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- Claude Opus 5.5 vs. Claude Sonnet 5
AnthropicLLM matchup
Claude Opus 5.5vs.Claude Sonnet 5
Is the higher price worth it?
Claude Opus 5.5 performs better than Claude Sonnet 5, but costs twice as much.
Claude Opus 5.5
Rank 1
Claude Sonnet 5
Rank 40
Claude Opus 5.5
Claude Sonnet 5
Claude Opus 5.5
Claude Sonnet 5
Claude Opus 5.5
Rank 8 of 785
Claude Sonnet 5
Rank 15 of 785
Choose Claude Opus 5.5 for
Choose Claude Sonnet 5 for
No clear advantage
On this page
Where is the difference?
Strengths at a glance
Opus 5.5Sonnet 5Median of all ranked models
95 % range: Opus 5.5 121.2 to 138.7, Sonnet 5 89.6 to 97.6.
The same values and verdicts as the bars below. In the close-up the net starts at 80 points, just below the weaker model's lowest value; the reference group average is 100.
Opus 5.5 is ahead in 10 of 10 areas, Sonnet 5 in none.
Opus 5.5 ahead: 10
Bar length shows the gap in index points (full width 15 points, one standard deviation of the reference group). Solid means clearly ahead, hatched not certain yet, a thin grey bar level.
Show 4 more areas that do not count toward the overall index
Bar length shows the gap in index points (full width 15 points, one standard deviation of the reference group). Solid means clearly ahead, hatched not certain yet, a thin grey bar level.
Claude Opus 5.5 vs. Claude Sonnet 5 at the same effort
Both models measured at the same reasoning efforts. This shows whether a lead comes from the model or only from more compute.
| Effort | Opus 5.5 | Sonnet 5 | Gap | Verdict | Test series |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| max | 126.1 | 92.1 | 23.2 | Opus 5.5 ahead | 3 |
| Overall index (max vs. max) | 126.1 | 92.1 | 34.1 | Opus 5.5 ahead |
Gap and verdict compare only the Artificial Analysis test series in which both models are measured at that effort. Tied below 3 points, ahead only beyond two standard errors. The single values rest on all test series of each model, so their difference can deviate from the gap.
Which model for which task?
Everyday tasks, translated from the area values above. Each row names the values it rests on.
See for yourself: same task, one attempt
The same prompt for both models. We show the latest attempt without fixes; it does not count toward the overall index.
Claude Opus 5.5

Oct 1, 2026 · 33 s · $0.07
Test details
- Run date
- Oct 1, 2026
- API provider
- openrouter
- Requested API model
- anthropic/claude-opus-5.5
- Reasoning setting
- high
- Token limit including reasoning
- 8,192 tokens
- Output tokens
- 3,536 tokens
- Cost of the attempt
- $0.0708
- Response time
- 33.2 s
- API model reported in response
- anthropic/claude-opus-5.5
- Pinned endpoint
- Anthropic | anthropic/claude-opus-5.5-20260921
- Temperature
- Provider default
- Test protocol
- community-visual-tests-v1
- Technical checks
- Passed, not a quality rating
Visually reviewed. This individual test does not establish overall model quality.
Claude Sonnet 5

Sep 7, 2026 · 48 s · $0.03
Test details
- Run date
- Sep 7, 2026
- API provider
- openrouter
- Requested API model
- anthropic/claude-sonnet-5
- Reasoning setting
- high
- Token limit including reasoning
- 8,192 tokens
- Output tokens
- 3,394 tokens
- Cost of the attempt
- $0.0340
- Response time
- 47.9 s
- API model reported in response
- anthropic/claude-sonnet-5
- Pinned endpoint
- Anthropic | anthropic/claude-sonnet-5-20260630
- Temperature
- Provider default
- Test protocol
- community-visual-tests-v1
- Technical checks
- Passed, not a quality rating
Visually reviewed. This individual test does not establish overall model quality.
SVG short test
SVG short test
One SVG task with the same fixed settings for every model, without hidden thinking.
Prompt
Return only one standalone SVG of a pelican riding a bicycle. Use viewBox="0 0 800 600", simple shapes, two clearly visible wheels and a recognizable pelican with a long beak. At most 30 SVG elements and 1800 characters. No Markdown, explanations, comments, scripts, animation, CSS or external resources.
Claude Opus 5.5
Unavailable in this round
Claude Sonnet 5
Unavailable in this round
Claude Opus 5.5 and Claude Sonnet 5 in the overall index
Every model with a place in the overall index, both models of this matchup highlighted. You can add or hide other models.
Overall index (Gradually Meta-Score v4)
20 of 92 models
4 models in this view are measured at a lower reasoning effort than max in the overall index. Dashed column: lower reasoning effort than the top.
Popularity compared
How often the models are searched for, used and mentioned, on a scale from 0 to 100.
Both are about as popular: Claude Opus 5.5 68, Claude Sonnet 5 64 out of 100.
