Pick Claude Sonnet 4.5 if you want the stronger benchmark profile. Claude 4.1 Opus only becomes the better choice if its workflow or ecosystem matters more than the raw scoreboard.

Confidence note. This is a partial-evidence comparison with 3 shared benchmark results across 3 evidence categories; 1 of 8 categories currently have scoreable aggregates for both models. Treat the verdict as directional until coverage is more balanced.

Why this result

Claude Sonnet 4.5 is clearly ahead on the BenchAlign aggregate, 53.61 to 45.88. The gap is large enough that you do not need to squint at the spreadsheet to see the difference.

Claude Sonnet 4.5's sharpest advantage is in coding, where it averages 77.2 against 74.5. The single biggest benchmark swing on the page is SWE-bench Verified, 74.5% to 77.2%.

Claude 4.1 Opus is also the more expensive model on tokens at $15.00 input / $75.00 output per 1M tokens, versus $3.00 input / $15.00 output per 1M tokens for Claude Sonnet 4.5. That is roughly 5.0x on output cost alone.

Category breakdown

Exact category averages are shown below. Not measured means BenchLM does not have enough sourced public coverage for that model and category.

Category scores and score margins for Claude 4.1 Opus and Claude Sonnet 4.5
CategoryClaude 4.1 OpusΔClaude Sonnet 4.5
CodingClaude 4.1 Opus74.5Margin→ 2.7Claude Sonnet 4.577.2
AgenticClaude 4.1 OpusNot measuredMarginNo overlapClaude Sonnet 4.555.4
ReasoningClaude 4.1 OpusNot measuredMarginNo overlapClaude Sonnet 4.513.6
KnowledgeClaude 4.1 OpusNot measuredMarginNo overlapClaude Sonnet 4.583.4
MathClaude 4.1 OpusNot measuredMarginNo overlapClaude Sonnet 4.511.2

Decisive benchmark drivers

The largest measured benchmark gaps in this matchup, with exact reported values.

More
A · Claude 4.1 OpusB · Claude Sonnet 4.5

  1. SWE-bench Verified

    Coding
    Source ↗
    A 74.5%B 77.2%
    Winner: Claude Sonnet 4.5Δ 2.7
    SWE-bench Verified: Claude 4.1 Opus scored 74.5%; Claude Sonnet 4.5 scored 77.2%. Claude Sonnet 4.5 wins this benchmark.

Operational comparison

Runtime and commercial metrics are compared only when both models have a complete sourced value.

MetricClaude 4.1 OpusClaude Sonnet 4.5Comparison
Input / output priceUSD per 1M tokensClaude 4.1 Opus$15 input / $75 outputClaude Sonnet 4.5$3 input / $15 outputClaude Sonnet 4.5 has the lower combined listed price.
Generation speedtokens per secondClaude 4.1 Opus29 tok/sClaude Sonnet 4.5Not availableA complete speed comparison is not available.
First-answer latencyseconds to first tokenClaude 4.1 Opus1.66 sClaude Sonnet 4.5Not availableA complete latency comparison is not available.
Context windowmaximum listed tokensClaude 4.1 Opus200KClaude Sonnet 4.5200KListed context windows are equal.

Benchmark Deep Dive

Agentic
BenchmarkClaude 4.1 OpusClaude Sonnet 4.5Result
JobBenchSource 21.9%27.7%Claude Sonnet 4.5 leads
Terminal-Bench 2.0Source —50%Not comparable
OSWorld-VerifiedSource —61.4%Not comparable
VITA-BenchSource —17.0%Not comparable
Gert LabsSource —48.51%Not comparable
CodingClaude Sonnet 4.5 wins
BenchmarkClaude 4.1 OpusClaude Sonnet 4.5Result
SWE-bench VerifiedSource 74.5%77.2%Claude Sonnet 4.5 leads
Reasoning
BenchmarkClaude 4.1 OpusClaude Sonnet 4.5Result
ARC-AGI-2Source —13.6%Not comparable
Knowledge
BenchmarkClaude 4.1 OpusClaude Sonnet 4.5Result
Artificial Analysis Intelligence IndexSource 28.2%—Not comparable
GPQASource —83.4%Not comparable
Math
BenchmarkClaude 4.1 OpusClaude Sonnet 4.5Result
AIME 2025Source —87%Not comparable
FrontierMath v2 (Tiers 1-3)Source —13.495%Not comparable
FrontierMath v2 (Tier 4)Source —4.167%Not comparable
Multimodal
BenchmarkClaude 4.1 OpusClaude Sonnet 4.5Result
Design Arena WebsiteSource 12071219Claude Sonnet 4.5 leads
Frequently Asked Questions (2)

Which is better, Claude 4.1 Opus or Claude Sonnet 4.5?

Claude Sonnet 4.5 is ahead on BenchLM's BenchAlign leaderboard, 53.61 to 45.88. The biggest single separator in this matchup is SWE-bench Verified, where the scores are 74.5% and 77.2%.

Which is better for coding, Claude 4.1 Opus or Claude Sonnet 4.5?

Claude Sonnet 4.5 has the edge for coding in this comparison, averaging 77.2 versus 74.5. Inside this category, SWE-bench Verified is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

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