Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs GPT-5.1
Benchmarks, API pricing and specs, head to head. Data updated 2026-06-10.
Claude Sonnet 4.6
Anthropic · Apr 2026
Anthropic's mid-tier workhorse: near-Opus capability at $3/$15, and the leader on the Finance Agent benchmark.
GPT-5.1
59.6OpenAI · Nov 2025
A November 2025 update to GPT-5 with adaptive reasoning that spends thinking tokens only when a task needs them.
The verdict
Claude Sonnet 4.6 wins 1 of the 1 benchmarks these models share, against 0 for GPT-5.1. GPT-5.1 is about 1.7x cheaper per blended million tokens (3:1 input:output mix). Claude Sonnet 4.6 also takes 1M of context versus 400K for GPT-5.1.
Benchmark head-to-head 1–0
Specs & pricing
| Claude Sonnet 4.6 | GPT-5.1 | |
|---|---|---|
| modhub Index | — | 59.6 |
| Input price / 1M | $3 | $1.25 |
| Output price / 1M | $15 | $10 |
| Context window | 1M | 400K |
| Max output | 64K | 128K |
| Open weights | no | no |
| Reasoning model | yes | yes |
| Multimodal input | text, image | text, image |
| Knowledge cutoff | Jan 2026 | Sep 2024 |
| Released | Apr 2026 | Nov 2025 |
| Example monthly cost* | $52.50 | $27.50 |
* 10M input + 1.5M output tokens per month at list prices, no caching. Green = better value on that row.
Frequently asked questions
- Which is better, Claude Sonnet 4.6 or GPT-5.1?
- Claude Sonnet 4.6 wins 1 of the 1 benchmarks these models share, against 0 for GPT-5.1. GPT-5.1 is about 1.7x cheaper per blended million tokens (3:1 input:output mix). Claude Sonnet 4.6 also takes 1M of context versus 400K for GPT-5.1.
- Which is cheaper, Claude Sonnet 4.6 or GPT-5.1?
- Claude Sonnet 4.6 costs $3/$15 per million input/output tokens, while GPT-5.1 costs $1.25/$10. For a typical workload of 10M input and 1.5M output tokens per month, that's $52.50 versus $27.50.
- Which model is better for coding, Claude Sonnet 4.6 or GPT-5.1?
- On SWE-bench Verified — the standard agentic-coding benchmark — Claude Sonnet 4.6 scores ~79.6% versus 76.3% for GPT-5.1, making Claude Sonnet 4.6 the stronger pick for coding agents.