Claude 3 Haiku vs Claude 3.5 Sonnet
Pricing, context window, and benchmark comparison · Last updated April 2026
Claude 3 Haiku is cheaper than Claude 3.5 Sonnet at $0.25/1M/1M vs $3.00/1M/1M input tokens — a 12.0x cost difference. Claude 3.5 Sonnet scores higher on quality benchmarks (ELO 1295). Choose Claude 3 Haiku for cost-sensitive workloads; choose Claude 3.5 Sonnet for maximum quality.
Which is cheaper: Claude 3 Haiku or Claude 3.5 Sonnet?
Claude 3 Haiku is the cheaper option at $0.25/1M per 1M input tokens, compared to $3.00/1M for Claude 3.5 Sonnet. That is a 12.0x cost difference on input tokens. Output pricing follows a similar pattern: Claude 3 Haiku charges $1.25/1M/1M vs $15.00/1M/1M for Claude 3.5 Sonnet.
Which has better quality: Claude 3 Haiku or Claude 3.5 Sonnet?
Based on LMSYS Chatbot Arena rankings, Claude 3.5 Sonnet achieves a higher ELO score (1295 vs 1179), suggesting stronger performance on open-ended tasks. Claude 3 Haiku excels at very fast inference speed. Claude 3.5 Sonnet is known for 200k context window — best for long documents.
Which should you choose: Claude 3 Haiku or Claude 3.5 Sonnet?
- → Very fast inference speed
- → Lowest cost in the Claude family
- → 200K context window even at this price
- → 200K context window — best for long documents
- → Industry-leading coding performance
- → Nuanced instruction following
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is cheaper: Claude 3 Haiku or Claude 3.5 Sonnet?
Claude 3 Haiku is cheaper at $0.25/1M per 1M input tokens, making it 12.0x more affordable.
Which has better quality: Claude 3 Haiku or Claude 3.5 Sonnet?
Claude 3.5 Sonnet scores higher on the LMSYS Chatbot Arena with an ELO of 1295, suggesting better overall quality for most tasks.
Which has a larger context window: Claude 3 Haiku or Claude 3.5 Sonnet?
Both Claude 3 Haiku and Claude 3.5 Sonnet have the same context window.
Should I choose Claude 3 Haiku or Claude 3.5 Sonnet?
Choose Claude 3 Haiku if cost is the priority. Choose Claude 3.5 Sonnet if benchmark quality is most important. Consider your specific use case: Claude 3 Haiku is best for summarization and customer-support, while Claude 3.5 Sonnet excels at coding and document-analysis.
Is Claude 3 Haiku or Claude 3.5 Sonnet open source?
Claude 3 Haiku is proprietary. Claude 3.5 Sonnet is proprietary.