Claude Sonnet 5 vs Claude Opus 4.8

Anthropic's mid-tier against Anthropic's flagship — published pricing, context windows and specs, side by side.

Compiled by AI Model Hub · Last updated 8 July 2026 · All figures from the two models' AI Model Hub pages (vendor release materials and independent trackers)

At a glance: Claude Sonnet 5 lists at $2 / $10 intro (to 31 Aug 2026) · $3 / $15 standard with a 1,000,000 tokens context window; Claude Opus 4.8 lists at $5 / $25 per 1M tokens with 1,000,000 tokens of context. The full spec table, price table and each model's published benchmarks are below.

On this page

Side-by-side specs
Price comparison
What the table says
FAQ

Claude Sonnet 5 vs Claude Opus 4.8: side-by-side

	Claude Sonnet 5	Claude Opus 4.8
Maker	Anthropic	Anthropic
Released	30 June 2026	27 May 2026
Tier	Mid-tier	Flagship
Context window	1,000,000 tokens (default & max)	1,000,000 tokens
Max output	Up to 128,000 tokens	Up to 128,000 tokens
API price (per 1M)	$2 / $10 intro (to 31 Aug 2026) · $3 / $15 standard	$5 / $25 per 1M tokens
Access	Proprietary — Claude API & claude.ai (default model on Free & Pro plans)	Proprietary — Claude API & claude.ai
Best at	Agentic coding, high-volume production work, large-codebase tasks	Long-horizon agentic work, coding, knowledge work
Standout	1M context by default; early-access partners report it finishes tasks earlier Sonnets stopped short on and checks its own output	Current Opus flagship — same $5/$25 rate card as Opus 4.7, adaptive thinking, controllable effort levels

Price comparison

Model	Input (per 1M)	Output (per 1M)
Claude Sonnet 5 (intro, to 31 Aug 2026)	$2.00	$10.00
Claude Sonnet 5 (standard, from 1 Sep 2026)	$3.00	$15.00
Claude Opus 4.8	$5.00	$25.00
Claude Opus 4.8 (fast mode)	$10.00	$50.00

Estimate your monthly API cost for Claude Sonnet 5 vs Claude Opus 4.8 with the LLM API pricing calculator →

What the table says

Pricing. Claude Sonnet 5 lists at $2 / $10 intro (to 31 Aug 2026) · $3 / $15 standard; Claude Opus 4.8 lists at $5 / $25 per 1M tokens. On these published rates, Claude Sonnet 5's input price is 2.5x lower than Claude Opus 4.8's, and Claude Sonnet 5's output price is 2.5x lower than Claude Opus 4.8's. Claude Sonnet 5's standard rate card from 1 September 2026 is $3 / $15 per 1M tokens. Claude Opus 4.8 also offers a fast mode at $10 / $50 per 1M tokens with up to 2.5x output speed.
Context. Both are in the same context class: Claude Sonnet 5 lists 1,000,000 tokens (default & max) and Claude Opus 4.8 lists 1,000,000 tokens.
Access. Both are proprietary, hosted-API models; neither publishes weights for self-hosting.

Key takeaway

Everything above is drawn from the two models' published rate cards and spec sheets. Which one fits depends on the workload you price it against — run your own token volumes through the pricing calculator to see the monthly difference.

Full Claude Sonnet 5 overview Full Claude Opus 4.8 overview

Frequently asked questions

Which is cheaper, Claude Sonnet 5 or Claude Opus 4.8?

Claude Sonnet 5 — it lists at $2 / $10 intro (to 31 Aug 2026) · $3 / $15 standard versus $5 / $25 per 1M tokens for Claude Opus 4.8.

Which has the bigger context window, Claude Sonnet 5 or Claude Opus 4.8?

They are in the same class: Claude Sonnet 5 lists 1,000,000 tokens (default & max) and Claude Opus 4.8 lists 1,000,000 tokens.

Which model is newer?

Claude Sonnet 5 is the more recent release (30 June 2026); Claude Opus 4.8 was released 27 May 2026.

Can I run Claude Sonnet 5 or Claude Opus 4.8 locally?

No — both Claude Sonnet 5 and Claude Opus 4.8 are proprietary models accessed through their vendors' APIs and apps; neither publishes weights.

Related comparisons

Sources & further reading: