text model comparison
Claude Sonnet 5 vs Claude Sonnet 5.5
Claude Sonnet 5 and Claude Sonnet 5.5 are both current text models, from Anthropic. Both cost $2 per 1M input tokens. On Arena Text, Claude Sonnet 5 scores 1461 Elo and Claude Sonnet 5.5 1476 Elo (Arena, measured October 8, 2026). Both accept 1,000,000 tokens of context.
Data verified October 12, 2026 · Dataset 2026-10-12
Side by side
Standard-tier prices in effect today. The better value in each row is highlighted.
| Fact | Claude Sonnet 5 | Claude Sonnet 5.5 |
|---|---|---|
| Price per 1M input tokens | $2 | $2 |
| Price per 1M output tokens | $10 | $10 |
| Cost of 10M input and 2M output tokens | $40 | $40 |
| Arena Text | 1461 Elo (#25 of 39) | 1476 Elo (#17 of 39) (better) |
| GPQA Diamond | 90.5% (#23 of 37) | 95.6% (#2 of 37) (better) |
| FrontierMath Tiers 1-3 (v2) | 65.6% (#24 of 37) | 88.8% (#7 of 37) (better) |
| SimpleQA Verified | 33.7% (#27 of 34) | 46.5% (#21 of 34) (better) |
| LiveBench Overall | 74.85 points (#4 of 5) | Not measured |
| Provider | Anthropic | Anthropic |
| Release date | June 30, 2026 | September 28, 2026 |
| Access | API only | API only |
| Context window | 1,000,000 tokens | 1,000,000 tokens |
| Max output | 128,000 tokens | 128,000 tokens |
| Input | text | text, image |
| Output | text | text |
Scores:Arena · 2026-10-12Epoch AI · 2026-10-12LiveBench · 2026-06-25
When to choose each
Claude Sonnet 5
Best for
- Agentic coding evaluations with current introductory API pricing
Watch out for
- The launch price is introductory through 2026-08-31; refresh pricing before evaluating workloads after that date
Claude Sonnet 5.5
Best for
- Production workloads that need frontier-adjacent quality at a mid-tier rate
- Latency-sensitive agent steps inside a larger pipeline
Watch out for
- Same list price as Claude Sonnet 5, so the gain is capability and cache economics rather than a cheaper rate card
- Anthropic positions Opus 5.5 rather than this as the default, so reach for Sonnet 5.5 when latency matters more than peak capability
Claude Sonnet 5 vs Claude Sonnet 5.5 FAQ
Which is cheaper, Claude Sonnet 5 or Claude Sonnet 5.5?
Both cost $2 per 1M input tokens. For 10M input and 2M output tokens, Claude Sonnet 5 costs $40 and Claude Sonnet 5.5 $40 at standard rates.
Which scores higher on independent benchmarks, Claude Sonnet 5 or Claude Sonnet 5.5?
Claude Sonnet 5.5 leads on Arena Text, 1476 Elo to 1461 Elo; Claude Sonnet 5.5 leads on GPQA Diamond, 95.6% to 90.5%; Claude Sonnet 5.5 leads on FrontierMath Tiers 1-3 (v2), 88.8% to 65.6%. Scores are independent evaluations, not either vendor's launch figures.
Which has the larger context window, Claude Sonnet 5 or Claude Sonnet 5.5?
Both accept 1,000,000 tokens of context.
Related comparisons
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- Claude Sonnet 5.5 vs GPT-5.6 Terra
- Claude Sonnet 5.5 vs GPT-6.1 Sol
- Claude Sonnet 5.5 vs GPT-6 Sol
- Claude Sonnet 5.5 vs Grok 4.5
- Claude Sonnet 5.5 vs Grok 4.6
- Claude Sonnet 5.5 vs Grok 4.7
- Claude Sonnet 5.5 vs Qwen3.8-Max
Production evaluation
Choosing between Claude Sonnet 5 and Claude Sonnet 5.5?
Public benchmarks narrow the shortlist. We run both on your own tasks, data and cost limits, then build the routing and review controls to run the winner in production.
- A head-to-head evaluation on your real workload
- Routing between models by cost and difficulty