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Model comparison

Claude Haiku 4.5 Thinking vs Claude Opus 4.6 (Adaptive)

Updated August 11, 2026. Public scores include evidence status and uncertainty. They are not guarantees for a specific workload.

Claude Haiku 4.5 Thinking

Anthropic

Evidence status unavailable

90% interval unavailable

Claude Opus 4.6 (Adaptive)

Anthropic

63.8/100

Estimated · Public rank #40

90% interval 52.3–75.4

At least one model is not scored in the current public ranking lane, so the page does not name an overall quality winner.

1 results are shared. Category rows based on different benchmark sets are marked directional and do not name a winner.

Which one for your work

Recommendations appear only when a shared evidence basis or an explicit operating constraint supports the call. Secondary and unsupported use cases stay disclosed below the initial list.

  • Long documents

    Prompts that approach the documented context limit

    Claude Opus 4.6 (Adaptive)

    Claude Opus 4.6 (Adaptive) has the larger documented context window.

    Confidence: documented

Show secondary and unsupported calls
  • Coding work

    Code generation, repair, and software-engineering tasks

    Not enough matched evidence

    No shared weighted benchmark basis supports a winner.

    Confidence: limited

  • Agentic work

    Tool use, computer use, and multi-step task completion

    Not enough matched evidence

    No shared weighted benchmark basis supports a winner.

    Confidence: limited

  • Chat turn cost

    1K fresh input + 500 output tokens

    Not enough matched evidence

    A complete comparable API-rate estimate is not available for both models.

    Confidence: listed-rates

  • Cache-heavy agent loop cost

    200K cached + 20K fresh input + 10K output tokens

    Not enough matched evidence

    The page does not recommend a cost winner because at least one model cannot fit the stated workload in one request. Claude Haiku 4.5 Thinking does not fit this workload in one request. Claude Haiku 4.5 Thinking has no comparable published API token rate. Claude Opus 4.6 (Adaptive) has no comparable published API token rate.

    Confidence: listed-rates

  • Repository review cost

    50K fresh input + 3K output tokens

    Not enough matched evidence

    A complete comparable API-rate estimate is not available for both models.

    Confidence: listed-rates

What is actually comparable

Shared results can support a head-to-head reading. Results present for only one model describe coverage, not superiority.

Shared results
1
Claude Haiku 4.5 Thinking only
0
Claude Opus 4.6 (Adaptive) only
0
Like-for-like categories
0 / 8

Category results, on a stated basis

Each row states whether both averages use the same weighted benchmark set. Directional and not-comparable rows remain visible, but they never receive a winner in this template.

Agentic

Not comparable
Claude Haiku 4.5 Thinking
Not measured
Claude Opus 4.6 (Adaptive)
Not measured
Weighted basis
0 vs 0 rows
Reading
Not comparable

Coding

Not comparable
Claude Haiku 4.5 Thinking
Not measured
Claude Opus 4.6 (Adaptive)
Not measured
Weighted basis
0 vs 0 rows
Reading
Not comparable

Reasoning

Not comparable
Claude Haiku 4.5 Thinking
Not measured
Claude Opus 4.6 (Adaptive)
Not measured
Weighted basis
0 vs 0 rows
Reading
Not comparable

Knowledge

Not comparable
Claude Haiku 4.5 Thinking
Not measured
Claude Opus 4.6 (Adaptive)
Not measured
Weighted basis
0 vs 0 rows
Reading
Not comparable

Math

Not comparable
Claude Haiku 4.5 Thinking
Not measured
Claude Opus 4.6 (Adaptive)
Not measured
Weighted basis
0 vs 0 rows
Reading
Not comparable

Multilingual

Not comparable
Claude Haiku 4.5 Thinking
Not measured
Claude Opus 4.6 (Adaptive)
Not measured
Weighted basis
0 vs 0 rows
Reading
Not comparable

Multimodal

Not comparable
Claude Haiku 4.5 Thinking
Not measured
Claude Opus 4.6 (Adaptive)
Not measured
Weighted basis
0 vs 0 rows
Reading
Not comparable

Instruction following

Not comparable
Claude Haiku 4.5 Thinking
Not measured
Claude Opus 4.6 (Adaptive)
Not measured
Weighted basis
0 vs 0 rows
Reading
Not comparable

Shape of the matched evidence

Only shared public evidence is shown. Sparse evidence stays a ruled list rather than being closed into a radar shape.

A shared-evidence shape is not available.

BenchLM does not draw a radar or infer missing axes when the matched evidence is too sparse.

