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Mid Deprecated

Claude Sonnet 5 vs Sonnet 4.6

Same price — but Sonnet 5 has 5x the context window and better reasoning. Sonnet 4.6 is approaching end-of-life. Should you migrate?

Pricing data verified: Jul 1, 2026

⚠️ Sonnet 4.6 is Deprecated

Sonnet 4.6 is approaching sunset. Migrate to Sonnet 5 now — it's a drop-in replacement with 5x context and better reasoning at the same price.

SpecificationClaude Sonnet 5 (Anthropic)Claude Sonnet 4.6 (Anthropic) DEPRECATED
Input Price (per 1M tokens)$3.00$3.00
Output Price (per 1M tokens)$15.00$15.00
Intro Price (through Aug 2026)$2.00 / $10.00N/A
Context Window1M tokens200K tokens
TierMidMid (deprecated)
ProviderAnthropicAnthropic

Calculate Your Exact Costs

Same price at standard rates — but Sonnet 5 has an intro price of $2/$10 through August 2026

Anthropic
Claude Sonnet 5
$0.00
per month
Input cost
Output cost
Cost per request
Requests/month
Anthropic
Claude Sonnet 4.6 DEPRECATED
$0.00
per month
Input cost
Output cost
Cost per request
Requests/month

Other Anthropic Models

Claude Opus 4.8
Anthropic
$5 / $25 per 1M
1M context
Claude Sonnet 5
Anthropic
$3 / $15 per 1M
1M context
Claude Haiku 4.5
Anthropic
$1 / $5 per 1M
200K context

Which Model for Which Use Case?

Code Generation

Sonnet 5 produces higher-quality code with better reasoning than Sonnet 4.6 — at the same price. With the intro pricing at $2/$10, it's actually 33% cheaper. There's no reason to stay on Sonnet 4.6 for code tasks.

Better quality: Sonnet 5

Content Generation

Sonnet 5 handles content generation as well as or better than Sonnet 4.6. Same pricing, better output quality, and 5x the context window for processing long documents. Upgrade is a no-brainer.

Better quality: Sonnet 5

Data Analysis

Sonnet 5's 1M context window (vs Sonnet 4.6's 200K) is a game-changer for data analysis. You can process 5x more data in a single request. Combined with better reasoning, Sonnet 5 dominates here.

1M context wins: Sonnet 5

Migration

Sonnet 5 is a drop-in replacement for Sonnet 4.6. Just change the model name in your API calls. Same pricing, same API format, better results. With Sonnet 4.6 approaching sunset, migrate now to avoid disruption.

Drop-in replacement: Sonnet 5

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Frequently Asked Questions

Do Sonnet 5 and Sonnet 4.6 cost the same?

Yes, both are priced at $3.00/$15.00 per 1M tokens at standard rates. Anthropic is also offering an introductory price of $2.00/$10.00 for Sonnet 5 through August 2026, making it actually cheaper than Sonnet 4.6 during the promo period.

Should I migrate from Sonnet 4.6 to Sonnet 5?

Yes. Sonnet 5 is a drop-in replacement for Sonnet 4.6 — same API, same pricing, but with 5x the context window (1M vs 200K) and significantly better reasoning. There is no reason to stay on Sonnet 4.6. Migration requires only changing the model name in your API calls.

What happens when Sonnet 4.6 is deprecated?

Sonnet 4.6 is approaching end-of-life. Anthropic will sunset the model and all API calls to it will fail. You should migrate to Sonnet 5 now to avoid disruption. Since Sonnet 5 is a drop-in replacement, migration is trivial — just update your model parameter.

Related Comparisons

Sonnet 5 vs Opus 4.8
Mid vs premium (same provider)
Sonnet 5 vs GPT-5
Mid vs mid cross-provider
Sonnet 5 vs Haiku 4.5
Mid vs budget (same provider)
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