A Technology and Media Company
Claude Models Comparison
Complete analysis of Sonnet 4.5, Opus 4.1, Sonnet 3.7, and Sonnet 3.5
| Feature | Sonnet 4.5 BEST | Opus 4.1 | Sonnet 3.7 | Sonnet 3.5 LEGACY |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 💰 PRICING (per million tokens) | ||||
| Input | $3 | $15 5x more | $3 | $3 |
| Output | $15 | $75 5x more | $15 | $15 |
| Cost Verdict | All Sonnet models have identical pricing ($3/$15), making 4.5 the obvious choice | |||
| 🚀 PERFORMANCE & BENCHMARKS | ||||
| SWE-bench | 77.2% (82% w/ compute) BEST | 74.5% | 62.3% (70.3% w/ compute) | 49% (v2), 33.4% (v1) |
| Coding Tasks | State-of-the-art BEST | Excellent (72.7%) | Strong (first hybrid) | 64% success rate |
| Speed | Very Fast Fastest | Slower | Fast | 2x faster than Opus 3 |
| Auto Runtime | 30+ hours LONGEST | 7+ hours | Extended thinking | Not specified |
| 📝 CONTEXT & OUTPUT | ||||
| Context Window | 200K (1M beta) 1M! | 200K tokens | 200K tokens | 200K tokens |
| Max Output | 64K High | 32K | 128K (extended) | 4K only |
| ✨ CAPABILITIES | ||||
| Writing Quality | Excellent Matches Opus | Excellent | Very Good | Good |
| Vision/Images | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (strongest at release) |
| Computer Use | Industry-leading BEST | Available | Limited | Beta (v2 only) |
| Hybrid Reasoning | Yes | Yes | Yes (first model) | No |
| 📅 RELEASE & STATUS | ||||
| Release Date | Sept 2025 NEWEST | Aug 2025 | Feb 2025 | June 2024 (v2: Oct 2024) |
| Status | Current flagship | Premium option | Available | Superseded |
| 🏆 BEST USE CASES | ||||
| Ideal For |
• Production coding • Long agents (30h+) • Customer AI • Creative content • 95% of all tasks |
• Mission-critical • Peak reasoning • Legal/medical • Deep research • Cost no object |
• Development • Frontend web • Budget conscious • Extended thinking • Prototyping |
• Legacy systems • Simple tasks • Quick responses • Basic coding Upgrade to 4.5! |
📅 Release Timeline
June 2024
Sonnet 3.5
Oct 2024
Sonnet 3.5 v2
Feb 2025
Sonnet 3.7
Aug 2025
Opus 4.1
Sept 2025
Sonnet 4.5 ⭐
🎯 The Ultimate Verdict
Claude Sonnet 4.5 is the clear winner - it delivers Opus-level performance at Sonnet pricing. Since all Sonnet models (3.5, 3.7, and 4.5) cost exactly the same ($3/$15 per million tokens), there is absolutely no reason to use the older versions.
Quick Decision Guide:
• Choose Sonnet 4.5 → For 95% of all use cases (same price as older Sonnets, vastly superior)
• Choose Opus 4.1 → Only when you need absolute peak reasoning and cost is irrelevant
• Avoid Sonnet 3.7/3.5 → They cost the same as 4.5 but perform significantly worse
Key Facts:
• Sonnet 4.5 scored 82% on SWE-bench (vs 49% for Sonnet 3.5 v2)
• Can run autonomously for 30+ hours (vs 7 hours for Opus)
• Writing quality matches the expensive Opus models
• 1M token context window available (in beta)
Quick Decision Guide:
• Choose Sonnet 4.5 → For 95% of all use cases (same price as older Sonnets, vastly superior)
• Choose Opus 4.1 → Only when you need absolute peak reasoning and cost is irrelevant
• Avoid Sonnet 3.7/3.5 → They cost the same as 4.5 but perform significantly worse
Key Facts:
• Sonnet 4.5 scored 82% on SWE-bench (vs 49% for Sonnet 3.5 v2)
• Can run autonomously for 30+ hours (vs 7 hours for Opus)
• Writing quality matches the expensive Opus models
• 1M token context window available (in beta)
💡 Pricing Paradox
All Sonnet models (3.5, 3.7, 4.5) have identical pricing at $3/$15. This makes older versions obsolete since you pay the same for inferior performance. It's like buying a 2024 car for the same price as a 2025 model.
💡 Performance Leap
Sonnet 4.5 improved SWE-bench scores from 49% (3.5 v2) to 82% - a massive 67% improvement. It even outperforms the much more expensive Opus 4.1 (74.5%) on coding tasks.
💡 Opus Obsolescence
Anthropic admits Sonnet 4.5 is "smaller but smarter in almost every way" than Opus 4.1. At 5x cheaper, Opus is now a niche product for extreme edge cases only.
💡 Evolution Speed
In just 15 months (June 2024 to Sept 2025), Anthropic released 5 Sonnet versions, each significantly better than the last, all at the same price point. The pace of improvement is remarkable.