LLM·Dex
Newsletter

Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs GPT-4.1

A complete head-to-head: pricing, context window, benchmarks, modality coverage, and openness, with a programmatic verdict synthesized from the underlying data.

Updated

Claude Sonnet 4.6 specs · GPT-4.1 specs
Verdict by category
  • PriceGPT-4.1

    GPT-4.1 publishes pricing ($8.00 / 1M output tokens) while Claude Sonnet 4.6 does not.

  • Context windowGPT-4.1

    GPT-4.1 accepts 1M tokens vs 200K, 5.0× 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.

  • ModalitiesTie

    Both handle text, vision.

  • OpennessTie

    Both are closed-weight, API-only.

On balance GPT-4.1 edges ahead, winning 2 of 5 categories against Claude Sonnet 4.6's 0. GPT-4.1 publishes pricing ($8.00 / 1M output tokens) while Claude Sonnet 4.6 does not. GPT-4.1 accepts 1M tokens vs 200K, 5.0× the room for long documents and codebases.

No directly comparable public benchmarks are available for both models, check the spec sheets for individual scores. Both target the same set of modalities (text, vision), so the deciding factors are price, context, and raw quality. Both are closed-weight, API-only.

Claude Sonnet 4.6 is the newer of the two, released 9 months after GPT-4.1, which usually means a more recent knowledge cutoff and updated safety post-training. Claude Sonnet 4.6 is usually picked for coding llm and code review workloads, while GPT-4.1 sees more deployments in long context and rag. If pricing matters more than every last benchmark point, run the numbers in the calculator below before committing.

Side-by-side specs

SpecClaude Sonnet 4.6GPT-4.1
ProviderAnthropicOpenAI
ReleasedJan 2026Apr 2025
Modalitiestext, visiontext, vision
Context window200K tokens1M tokens
Max output,32.8K tokens
Input · 1MPricing not published$2.00 / 1M tokens
Output · 1MPricing not published$8.00 / 1M tokens
Knowledge cutoff,2024-06
Open weightsNoNo
API availableYesYes

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, vs $18.00
  • Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day, vs $180
  • RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day, vs $348

Light usage, 100k in / 50k out per day: pricing not directly comparable (one or both models are missing public per-token rates). Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day: pricing not directly comparable (one or both models are missing public per-token rates). RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day: pricing not directly comparable (one or both models are missing public per-token rates).

Price calculator

Estimated spend for the listed models at your usage. Numbers are derived from each model's published per-million-token rates.

  • Claude Sonnet 4.6Pricing unavailable
  • GPT-4.1$0.600

Benchmarks compared

Only sourced numbers. Where a benchmark is missing for one model we show the available value rather than fabricating the other.

Claude Sonnet 4.6GPT-4.1
  • MMLU,86.2
  • HumanEval,90.6
Pick Claude Sonnet 4.6 if

Claude Sonnet 4.6 fits when…

  • Excellent quality-cost ratio
  • Strong for code review and writing
  • Reliable tool-use
Pick GPT-4.1 if

GPT-4.1 fits when…

  • 1M-token context window, strong for long-doc workloads
  • Mature SDK and tooling integrations
  • Reliable JSON-mode and function-calling
  • Long-context tasks, handles 1M tokens vs 200K for Claude Sonnet 4.6.
Don't want either?

Consider Claude Opus 4.7

Anthropic's mid-2026 flagship, ahead on SWE-bench, agent reliability, and writing quality.

See Claude Opus 4.7 specsClaude Sonnet 4.6 vs Claude Opus 4.7GPT-4.1 vs Claude Opus 4.7

Frequently asked

  • Is Claude Sonnet 4.6 or GPT-4.1 cheaper?
    Per-token pricing isn't published for at least one of these models, check each model's spec page for current rates.
  • Which has the larger context window?
    GPT-4.1 accepts 1M tokens vs 200K for Claude Sonnet 4.6.
  • Is Claude Sonnet 4.6 or GPT-4.1 better for coding?
    Both Claude Sonnet 4.6 and GPT-4.1 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?
    Neither model ships open weights, both are accessible only via their respective providers' APIs.
  • When were Claude Sonnet 4.6 and GPT-4.1 released?
    Claude Sonnet 4.6 was released by Anthropic on 2026-01-20. GPT-4.1 was released by OpenAI on 2025-04-14.
Friday digest

The week's AI launches, in your inbox.

One short email every Friday, new models, leaks, and quietly-shipped APIs you missed.