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Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs Jamba 1.5 Large

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 · Jamba 1.5 Large specs
Verdict by category
  • PriceJamba 1.5 Large

    Jamba 1.5 Large publishes pricing ($8.00 / 1M output tokens) while Claude Sonnet 4.6 does not.

  • Context windowJamba 1.5 Large

    Jamba 1.5 Large accepts 256K tokens vs 200K, 1.3× 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 Sonnet 4.6

    Claude Sonnet 4.6 supports 2 modalities (text, vision) vs 1 for Jamba 1.5 Large.

  • OpennessJamba 1.5 Large

    Jamba 1.5 Large ships open weights (Jamba Open Model License); Claude Sonnet 4.6 is API-only.

On balance Jamba 1.5 Large edges ahead, winning 3 of 5 categories against Claude Sonnet 4.6's 1. Jamba 1.5 Large publishes pricing ($8.00 / 1M output tokens) while Claude Sonnet 4.6 does not. Jamba 1.5 Large accepts 256K tokens vs 200K, 1.3× 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 Jamba 1.5 Large handles text, which can be the deciding factor before you even look at benchmarks. Jamba 1.5 Large ships open weights (Jamba Open Model License); Claude Sonnet 4.6 is API-only.

Claude Sonnet 4.6 is the newer of the two, released 17 months after Jamba 1.5 Large, 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 Jamba 1.5 Large 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 4.6Jamba 1.5 Large
ProviderAnthropicAI21
ReleasedJan 2026Aug 2024
Modalitiestext, visiontext
Context window200K tokens256K tokens
Max output,,
Input · 1MPricing not published$2.00 / 1M tokens
Output · 1MPricing not published$8.00 / 1M tokens
Knowledge cutoff,,
Open weightsNoYes (Jamba Open Model License)
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
  • Jamba 1.5 Large$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.

Benchmark scores not yet available. We only publish numbers we can source from official model cards or independent leaderboards, see methodology.
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
  • Multimodal needs covering vision.
Pick Jamba 1.5 Large if

Jamba 1.5 Large fits when…

  • 256k context
  • Efficient long-context inference
  • Open weights
  • Self-hosting and on-prem requirements, open weights (Jamba Open Model License).
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 4.7Jamba 1.5 Large vs Claude Opus 4.7

Frequently asked

  • Is Claude Sonnet 4.6 or Jamba 1.5 Large 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?
    Jamba 1.5 Large accepts 256K tokens vs 200K for Claude Sonnet 4.6.
  • Is Claude Sonnet 4.6 or Jamba 1.5 Large better for coding?
    Both Claude Sonnet 4.6 and Jamba 1.5 Large 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?
    Jamba 1.5 Large ships open weights (Jamba Open Model License). Claude Sonnet 4.6 is API-only.
  • When were Claude Sonnet 4.6 and Jamba 1.5 Large released?
    Claude Sonnet 4.6 was released by Anthropic on 2026-01-20. Jamba 1.5 Large was released by AI21 on 2024-08-22.
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