Model comparison
Claude 4 Sonnet vs Claude Sonnet 4.5 Thinking
Head-to-head evidence from 1 shared benchmark result across 1 category. Overall scores shown here use the public BenchAlign v5 ranking lane.
Public leaderboard positions: Claude 4 Sonnet #158 (Supported); Claude Sonnet 4.5 Thinking unranked (Not scored). Intervals and evidence labels describe ranking uncertainty, not a guarantee for a specific workload.
Evidence parity. Claude 4 Sonnet and Claude Sonnet 4.5 Thinking share 1 comparable benchmark result. 0 of 8 categories are comparable. 15 results are unique to Claude 4 Sonnet; 1 to Claude Sonnet 4.5 Thinking.
Updated July 23, 2026- Shared results
- 1
- Claude 4 Sonnet only
- 15
- Claude Sonnet 4.5 Thinking only
- 1
- Comparable categories
- 0 / 8
Benchmark data for Claude 4 Sonnet and Claude Sonnet 4.5 Thinking is coming soon on BenchLM.
Confidence note. This is a partial-evidence comparison with 1 shared benchmark result across 1 evidence category; 0 of 8 categories currently have scoreable aggregates for both models. Treat the verdict as directional until coverage is more balanced.
Why this result
BenchLM has partial data for these models, but not enough overlapping benchmark coverage to produce a fair score-level comparison yet.
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 | Claude 4 Sonnet | Δ | Claude Sonnet 4.5 Thinking |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coding | Claude 4 Sonnet72.7 | MarginNo overlap | Claude Sonnet 4.5 ThinkingNot measured |
Operational comparison
Runtime and commercial metrics are compared only when both models have a complete sourced value.
| Metric | Claude 4 Sonnet | Claude Sonnet 4.5 Thinking | Comparison |
|---|---|---|---|
| Input / output priceUSD per 1M tokens | Claude 4 Sonnet$3 input / $15 output | Claude Sonnet 4.5 ThinkingNot available | A complete price comparison is not available. |
| Generation speedtokens per second | Claude 4 Sonnet40 tok/s | Claude Sonnet 4.5 ThinkingNot available | A complete speed comparison is not available. |
| First-answer latencyseconds to first token | Claude 4 Sonnet1.33 s | Claude Sonnet 4.5 ThinkingNot available | A complete latency comparison is not available. |
| Context windowmaximum listed tokens | Claude 4 Sonnet200K | Claude Sonnet 4.5 Thinking200K | Listed context windows are equal. |
Benchmark Deep Dive
Agentic3 benchmarks
Coding3 benchmarks
Reasoning2 benchmarks
Knowledge6 benchmarks
| Benchmark | Claude 4 Sonnet | Claude Sonnet 4.5 Thinking | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Artificial Analysis Intelligence IndexSource | 25.5% | — | Not comparable |
| AA-GPQA DiamondSource | 68.3% | — | Not comparable |
| AA-HLESource | 4.0% | — | Not comparable |
| AA-Omniscience IndexSource | -9.2% | — | Not comparable |
| AA-Omniscience AccuracySource | 22.4% | — | Not comparable |
| AA-Omniscience Hallucination RateSource | 40.8% | — | Not comparable |
Multimodal2 benchmarks
Inst. Following1 benchmarks
| Benchmark | Claude 4 Sonnet | Claude Sonnet 4.5 Thinking | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA-IFBenchSource | 45.4% | — | Not comparable |
Frequently Asked Questions (3)
Can I compare Claude 4 Sonnet and Claude Sonnet 4.5 Thinking on BenchLM yet?
Not fully yet. BenchLM is tracking both models, but the sourced benchmark breakdown for this comparison is still coming soon.
Why does this comparison show “coming soon”?
BenchLM only shows category winners and benchmark-level calls when we have sourced results that can be compared fairly. For these models, the public benchmark coverage is not complete enough yet.
What data is available for Claude 4 Sonnet and Claude Sonnet 4.5 Thinking today?
Claude 4 Sonnet: $3.00 input / $15.00 output per 1M tokens Both model pages still include creator, context window, reasoning mode, and other metadata while benchmark coverage fills in.
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