workhorse
Claude Sonnet 4 6 vs Claude Haiku 4 5
Side-by-side pricing, context window, features, and per-use-case verdict. Data sourced from LiteLLM, updated regularly.
Specifications
| Feature | Claude Sonnet 4 6 | Claude Haiku 4 5 |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | anthropic | anthropic |
| Model ID | claude-sonnet-4-6 | claude-haiku-4-5 |
| Input / 1M tokens | $3.00 | $1.00 (67% cheaper) |
| Output / 1M tokens | $15.00 | $5.00 (67% cheaper) |
| Cached input / 1M | $0.30 | $0.10 |
| Context window | 1000kk tokens | 200kk tokens |
| Max output | 64kk tokens | 64kk tokens |
| Vision | ✅ | ✅ |
| Function calling | ✅ | ✅ |
| Prompt caching | ✅ | ✅ |
| Web search | ⬜ | ⬜ |
| JSON schema | ✅ | ✅ |
Monthly cost comparison
No cache discount applied — pure token costs at three usage scales.
| Scale | Claude Sonnet 4 6 | Claude Haiku 4 5 | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small 1M in / 0.2M out | $6.00 | $2.00 | Claude Haiku 4 5 saves 67% |
| Medium 10M in / 2M out | $60.00 | $20.00 | Claude Haiku 4 5 saves 67% |
| Large 100M in / 20M out | $600 | $200 | Claude Haiku 4 5 saves 67% |
Category winners
Cheapest input
Claude Haiku 4 5
$1.00/M
· 67% less than the other
Cheapest output
Claude Haiku 4 5
$5.00/M
· 67% less than the other
Larger context
Claude Sonnet 4 6
1000kk tokens · 400% larger window
More features
Claude Sonnet 4 6
4 / 5 capabilities
(tied)
Better for…
High-volume RAG & repeated context
$0.10/M cached input — prompt caching makes repeated context retrieval significantly cheaper
Claude Haiku 4 5
Short interactions & high-throughput APIs
$5.00/M output — 67% cheaper on output at scale
Claude Haiku 4 5
Long-document processing & large codebases
1000k context window vs 200k — 400% larger context
Claude Sonnet 4 6
Cost-sensitive production at scale
$200/month at 100M-token scale — 67% cheaper than the alternative
Claude Haiku 4 5
Deep-dive on each model
Pricing data sourced from LiteLLM and refreshed regularly. Always verify with each provider's official pricing page before making business decisions.