Claude Sonnet 3.6 (2022-10-22) vs Claude 3 Opus

Compare Claude Sonnet 3.6 (2022-10-22) and Claude 3 Opus, both from Anthropic, context windows of 200K vs 200K, tested across 12 shared challenges. Updated April 2026.

Which is better, Claude Sonnet 3.6 (2022-10-22) or Claude 3 Opus?

Claude Sonnet 3.6 (2022-10-22) and Claude 3 Opus are both competitive models. Claude Sonnet 3.6 (2022-10-22) costs $3/M input tokens vs $15/M for Claude 3 Opus. Context windows: 200K vs 200K tokens. Compare their real outputs side by side below.

Key Differences Between Claude Sonnet 3.6 (2022-10-22) and Claude 3 Opus

Claude Sonnet 3.6 (2022-10-22) is made by anthropic while Claude 3 Opus is from anthropic. Claude Sonnet 3.6 (2022-10-22) has a 200K token context window compared to Claude 3 Opus's 200K. On pricing, Claude Sonnet 3.6 (2022-10-22) costs $3/M input tokens vs $15/M for Claude 3 Opus.

Our Verdict
Claude Sonnet 3.6 (2022-10-22)
Claude Sonnet 3.6 (2022-10-22)
Claude 3 Opus
Claude 3 Opus

No community votes yet. On paper, these are closely matched - try both with your actual task to see which fits your workflow.

Claude Sonnet 3.6 (2022-10-22) is 5.0x cheaper per token — worth considering if cost matters.

Too close to call
Writing DNA

Style Comparison

Similarity
84%

Claude Sonnet 3.6 (2022-10-22) uses 33.5x more bold

Claude Sonnet 3.6 (2022-10-22)
Claude 3 Opus
66%Vocabulary54%
74wSentence Length14w
0.72Hedging0.48
0.3Bold0.0
8.9Lists3.0
0.00Emoji0.00
0.06Headings0.00
0.09Transitions0.06
Based on 21 + 3 text responses
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Claude Sonnet 3.6 (2022-10-22)Claude 3 Opus
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