Claude 3.5 Haiku vs Command R
A complete head-to-head: pricing, context window, benchmarks, modality coverage, and openness, with a programmatic verdict synthesized from the underlying data.
Updated
Claude 3.5 Haiku specs · Command R specs- PriceCommand R
Command R is roughly 2.7× cheaper on output tokens ($1.50 vs $4.00 per 1M).
- Context windowClaude 3.5 Haiku
Claude 3.5 Haiku accepts 200K tokens vs 128K, 1.6× the room for long documents and codebases.
- BenchmarksTie
No directly comparable public benchmarks are available for both models, check the spec sheets for individual scores.
- ModalitiesClaude 3.5 Haiku
Claude 3.5 Haiku supports 2 modalities (text, vision) vs 1 for Command R.
- OpennessCommand R
Command R ships open weights (CC-BY-NC 4.0); Claude 3.5 Haiku is API-only.
It's a genuine coin-flip between Claude 3.5 Haiku and Command R: 2 category wins each, with the rest tied. Command R is roughly 2.7× cheaper on output tokens ($1.50 vs $4.00 per 1M). Claude 3.5 Haiku accepts 200K tokens vs 128K, 1.6× the room for long documents and codebases.
No directly comparable public benchmarks are available for both models, check the spec sheets for individual scores. They differ in modality coverage, Claude 3.5 Haiku handles text, vision while Command R handles text, which can be the deciding factor before you even look at benchmarks. Command R ships open weights (CC-BY-NC 4.0); Claude 3.5 Haiku is API-only.
Claude 3.5 Haiku is the newer of the two, released 8 months after Command R, which usually means a more recent knowledge cutoff and updated safety post-training. Claude 3.5 Haiku is usually picked for customer support and code completion workloads, while Command R sees more deployments in rag and customer support. If pricing matters more than every last benchmark point, run the numbers in the calculator below before committing.
Side-by-side specs
| Spec | Claude 3.5 Haiku | Command R |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Anthropic | Cohere |
| Released | Nov 2024 | Mar 2024 |
| Modalities | text, vision | text |
| Context window | 200K tokens | 128K tokens |
| Max output | , | , |
| Input · 1M | $0.80 / 1M tokens | $0.50 / 1M tokens |
| Output · 1M | $4.00 / 1M tokens | $1.50 / 1M tokens |
| Knowledge cutoff | , | , |
| Open weights | No | Yes (CC-BY-NC 4.0) |
| API available | Yes | Yes |
Pricing at scale
What you'd actually pay at typical workloads. Numbers come from each model's published per-million-token rates.
- Light usage, 100k in / 50k out per day$8.40 vs $3.75
- Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day$84.00 vs $37.50
- RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day$144 vs $84.00
Light usage, 100k in / 50k out per day: $8.40 vs $3.75 per month, model B comes out ahead. Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day: $84.00 vs $37.50 per month, model B comes out ahead. RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day: $144 vs $84.00 per month, model B comes out ahead.
Estimated spend for the listed models at your usage. Numbers are derived from each model's published per-million-token rates.
- Claude 3.5 Haiku$0.280
- Command R$0.125
Benchmarks compared
Only sourced numbers. Where a benchmark is missing for one model we show the available value rather than fabricating the other.
Claude 3.5 Haiku fits when…
- Fast
- Cheap for Anthropic
- Strong code at small size
- Long-context tasks, handles 200K tokens vs 128K for Command R.
- Multimodal needs covering vision.
Command R fits when…
- Cheap RAG
- Reliable tool-use
- Cost-sensitive workloads, 2.7× cheaper than Claude 3.5 Haiku on output tokens.
- Self-hosting and on-prem requirements, open weights (CC-BY-NC 4.0).
Consider Claude Opus 4.7
Anthropic's mid-2026 flagship, ahead on SWE-bench, agent reliability, and writing quality.
Frequently asked
Is Claude 3.5 Haiku or Command R cheaper?
Command R is cheaper at $1.50 / 1M tokens per million output tokens, vs $4.00 / 1M tokens for Claude 3.5 Haiku.Which has the larger context window?
Claude 3.5 Haiku accepts 200K tokens vs 128K for Command R.Is Claude 3.5 Haiku or Command R better for coding?
Both Claude 3.5 Haiku and Command R are competitive on coding benchmarks. See each model's individual spec page for HumanEval and SWE-bench scores where published. For an opinionated pick, consult our Best LLM for Coding ranking.Are either of these models open source?
Command R ships open weights (CC-BY-NC 4.0). Claude 3.5 Haiku is API-only.When were Claude 3.5 Haiku and Command R released?
Claude 3.5 Haiku was released by Anthropic on 2024-11-04. Command R was released by Cohere on 2024-03-11.
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