Model comparison
Claude 4 Sonnet vs o3-mini
Head-to-head evidence from 6 shared benchmark results across 3 categories. Overall scores shown here use the public BenchAlign v5 ranking lane.
Public leaderboard positions: Claude 4 Sonnet #168 (Supported); o3-mini #141 (Supported). Intervals and evidence labels describe ranking uncertainty, not a guarantee for a specific workload.
Evidence parity. Claude 4 Sonnet and o3-mini share 6 comparable benchmark results. 1 of 8 categories are comparable. 10 results are unique to Claude 4 Sonnet; 4 to o3-mini.
Updated July 24, 2026- Shared results
- 6
- Claude 4 Sonnet only
- 10
- o3-mini only
- 4
- Comparable categories
- 1 / 8
Pick o3-mini if you want the stronger benchmark profile. Claude 4 Sonnet only becomes the better choice if coding is the priority or you would rather avoid the extra latency and token burn of a reasoning model.
Confidence note. This is a partial-evidence comparison with 6 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
o3-mini is clearly ahead on the BenchAlign aggregate, 46.59 to 41.92. The gap is large enough that you do not need to squint at the spreadsheet to see the difference.
Claude 4 Sonnet is also the more expensive model on tokens at $3.00 input / $15.00 output per 1M tokens, versus $1.10 input / $4.40 output per 1M tokens for o3-mini. That is roughly 3.4x on output cost alone. o3-mini is the reasoning model in the pair, while Claude 4 Sonnet is not. That usually helps on harder chain-of-thought-heavy tests, but it can also mean more latency and more token spend in real use.
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 | o3-mini |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coding | Claude 4 Sonnet72.7 | Margin← 23.4 | o3-mini49.3 |
| Knowledge | Claude 4 SonnetNot measured | MarginNo overlap | o3-mini77.2 |
| Inst. Following | Claude 4 SonnetNot measured | MarginNo overlap | o3-mini93.9 |
Decisive benchmark drivers
The largest measured benchmark gaps in this matchup, with exact reported values.
More
- Source ↗
SWE-bench Verified
CodingA 72.7%B 49.3%Winner: Claude 4 SonnetΔ 23.4SWE-bench Verified: Claude 4 Sonnet scored 72.7%; o3-mini scored 49.3%. Claude 4 Sonnet wins this benchmark.
Operational comparison
Runtime and commercial metrics are compared only when both models have a complete sourced value.
| Metric | Claude 4 Sonnet | o3-mini | Comparison |
|---|---|---|---|
| Input / output priceUSD per 1M tokens | Claude 4 Sonnet$3 input / $15 output | o3-mini$1.1 input / $4.4 output | o3-mini has the lower combined listed price. |
| Generation speedtokens per second | Claude 4 Sonnet40 tok/s | o3-mini160 tok/s | o3-mini has the higher measured throughput. |
| First-answer latencyseconds to first token | Claude 4 Sonnet1.33 s | o3-mini7.12 s | Claude 4 Sonnet reaches the first token sooner. |
| Context windowmaximum listed tokens | Claude 4 Sonnet200K | o3-mini200K | Listed context windows are equal. |
Benchmark Deep Dive
Agentic3 benchmarks
CodingClaude 4 Sonnet wins2 benchmarks
Reasoning2 benchmarks
Knowledge8 benchmarks
| Benchmark | Claude 4 Sonnet | o3-mini | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Artificial Analysis Intelligence IndexSource | 25.5% | 19.0% | Claude 4 Sonnet leads |
| AA-GPQA DiamondSource | 68.3% | 74.8% | o3-mini leads |
| AA-HLESource | 4.0% | 8.7% | o3-mini leads |
| AA-Omniscience IndexSource | -9.2% | — | Not comparable |
| AA-Omniscience AccuracySource | 22.4% | — | Not comparable |
| AA-Omniscience Hallucination RateSource | 40.8% | — | Not comparable |
| MMLUSource | — | 86.9% | Not comparable |
| GPQASource | — | 77.2% | Not comparable |
Math1 benchmarks
| Benchmark | Claude 4 Sonnet | o3-mini | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| AIME 2024Source | — | 87.3% | Not comparable |
Multimodal2 benchmarks
Frequently Asked Questions (2)
Which is better, Claude 4 Sonnet or o3-mini?
o3-mini is ahead on BenchLM's BenchAlign leaderboard, 46.59 to 41.92. The biggest single separator in this matchup is SWE-bench Verified, where the scores are 72.7% and 49.3%.
Which is better for coding, Claude 4 Sonnet or o3-mini?
Claude 4 Sonnet has the edge for coding in this comparison, averaging 72.7 versus 49.3. Inside this category, SWE-bench Verified is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.