Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs GPT-5 mini
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-5 mini specs- PriceGPT-5 mini
GPT-5 mini publishes pricing ($2.00 / 1M output tokens) while Claude Sonnet 4.6 does not.
- Context windowGPT-5 mini
GPT-5 mini accepts 400K tokens vs 200K, 2.0× 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.
- ModalitiesGPT-5 mini
GPT-5 mini supports 3 modalities (text, vision, audio) vs 2 for Claude Sonnet 4.6.
- OpennessTie
Both are closed-weight, API-only.
On balance GPT-5 mini edges ahead, winning 3 of 5 categories against Claude Sonnet 4.6's 0. GPT-5 mini publishes pricing ($2.00 / 1M output tokens) while Claude Sonnet 4.6 does not. GPT-5 mini accepts 400K tokens vs 200K, 2.0× the room for long documents and codebases.
No directly comparable public benchmarks are available for both models, check the spec sheets for individual scores. They differ in modality coverage, Claude Sonnet 4.6 handles text, vision while GPT-5 mini handles text, vision, audio, which can be the deciding factor before you even look at benchmarks. Both are closed-weight, API-only.
Claude Sonnet 4.6 is the newer of the two, released 6 months after GPT-5 mini, 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-5 mini sees more deployments in code completion 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 Sonnet 4.6 | GPT-5 mini |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Anthropic | OpenAI |
| Released | Jan 2026 | Aug 2025 |
| Modalities | text, vision | text, vision, audio |
| Context window | 200K tokens | 400K tokens |
| Max output | , | 128K tokens |
| Input · 1M | Pricing not published | $0.25 / 1M tokens |
| Output · 1M | Pricing not published | $2.00 / 1M tokens |
| Knowledge cutoff | , | 2024-09 |
| Open weights | No | No |
| 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, vs $3.75
- Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day, vs $37.50
- RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day, vs $49.50
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).
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-5 mini$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 Sonnet 4.6 fits when…
- Excellent quality-cost ratio
- Strong for code review and writing
- Reliable tool-use
GPT-5 mini fits when…
- Excellent price-quality ratio for production workloads
- Fast first-token latency
- Same tool-use API surface as flagship
- Long-context tasks, handles 400K tokens vs 200K for Claude Sonnet 4.6.
- Multimodal needs covering audio.
Consider Claude Opus 4.7
Anthropic's mid-2026 flagship, ahead on SWE-bench, agent reliability, and writing quality.
Frequently asked
Is Claude Sonnet 4.6 or GPT-5 mini 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-5 mini accepts 400K tokens vs 200K for Claude Sonnet 4.6.Is Claude Sonnet 4.6 or GPT-5 mini better for coding?
Both Claude Sonnet 4.6 and GPT-5 mini 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-5 mini released?
Claude Sonnet 4.6 was released by Anthropic on 2026-01-20. GPT-5 mini was released by OpenAI on 2025-08-07.
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