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Claude Sonnet 5 vs Claude Opus 4.8
Claude Opus 4.8 scores higher than Claude Sonnet 5 on both public leaderboards that rate them. On the ArtificialWatch Index, which takes the median of each model's percentile across the boards that score it, Claude Sonnet 5 is at 21.8 and Claude Opus 4.8 at 30.4 (out of 100). On each maker's API, Claude Sonnet 5 costs $2 / $10 per 1M tokens (input / output) and Claude Opus 4.8 $5 / $25.
Scores as published by each board; table composed November 8, 2026.
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Leaderboard by leaderboard
| Board | Claude Sonnet 5 | Claude Opus 4.8 | Higher |
|---|---|---|---|
| LMArena Elo (community votes) | 1,539.1 | 1,555.9 | Claude Opus 4.8 |
| SimpleBench AVG@5 % (private set) | 60.6 | 64.8 | Claude Opus 4.8 |
Raw scores are each board's own scale, so compare within a row, not across rows. Full table: the bench index.
For coding
On the ArtificialWatch coding index, Claude Sonnet 5 is at 42 (#24 of 45) and Claude Opus 4.8 at 52.3 (#18). Claude Opus 4.8 scores higher on both coding boards that rate them.
| Coding board | Claude Sonnet 5 | Claude Opus 4.8 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena · Coding | 1,483.5 | 1,490.8 |
| Vals Vibe Code Bench | 81.3 | 82.7 |
Claude Sonnet 5 at a glance
- Developer
- Anthropic
- Status
- Live since June 30, 2026
- API price
- $2 input / $10 output per 1M tokens · Anthropic, claude-sonnet-5
- Context window
- 1M tokens
Shipped Jun 30.
Claude Opus 4.8 at a glance
- Developer
- Anthropic
- Status
- Live since May 27, 2026
- API price
- $5 input / $25 output per 1M tokens · Anthropic, claude-opus-4-8
- Context window
- 1M tokens
Live.
Claude Sonnet 5 vs Claude Opus 4.8: quick answers
Which is better, Claude Sonnet 5 or Claude Opus 4.8?
It depends on what you measure. Claude Opus 4.8 scores higher than Claude Sonnet 5 on both public leaderboards that rate them. Claude Opus 4.8's widest lead is on SimpleBench. On the ArtificialWatch Index, which takes the median of each model's percentile across the boards that score it, Claude Sonnet 5 is at 21.8 and Claude Opus 4.8 at 30.4 (out of 100).
Which is newer, Claude Sonnet 5 or Claude Opus 4.8?
Claude Sonnet 5. It went live on June 30, 2026, 34 days after Claude Opus 4.8 (May 27, 2026).
Which is cheaper, Claude Sonnet 5 or Claude Opus 4.8?
Claude Sonnet 5 is cheaper on both input and output. On each vendor's own API, Claude Sonnet 5 is $2 input / $10 output per million tokens and Claude Opus 4.8 is $5 input / $25 output per million tokens. Prices as published in the models.dev catalog, as of 2026-11-08.
Which has the bigger context window, Claude Sonnet 5 or Claude Opus 4.8?
Neither. Both take 1M tokens.
How do Claude Sonnet 5 and Claude Opus 4.8 compare for coding?
On the ArtificialWatch coding index, Claude Sonnet 5 is at 42 (#24 of 45) and Claude Opus 4.8 at 52.3 (#18). Claude Opus 4.8 scores higher on both coding boards that rate them.
Who makes Claude Sonnet 5 and Claude Opus 4.8?
Both are from Anthropic.
Where do these numbers come from?
Each score is the leaderboard's own published figure, read by ArtificialWatch (table composed November 8, 2026). Boards measure different things, so raw scores are only comparable within a row.
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Also: the bench index · API pricing · what a workload costs on each · the wire