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BenchLM
Model A
Claude Opus 4.5 Thinking

Anthropic

57.5/100

Estimated · Public rank #81

90% interval 46.0–69.0

Claude Opus 4.5 Thinking vs Claude Sonnet 5

Updated August 14, 2026. Public scores include evidence status and uncertainty. They are not guarantees for a specific workload.

Model B
Claude Sonnet 5

Anthropic

64.8/100

Estimated · Public rank #37

90% interval 50.5–79.1

Decision reading

The public evidence has no benchmark result shared by both models, so it does not support a quality verdict. Use the documented cost, context, and runtime rows instead.

0 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 Sonnet 5

    Claude Sonnet 5 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 Opus 4.5 Thinking does not fit this workload in one request. Claude Opus 4.5 Thinking 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
0
Claude Opus 4.5 Thinking only
1
Claude Sonnet 5 only
19
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 Opus 4.5 Thinking
Not measured
Claude Sonnet 5
81.9
Weighted basis
0 vs 3 rows
Reading
Not comparable

Coding

Not comparable
Claude Opus 4.5 Thinking
Not measured
Claude Sonnet 5
76.7
Weighted basis
0 vs 2 rows
Reading
Not comparable

Reasoning

Not comparable
Claude Opus 4.5 Thinking
Not measured
Claude Sonnet 5
Not measured
Weighted basis
0 vs 0 rows
Reading
Not comparable

Knowledge

Not comparable
Claude Opus 4.5 Thinking
Not measured
Claude Sonnet 5
57.4
Weighted basis
0 vs 1 rows
Reading
Not comparable

Math

Not comparable
Claude Opus 4.5 Thinking
Not measured
Claude Sonnet 5
Not measured
Weighted basis
0 vs 0 rows
Reading
Not comparable

Multilingual

Not comparable
Claude Opus 4.5 Thinking
Not measured
Claude Sonnet 5
Not measured
Weighted basis
0 vs 0 rows
Reading
Not comparable

Multimodal

Not comparable
Claude Opus 4.5 Thinking
Not measured
Claude Sonnet 5
88.3
Weighted basis
0 vs 1 rows
Reading
Not comparable

Instruction following

Not comparable
Claude Opus 4.5 Thinking
Not measured
Claude Sonnet 5
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 Opus 4.5 Thinking
API rate not published
Fits in one request
Claude Sonnet 5
$0.007
Fits in one request

Claude Opus 4.5 Thinking has no comparable published API token rate.

Repository review

50K fresh input + 3K output tokens

Claude Opus 4.5 Thinking
API rate not published
Fits in one request
Claude Sonnet 5
$0.13
Fits in one request

Claude Opus 4.5 Thinking has no comparable published API token rate.

Cache-heavy agent loop

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

Claude Opus 4.5 Thinking
API rate not published
Does not fit in one request
Cached-input rate unavailable
Claude Sonnet 5
$0.18
Fits in one request

Claude Opus 4.5 Thinking does not fit this workload in one request. Claude Opus 4.5 Thinking 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 Opus 4.5 Thinking

200K

Claude Sonnet 5

1M

Anthropic model overview

Cached-input rate

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

Claude Opus 4.5 Thinking

No comparable hosted API rate

Claude Sonnet 5

$0.2 per 1M cached input tokens

Claude API pricing

Provider availability

Claude Opus 4.5 Thinking

Not sourced

Claude Sonnet 5

Generally Available · Claude API

Anthropic model overview

Reasoning profile

Claude Opus 4.5 Thinking

Reasoning

Claude Sonnet 5

Reasoning

Weight access

Claude Opus 4.5 Thinking

Proprietary

Claude Sonnet 5

Proprietary

License

Claude Opus 4.5 Thinking

Proprietary

Claude Sonnet 5

Proprietary

Release date

Claude Opus 4.5 Thinking

2025-11-01

Claude Sonnet 5

2026-06-30

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
The public evidence has no benchmark result shared by both models, so it does not support a quality verdict.
Workload cost
A complete comparable API-rate estimate is not available for both models.
Context tradeoff
Claude Sonnet 5 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 evidence20 rows

Agentic

  • Terminal-Bench 3.0

    Claude Opus 4.5 Thinking—
    Claude Sonnet 514.6%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

  • Terminal-Bench 2.0

    Claude Opus 4.5 Thinking—
    Claude Sonnet 580.4%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

  • BrowseComp

    Claude Opus 4.5 Thinking—
    Claude Sonnet 584.7%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

  • HLE w/ tools

    Claude Opus 4.5 Thinking—
    Claude Sonnet 557.4%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

  • OSWorld-Verified

    Claude Opus 4.5 Thinking—
    Claude Sonnet 581.2%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

Coding

  • Vibe Code Bench

    Claude Opus 4.5 Thinking20.63%
    Source
    Claude Sonnet 5—

    Not directly comparable

  • SWE-bench Verified

    Claude Opus 4.5 Thinking—
    Claude Sonnet 585.2%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

  • SWE-bench Pro

    Claude Opus 4.5 Thinking—
    Claude Sonnet 563.2%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

  • SWE Multilingual

    Claude Opus 4.5 Thinking—
    Claude Sonnet 578.3%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

  • SWE Multimodal

    Claude Opus 4.5 Thinking—
    Claude Sonnet 528.1%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

  • Terminal-Bench 2.0

    Claude Opus 4.5 Thinking—
    Claude Sonnet 580.4%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

  • FrontierCode 1.1 Main

    Claude Opus 4.5 Thinking—
    Claude Sonnet 542.7%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

  • cursorBench32

    Claude Opus 4.5 Thinking—
    Claude Sonnet 561.5%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

  • APEX-SWE

    Claude Opus 4.5 Thinking—
    Claude Sonnet 546.4%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

  • EEBench

    Claude Opus 4.5 Thinking—
    Claude Sonnet 540.3%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

  • 3DCodeBench

    Claude Opus 4.5 Thinking—
    Claude Sonnet 539.2%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

Knowledge

  • HLE

    Claude Opus 4.5 Thinking—
    Claude Sonnet 557.4%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

  • HLE w/o tools

    Claude Opus 4.5 Thinking—
    Claude Sonnet 543.2%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

Multimodal

  • CharXiv

    Claude Opus 4.5 Thinking—
    Claude Sonnet 588.3%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

  • CharXiv w/o tools

    Claude Opus 4.5 Thinking—
    Claude Sonnet 577%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

Frequently asked questions

Which is better, Claude Opus 4.5 Thinking or Claude Sonnet 5?

The public evidence has no benchmark result shared by both models, so it does not support a quality verdict. The page therefore keeps the decision tied to the specific documented workload.

Which is better for coding, Claude Opus 4.5 Thinking or Claude Sonnet 5?

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 Opus 4.5 Thinking or Claude Sonnet 5?

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 Opus 4.5 Thinking or Claude Sonnet 5?

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 Opus 4.5 Thinking or Claude Sonnet 5?

Claude Sonnet 5 has the larger documented context window: 1M, compared with 200K.

Related comparisons

Compare API pricing Read the methodology Open the model selector

Last updated August 14, 2026

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