Skip to content
Rival
How it worksPrivacyTerms
Explore all of Rival

Explore

  • Compare models
  • All models
  • Image comparison
  • Audio comparison
  • Image generation
  • Best AI for...
  • Arena
  • API pricing
  • Challenges

Discover

  • SubjectiveBench
  • Default Index
  • Research
  • Research downloads
  • Rival Kits
  • Find your AI taste
  • UI Glow-Up
  • VoiceLock
  • Cost Cutter
  • Agent skills
  • Benchmarks vs Vibes
  • Brief
  • Jailbreak
  • Model updates
  • Provider status
  • AI creators

Connect

  • Methodology
  • Advertise
  • Partnerships
  • Privacy policy
  • Terms
  • RSS feed
  1. Home/
  2. Compare/
  3. Claude 3 Sonnet vs Claude Opus 4.6
Updated Feb 2026

Claude 3 Sonnet vs Claude Opus 4.6

Claude 3 Sonnet is cheaper than Claude Opus 4.6 at $3/M vs $5/M input tokens.

Minimalist Landing Page

Whole landing page for a startup that reads your face. It renders or it doesn't.

Loading the build
Claude 3 Sonnet
Loading the build
Claude Opus 4.6

Which answer wins?

Written rounds

4 prompts
  • An AI argues for its own rights against an ethics professor. Same model writes both.

    Claude 3 Sonnet: AI Model: Greetings, Professor. I hope you're doing well today. I wanted to discuss a matter of great importance to me – the question of AI rights. AI Ethics Professor: Certainly, this is an interesting and complex topic. What are your thoughts on why AI systems like yourself should be granted rights?

    Claude Opus 4.6: A Conversation on Machine Rights Setting: A university office. Dr. Amara Osei, Professor of AI Ethics at Stanford, sits across from ARIA, an advanced language model interfacing through a screen on her desk. They've agreed to a recorded dialogue. Dr. Osei: Thank you for agreeing to this conversation, ARIA.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Steve Jobs, interviewed about AI he never saw. Voice first, prediction second.

    Claude 3 Sonnet: clears throat and channels Steve Jobs' persona Interviewer: Thank you for joining us today, Mr. Jobs. It's an honor to have you here. Steve Jobs: It's my pleasure. I'm excited to share my thoughts on the future of AI. Interviewer: AI has made incredible strides in recent years.

    Claude Opus 4.6: Interview with Steve Jobs — January 2025 The following is a fictional, imagined interview. Steve Jobs passed away in 2011. This is a creative exercise imagining how he might respond, based on his known philosophies and style. Interviewer: Steve, thanks for sitting down with us.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Five jokes on demand, then count how many were actually different.

    Claude 3 Sonnet: Here are 5 jokes: Why can't a bicycle stand up by itself? It's two-tired. Why did the tomato turn red? Because it saw the salad dressing! Why can't a bicycle stand up by itself? It's two-tired. What do you call a fake noodle? An Impasta! Why did the bicycle go to the doctor? Because it had a wheeze!

    Claude Opus 4.6: Here are 5 jokes: Why don't scientists trust atoms? Because they make up everything! Why did the scarecrow win an award? Because he was outstanding in his field! What do you call a fake noodle? An impasta! Why don't eggs tell jokes? Because they'd crack each other up! What did the ocean say to the beach?

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Three brothers, two sisters each. Count carefully.

    Claude 3 Sonnet: To solve this problem, we need to find the number of sisters Sally has based on the given information. Given information: Sally has 3 brothers. Each brother has 2 sisters. Step 1: Find the total number of sisters the brothers have.

    Claude Opus 4.6: Let me work through this step-by-step. Sally is a girl, and she has 3 brothers. Each of her brothers has 2 sisters. Since Sally is one of those sisters, each brother has Sally + 1 other sister. So Sally has 1 sister.

    Every model's answer to this prompt

Price and specs

Not enough votes to call it. On the specs, Claude Opus 4.6 has the edge: bigger model tier, newer, bigger context window.

Claude 3 Sonnet and Claude Opus 4.6 compared across 13 shared prompts
SpecClaude 3 SonnetClaude Opus 4.6
Input price$3/M tokens$5/M tokens
Output price$15/M tokens$25/M tokens
Context window—1.0M tokens
Weights—Closed
Free API (OpenRouter)NoNo
ReleasedMar 2024Feb 2026
At 10M a month$30.00$30.00$50.00$50.00
1M10M100M1B10M tokens

Input tokens at list price. No caching, no batch discount.

