Anthropic
Claude Sonnet 4.6
$0.00
per month
Input cost
Output cost
Cost per request
Requests/month
Anthropic
Claude Haiku 4.5
Cheaper Choice
$0.00
per month
Input cost
Output cost
Cost per request
Requests/month

Other Models to Consider

GPT-5 mini
OpenAI
$0.25 / $2.00 per 1M
272K context
Gemini 3 Flash
Google
$0.50 / $3.00 per 1M
1M context
DeepSeek V4 Pro
DeepSeek
$0.435 / $0.87 per 1M
1M context

Which Model for Which Use Case?

Cost-Sensitive High Volume

Haiku 4.5's $1.00/M input and $5.00/M output make it 67% cheaper for high-volume tasks. At 1M requests/day, you'd save $600/mo vs Sonnet.

Cheapest: Claude Haiku 4.5

Complex Reasoning

Sonnet 4.6 excels at complex reasoning, nuanced analysis, and multi-step problem solving. If your tasks require deep understanding, Sonnet's training gives it a significant edge.

Better reasoning: Claude Sonnet 4.6

Long Context Tasks

Sonnet 4.6's 1M context window is 5× larger than Haiku's 200K. For long documents, extensive codebases, or multi-turn conversations, Sonnet handles far more context.

Better context: Claude Sonnet 4.6

Simple Classification & Extraction

For straightforward tasks like classification, extraction, and simple generation, Haiku 4.5 delivers solid quality at 67% lower cost. No need to pay for Sonnet's extra capabilities.

Good enough: Claude Haiku 4.5

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Frequently Asked Questions

Is Claude Haiku 4.5 cheaper than Sonnet 4.6?

Yes. Claude Haiku 4.5 costs $1.00/M input and $5.00/M output — 67% cheaper on both input and output than Claude Sonnet 4.6's $3.00/M input and $15.00/M output.

When would I choose Sonnet 4.6 over Haiku 4.5?

Choose Sonnet 4.6 for complex reasoning, nuanced analysis, longer-form content generation, and tasks requiring deeper understanding. Sonnet has 5× more context (1M vs 200K) and significantly better performance on complex benchmarks.

What's the context window difference?

Sonnet 4.6 has a 1M token context window — 5× larger than Haiku 4.5's 200K. For long documents, extensive codebases, or multi-turn conversations, Sonnet handles far more context.

Is Haiku 4.5 good enough for production?

For many tasks like classification, extraction, summarization, and simple generation, Haiku 4.5 delivers solid quality at 67% lower cost. For complex reasoning or tasks requiring deeper understanding, Sonnet 4.6 may be worth the premium.

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