Claude Sonnet 4.6 is Anthropic's mid-tier model and the best balance of speed, intelligence, and cost in the Claude lineup. With a 1M token context window at standard pricing and strong agentic coding, it is the default production choice for most developer workloads.
Pricing Breakdown
| Volume | Input Cost | Output Cost | Combined (50/50) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1,000 tokens | $0.0030 | $0.0150 | $0.0090 |
| 10,000 tokens | $0.0300 | $0.1500 | $0.0900 |
| 100,000 tokens | $0.3000 | $1.5000 | $0.9000 |
| 1,000,000 tokens | $3.0000 | $15.0000 | $9.0000 |
Strengths
- ✓Best combination of speed and intelligence in the Claude family
- ✓1M token context window at standard pricing
- ✓Extended thinking and adaptive thinking supported
- ✓Strong agentic coding and tool use
- ✓Priority Tier available for guaranteed throughput
Weaknesses
- ✗Not the absolute top on hardest reasoning benchmarks — Opus 4.7 leads
- ✗Pricier than DeepSeek or Gemini Flash on high-volume workloads
Compare Claude Sonnet 4.6 With
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does Claude Sonnet 4.6 cost?
Claude Sonnet 4.6 costs $3.00/1M per 1M input tokens and $15.00/1M per 1M output tokens.
What is Claude Sonnet 4.6's context window?
Claude Sonnet 4.6 has a context window of 1M tokens, which means it can process up to 1,000,000 tokens in a single request.
Is Claude Sonnet 4.6 open source?
No, Claude Sonnet 4.6 is a proprietary model by Anthropic and is not open source.
What is Claude Sonnet 4.6 best used for?
Claude Sonnet 4.6 is best suited for: coding, function-calling, document-analysis, long-context, research. Best combination of speed and intelligence in the Claude family.
What is Claude Sonnet 4.6's ELO score?
Claude Sonnet 4.6 has an ELO score of 1390 on the LMSYS Chatbot Arena leaderboard, placing it among top-tier models.