Model comparison
Claude 4 Sonnet vs Claude Sonnet 4.6
Head-to-head evidence from 16 shared benchmark results across 6 categories. Overall scores shown here use the public BenchAlign v5 ranking lane.
Public leaderboard positions: Claude 4 Sonnet #158 (Supported); Claude Sonnet 4.6 #32 (Supported). Intervals and evidence labels describe ranking uncertainty, not a guarantee for a specific workload.
Evidence parity. Claude 4 Sonnet and Claude Sonnet 4.6 share 16 comparable benchmark results. 1 of 8 categories are comparable. 0 results are unique to Claude 4 Sonnet; 17 to Claude Sonnet 4.6.
Updated July 20, 2026- Shared results
- 16
- Claude 4 Sonnet only
- 0
- Claude Sonnet 4.6 only
- 17
- Comparable categories
- 1 / 8
Pick Claude Sonnet 4.6 if you want the stronger benchmark profile. Claude 4 Sonnet only becomes the better choice if coding is the priority.
Confidence note. This is a partial-evidence comparison with 16 shared benchmark results across 6 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 4.6 is clearly ahead on the BenchAlign aggregate, 65.07 to 42.79. The gap is large enough that you do not need to squint at the spreadsheet to see the difference.
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 4.6 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coding | Claude 4 Sonnet72.7 | Margin← 3.6 | Claude Sonnet 4.669.1 |
| Agentic | Claude 4 SonnetNot measured | MarginNo overlap | Claude Sonnet 4.665.2 |
| Knowledge | Claude 4 SonnetNot measured | MarginNo overlap | Claude Sonnet 4.666.0 |
| Math | Claude 4 SonnetNot measured | MarginNo overlap | Claude Sonnet 4.626.4 |
| Multimodal | Claude 4 SonnetNot measured | MarginNo overlap | Claude Sonnet 4.677.4 |
Decisive benchmark drivers
The largest measured benchmark gaps in this matchup, with exact reported values.
More
- Source ↗
SWE-bench Verified
CodingA 72.7%B 79.6%Winner: Claude Sonnet 4.6Δ 6.9SWE-bench Verified: Claude 4 Sonnet scored 72.7%; Claude Sonnet 4.6 scored 79.6%. Claude Sonnet 4.6 wins this benchmark.
Operational comparison
Runtime and commercial metrics are compared only when both models have a complete sourced value.
| Metric | Claude 4 Sonnet | Claude Sonnet 4.6 | Comparison |
|---|---|---|---|
| Input / output priceUSD per 1M tokens | Claude 4 Sonnet$3 input / $15 output | Claude Sonnet 4.6$3 input / $15 output | Listed prices are equal. |
| Generation speedtokens per second | Claude 4 Sonnet40 tok/s | Claude Sonnet 4.644 tok/s | Claude Sonnet 4.6 has the higher measured throughput. |
| First-answer latencyseconds to first token | Claude 4 Sonnet1.33 s | Claude Sonnet 4.61.48 s | Claude 4 Sonnet reaches the first token sooner. |
| Context windowmaximum listed tokens | Claude 4 Sonnet200K | Claude Sonnet 4.6200K | Listed context windows are equal. |
Benchmark Deep Dive
Agentic8 benchmarks
| Benchmark | Claude 4 Sonnet | Claude Sonnet 4.6 | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| τ²-bench resultsSource | 52.3% | 79.5% | Claude Sonnet 4.6 leads |
| Gert LabsSource | 39.66% | 62.92% | Claude Sonnet 4.6 leads |
| JobBenchSource | 18.4% | 36.9% | Claude Sonnet 4.6 leads |
| Terminal-Bench 2.0Source | — | 59.1% | Not comparable |
| OSWorld-VerifiedSource | — | 72.1% | Not comparable |
| Claw-EvalSource | — | 67.8% | Not comparable |
| CyberGymSource | — | 65.2% | Not comparable |
| OSWorld 2.0Source | — | 8.3% | Not comparable |
CodingClaude 4 Sonnet wins7 benchmarks
| Benchmark | Claude 4 Sonnet | Claude Sonnet 4.6 | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| SWE-bench VerifiedSource | 72.7% | 79.6% | Claude Sonnet 4.6 leads |
| AA-SciCodeSource | 37.3% | 46.9% | Claude Sonnet 4.6 leads |
| SWE-RebenchSource | — | 60.7% | Not comparable |
| React Native EvalsSource | — | 80.6% | Not comparable |
| Vibe Code BenchSource | — | 51.48% | Not comparable |
| cursorBench31Source | — | 48.8% | Not comparable |
| FrontierCode 1.1 MainSource | — | 24.3% | Not comparable |
Reasoning2 benchmarks
Knowledge10 benchmarks
| Benchmark | Claude 4 Sonnet | Claude Sonnet 4.6 | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Artificial Analysis Intelligence IndexSource | 25.5% | 35.9% | Claude Sonnet 4.6 leads |
| AA-GPQA DiamondSource | 68.3% | 79.9% | Claude Sonnet 4.6 leads |
| AA-HLESource | 4.0% | 13.2% | Claude Sonnet 4.6 leads |
| AA-Omniscience IndexSource | -9.2% | -2.9% | Claude Sonnet 4.6 leads |
| AA-Omniscience AccuracySource | 22.4% | 38.0% | Claude Sonnet 4.6 leads |
| AA-Omniscience Hallucination RateSource | 40.8% | 65.9% | Claude 4 Sonnet leads |
| GPQASource | — | 89.9% | Not comparable |
| SuperGPQASource | — | 95% | Not comparable |
| MMLU-ProSource | — | 79.2% | Not comparable |
| HLESource | — | 49% | Not comparable |
Math2 benchmarks
Multimodal3 benchmarks
Inst. Following1 benchmarks
| Benchmark | Claude 4 Sonnet | Claude Sonnet 4.6 | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA-IFBenchSource | 45.4% | 41.2% | Claude 4 Sonnet leads |
Frequently Asked Questions (2)
Which is better, Claude 4 Sonnet or Claude Sonnet 4.6?
Claude Sonnet 4.6 is ahead on BenchLM's BenchAlign leaderboard, 65.07 to 42.79. The biggest single separator in this matchup is SWE-bench Verified, where the scores are 72.7% and 79.6%.
Which is better for coding, Claude 4 Sonnet or Claude Sonnet 4.6?
Claude 4 Sonnet has the edge for coding in this comparison, averaging 72.7 versus 69.1. Inside this category, AA-SciCode is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.
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