What each workload costs

Three fixed token mixes turn per-token rates into comparable decisions. Each scenario states context fit and whether cached input had to fall back to the published list-input rate.

Chat turn

1K fresh input + 500 output tokens

Claude Haiku 4.5 Thinking
API rate not published
Fits in one request
Claude Opus 4.6 (Adaptive)
API rate not published
Fits in one request

Claude Haiku 4.5 Thinking has no comparable published API token rate. Claude Opus 4.6 (Adaptive) has no comparable published API token rate.

Repository review

50K fresh input + 3K output tokens

Claude Haiku 4.5 Thinking
API rate not published
Fits in one request
Claude Opus 4.6 (Adaptive)
API rate not published
Fits in one request

Claude Haiku 4.5 Thinking has no comparable published API token rate. Claude Opus 4.6 (Adaptive) has no comparable published API token rate.

Cache-heavy agent loop

200K cached + 20K fresh input + 10K output tokens

Claude Haiku 4.5 Thinking
API rate not published
Does not fit in one request
Cached-input rate unavailable
Claude Opus 4.6 (Adaptive)
API rate not published
Fits in one request
Cached-input rate unavailable

Claude Haiku 4.5 Thinking does not fit this workload in one request. Claude Haiku 4.5 Thinking has no comparable published API token rate. Claude Opus 4.6 (Adaptive) has no comparable published API token rate.

Specification differences

Sourced differences are shown directly. Missing facts stay explicit instead of being inferred from a model name or family.

Context window

Maximum documented context; output-token limits may be lower.

Claude Haiku 4.5 Thinking

200K

Claude Opus 4.6 (Adaptive)

Cached-input rate

A missing cached-input rate falls back to the listed input rate only in the stated workload estimate.

Claude Haiku 4.5 Thinking

No comparable hosted API rate

Claude Opus 4.6 (Adaptive)

No comparable hosted API rate

Provider availability

Claude Haiku 4.5 Thinking

Not sourced

Claude Opus 4.6 (Adaptive)

Generally Available · Claude API

Anthropic model overview

Reasoning profile

Claude Haiku 4.5 Thinking

Reasoning

Claude Opus 4.6 (Adaptive)

Reasoning

Weight access

Claude Haiku 4.5 Thinking

Proprietary

Claude Opus 4.6 (Adaptive)

Proprietary

License

Claude Haiku 4.5 Thinking

Proprietary

Claude Opus 4.6 (Adaptive)

Proprietary

Release date

Claude Haiku 4.5 Thinking

2025-10-15

Claude Opus 4.6 (Adaptive)

2026-02-01

If you already use one of these models
Deployment change
Both entries list Anthropic as the provider. Confirm endpoint, model ID, limits, and feature support before switching.
Quality signal
At least one model is not scored in the current public ranking lane, so the page does not name an overall quality winner.
Workload cost
A complete comparable API-rate estimate is not available for both models.
Context tradeoff
Claude Opus 4.6 (Adaptive) has the larger documented window (1M).

Run the same representative tasks against both endpoints before changing production traffic.

Benchmark evidence

The full public result ledger is available for audit without forcing a wide desktop table onto a phone.

Browse raw public benchmark evidence1 rows

Coding

  • Vibe Code Bench

    Shared source
    Claude Haiku 4.5 Thinking11.39%
    Claude Opus 4.6 (Adaptive)53.50%

    Claude Opus 4.6 (Adaptive) leads this result

Frequently asked questions

Which is better, Claude Haiku 4.5 Thinking or Claude Opus 4.6 (Adaptive)?

At least one model is not scored in the current public ranking lane, so the page does not name an overall quality winner. The page therefore keeps the decision tied to the specific documented workload.

Which is better for coding, Claude Haiku 4.5 Thinking or Claude Opus 4.6 (Adaptive)?

The published evidence does not provide a shared weighted coding basis for both models, so BenchLM does not name a coding winner.

Which is better for agentic tasks, Claude Haiku 4.5 Thinking or Claude Opus 4.6 (Adaptive)?

The published evidence does not provide a shared weighted agentic tasks basis for both models, so BenchLM does not name a agentic tasks winner.

Which costs less, Claude Haiku 4.5 Thinking or Claude Opus 4.6 (Adaptive)?

Both models do not have comparable published API token rates, so this page does not name a universal price winner.

Which has the larger context window, Claude Haiku 4.5 Thinking or Claude Opus 4.6 (Adaptive)?

Claude Opus 4.6 (Adaptive) has the larger documented context window: 1M, compared with 200K.

Related comparisons

Last updated August 11, 2026

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