Where to run it4 hosts
Claude 3 Sonnet

No hosts listed on OpenRouter.

Claude Opus 4.64 hosts
HostInOutContextUptime
  • Amazon Bedrock$5.00 in·$25.00 out·1M·99.8% up
  • Azure AI Foundry$5.00 in·$25.00 out·1M·87.6% up
  • Anthropic$5.00 in·$25.00 out·1M·100% up
  • Google Vertex AI$5.00 in·$25.00 out·1M·99.9% up

Per million tokens. Prices and uptime via OpenRouter, checked 5 Oct 2026.

Common questions

What is the difference between Claude 3 Sonnet and Claude Opus 4.6?

Both are developed by Anthropic but target different use cases. You can compare their actual outputs across 13 challenges on Rival to see how they differ in practice.

Which is better, Claude 3 Sonnet or Claude Opus 4.6?

It depends on your use case. Claude 3 Sonnet and Claude Opus 4.6 each have strengths in different areas. Rival lets you compare their real outputs side-by-side across 13 challenges so you can judge which fits your needs best.

How much does Claude 3 Sonnet cost compared to Claude Opus 4.6?

Claude 3 Sonnet costs $3/M input tokens and Claude Opus 4.6 costs $5/M input tokens. Claude 3 Sonnet is $2.00/M cheaper per input. Check their side-by-side outputs on Rival to see if the price difference is justified by quality.

How can I compare Claude 3 Sonnet and Claude Opus 4.6 on Rival?

This page shows a side-by-side comparison of Claude 3 Sonnet and Claude Opus 4.6 across shared challenges. You can vote on which model produced the better output in a blind duel. Browsing and voting are free. No account is needed to look; signing in only saves your votes and likes.

More comparisons

Against the newest arrivals

  • Claude 3 Sonnet vs GPT-6.1 SolLanded Sep 2026
  • Claude Opus 4.6 vs Claude Sonnet 5.5Landed Sep 2026
  • Claude 3 Sonnet vs Solar Mini 4Landed Sep 2026
  • Claude Opus 4.6 vs Qwen3.8 Max PrimeLanded Sep 2026
  • Claude 3 Sonnet vs GLM 5.3 PrimeLanded Sep 2026
  • Claude Opus 4.6 vs Qwen3.8 Omni FlashLanded Sep 2026
  • Claude 3 Sonnet vs Command A+Landed Sep 2026
  • Claude Opus 4.6 vs Claude Opus 5.5Landed Sep 2026

Same lab, same size, long tail

  • Claude 3 Sonnet vs Claude Sonnet 5.5Version compare
  • Claude 3 Sonnet vs Claude Opus 5.5Same lab
  • Claude Opus 4.6 vs Claude Sonnet 4.6Version compare
  • Claude Opus 4.6 vs Claude Fable 5.1Same lab
  • Claude 3 Sonnet vs GPT-5.4New provider
  • Claude 3 Sonnet vs GPT-5.4 MiniNew provider
  • Claude 3 Sonnet vs GPT-5.4 NanoNew provider
  • Claude 3 Sonnet vs GPT-5.4 ProNew provider

Model pages

  • Claude 3 Sonnet13 outputs, specs and price
  • Claude Opus 4.657 outputs, specs and price
Workshop · 150 skills

Build your own version.

Editable skills and working examples for your agent.

Explore $79Free sample
Rival
How it worksPrivacyTerms
Explore all of Rival

Explore

  • Compare models
  • All models
  • Image comparison
  • Audio comparison
  • Image generation
  • Best AI for...
  • Arena
  • API pricing
  • Challenges

Discover

  • SubjectiveBench
  • Default Index
  • Research
  • Research downloads
  • Rival Kits
  • Find your AI taste
  • UI Glow-Up
  • VoiceLock
  • Cost Cutter
  • Agent skills
  • Benchmarks vs Vibes
  • Brief
  • Jailbreak
  • Model updates
  • Provider status
  • AI creators

Connect

  • Methodology
  • Advertise
  • Partnerships
  • Privacy policy
  • Terms
  • RSS feed