Head to head
Claude Sonnet 5.5 vs Claude Sonnet 5
Claude Sonnet 5.5 from Anthropic against Claude Sonnet 5 from Anthropic — specification, price and every benchmark both makers have published, in one table.
At a glance
Benchmarks
Claude Sonnet 5.5 leads
Claude Sonnet 5.5 wins 1 of the 1 benchmarks both models report, Claude Sonnet 5 wins 0, by a wide margin. The average gap across shared tests is 60.3 points.
Price
Same price
Both cost $4.00 per million tokens on a 3:1 input-to-output mix.
What actually differs
- These two are closely matched on the specification side — same broad capabilities, same licensing posture. The decision comes down to the benchmark rows and the price.
Scorecard
Which is better at what
Maths, coding, reasoning and the rest — one line each, averaged over the benchmarks both models actually report.
| Category | Claude Sonnet 5.5 | Claude Sonnet 5 | Better at this |
|---|---|---|---|
| ReasoningNeither model reports this | — | — | Not comparable |
| MathsNeither model reports this | — | — | Not comparable |
| CodingTerminal-Bench 4.0 | 70.6% | 10.3% | Claude Sonnet 5.5+60.3 |
| KnowledgeNeither model reports this | — | — | Not comparable |
| MultimodalNeither model reports this | — | — | Not comparable |
| Instruction followingNeither model reports this | — | — | Not comparable |
| Human preferenceNeither model reports this | — | — | Not comparable |
| Categories wonOut of 1 comparable | 1 | 0 | Claude Sonnet 5.5 |
Each category averages only the benchmarks every model here reports, so no one is credited for a test the other did not run. A category with no shared test is marked Not comparable rather than guessed at.
Side by side
Claude Sonnet 5.5 and Claude Sonnet 5, row by row
| Attribute | Claude Sonnet 5.5Anthropic | Claude Sonnet 5Anthropic |
|---|---|---|
| Specification | ||
| MakerWho built it | Anthropic | Anthropic |
| Released | 2026-09 | 2026-06 |
| Context windowHow much can go in at once | 1,000,000 tokens | 1,000,000 tokens |
| Max output | 128,000 tokens | 128,000 tokens |
| Input | Text, Image | Text, Image |
| ReasoningSpends extra tokens thinking before it answers | Yes | Yes |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes |
| Knowledge cutoff | 2026-06 | 2026-01 |
| Licence | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| Open weightsCan you download and run it yourself | No | No |
| Price | ||
| Input priceUSD per million tokens in | $2.00 | $2.00 |
| Output priceUSD per million tokens out | $10.00 | $10.00 |
| Cached input | $0.20 | $0.20 |
| Blended 3:1A 3-in-to-1-out million-token mix — a fairer single number than input price alone | $4.00 | $4.00 |
| Published benchmarks | ||
| Terminal-Bench 4.0End-to-end tasks in a real terminal — install, build, debug, run — scored on whether the machine ends up in the required state. | ||
| Links | Full page | Full page |
| Row verified | 2026-10 | 2026-10 |
Where these numbers come from
Every score on this page is a published figure, taken from the model's own card, system card, technical report or release post, or from a public leaderboard. CorX Labs did not run these evaluations. Most are self-reported by the lab that built the model, which means they were produced under that lab's own choice of prompt, scaffold and number of attempts — so treat them as a starting point for a shortlist, not as a settled ranking.
A score someone other than the model's maker measured is marked Independent and names its measurer. Those are the stronger numbers on this page — an outside harness has no reason to flatter anyone — and there are not many of them.
Where a figure has not been published, the cell reads Not reported rather than an estimate. Nothing here is inferred, interpolated or guessed. Each model records the month its row was last checked. Full method and caveats.
Questions
Claude Sonnet 5.5 or Claude Sonnet 5?
Is Claude Sonnet 5.5 better than Claude Sonnet 5?
Claude Sonnet 5.5 wins 1 of the 1 benchmarks both models report, Claude Sonnet 5 wins 0, by a wide margin. The average gap across shared tests is 60.3 points.
Which is cheaper, Claude Sonnet 5.5 or Claude Sonnet 5?
Both cost $4.00 per million tokens on a 3:1 input-to-output mix.
What is the difference between Claude Sonnet 5.5 and Claude Sonnet 5?
These two are closely matched on the specification side — same broad capabilities, same licensing posture. The decision comes down to the benchmark rows and the price.