Over time
Weekly values from October 18, 2026 to November 7, 2026
Claude Opus 5.5Claude Sonnet 5
All data side by side
The better value is bold. For the overall index only when the gap is clear.
| Metric | Claude Opus 5.5 | Claude Sonnet 5 |
|---|---|---|
| Intelligence | ||
| Overall indexpoints, 100 = reference group average, higher is better | 126.1 | 92.1 |
| Rank | Rank 1 of 92 | Rank 40 of 92 |
| Price per 1M tokens | ||
| Inputwhat you send | $4 | $2 |
| Outputwhat the model writes | $20 | $10 |
| Cost per task (own tests)average of 3 original-protocol tasks both models passed (SVG short test not included) | $0.11 | $0.057 |
| Speed | ||
| Tokens per second | 106 | 103 |
| Popularity | ||
| Popularitysearch, usage and mentions, 0 to 100 | 68Rank 8 of 785 | 64Rank 15 of 785 |
| Technical | ||
| Context windowhow much text the model reads at once | 1 M tokens≈ 1,500 A4 pages | 1 M tokens≈ 1,500 A4 pages |
| Knowledge cutoff | June 2026 | January 2026 |
| Released | Sep 22, 2026 | Jun 30, 2026 |
| Availability | Active | Active |
| Open weights | no | no |
Prices without caching or batch discounts · Page count as a rule of thumb from Artificial Analysis
Is there a better choice?
Overall index 122.8, rank 4$2 input and $10 output per 1M tokens
Opus 5.5 vs. Claude Sonnet 5.5Overall index 122.3, rank 5$2 input and $10 output per 1M tokens
Opus 5.5 vs. Gemini 4 ArgonShared benchmarks
Single results from the same benchmark version, task and metric. A value is bold only with the same test setup and a clear gap.
A: Claude Opus 5.5B: Claude Sonnet 5
Show 54 more benchmarks
More comparisons
Compare Claude Opus 5.5 and Claude Sonnet 5 with the models people compare them with most often.
Compare another matchup
Predecessor and successor
The most popular comparisons
- 1Claude Opus 5.5 vs. GPT-6 Astra
- 2Claude Opus 5.5 vs. Claude Sonnet 5.5
- 3Claude Opus 5.5 vs. DeepSeek-V4-Pro
- 4Claude Opus 5.5 vs. Kimi K3.1 Pro
- 5Claude Opus 5.5 vs. Gemini 4 Argon
- 6Claude Opus 5.5 vs. Gemini 3.8 Flash
- 7Claude Opus 5.5 vs. Claude Fable 5.1
- 8Claude Opus 5.5 vs. DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash
- 9Claude Opus 5.5 vs. Qwen 3.8 Max 0902
Show all 60 comparisons
- 10Claude Opus 5.5 vs. GLM-5.3-Flash
- 11Claude Opus 5.5 vs. GPT-6.1 Sol
- 12Claude Opus 5.5 vs. Kimi K3
- 13Claude Opus 5.5 vs. Claude Haiku 5.5
- 14Claude Opus 5.5 vs. GLM-5.3
- 15Claude Opus 5.5 vs. GPT-5.6 Terra
- 16Claude Opus 5.5 vs. Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview
- 17Claude Opus 5.5 vs. Claude Opus 4.6
- 18Claude Sonnet 5 vs. DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash
- 19Claude Opus 5.5 vs. Claude Sonnet 4.6
- 20Claude Opus 5.5 vs. Qwen 3.8 27B
- 21Claude Opus 5.5 vs. Grok 4.6
- 22Claude Sonnet 5 vs. GPT-6 Luna
- 23Claude Opus 5.5 vs. GLM-5.2
- 24Claude Opus 5.5 vs. Gemini 4 Carbon
- 25Claude Opus 5.5 vs. DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017
- 26Claude Opus 5.5 vs. Claude Sonnet 4.5
- 27Claude Opus 5.5 vs. Muse Spark 1.3
- 28Claude Opus 5.5 vs. Claude Opus 4.8
- 29Claude Opus 5.5 vs. GPT-5.6 Luna
- 30Claude Opus 5.5 vs. Mistral Large 4
- 31Claude Opus 5.5 vs. GPT-5.6 Sol
- 32Claude Opus 5.5 vs. GPT-5.5
- 33Claude Opus 5.5 vs. DeepSeek-V4-Flash
- 34Claude Opus 5.5 vs. Grok 4.7
- 35Claude Opus 5.5 vs. Mistral Large 3
- 36Claude Opus 5.5 vs. GPT-6 Luna
- 37Claude Sonnet 5 vs. GPT-6.1 Sol
- 38Claude Opus 5.5 vs. Claude Opus 4.5
- 39Claude Sonnet 5 vs. DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017
- 40Claude Haiku 5.5 vs. Claude Sonnet 5
- 41Claude Opus 5.5 vs. Claude Fable 5
- 42Claude Sonnet 5 vs. GPT-6 Astra
- 43Claude Opus 5.5 vs. GPT-6 Sol
- 44Claude Sonnet 5 vs. GPT-6 Sol
- 45Claude Opus 5.5 vs. Gemini 3.6 Flash
- 46Claude Opus 5.5 vs. Mistral Medium 3.5
- 47Claude Opus 5.5 vs. Muse Wonder Full
- 48Claude Opus 5.5 vs. Claude Haiku 4.5
- 49Claude Sonnet 5 vs. Qwen 3.8 Max 0902
- 50Claude Opus 5 vs. Claude Sonnet 5
- 51Claude Sonnet 5 vs. Mistral Large 4
- 52Claude Opus 5.5 vs. Gemini 3.5 Flash
- 53Claude Opus 5.5 vs. GPT-6.1 Terra
- 54Claude Sonnet 5 vs. Claude Haiku 4.5
- 55Claude Opus 5.5 vs. GPT-5.4
- 56Claude Opus 5.5 vs. GLM-5.1
- 57Claude Sonnet 5 vs. GPT-5.6 Luna
- 58Claude Sonnet 5 vs. Gemini 4 Argon
- 59Claude Sonnet 5 vs. GPT-6.1 Terra
- 60Claude Sonnet 5 vs. Kimi K3.1 Pro