Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs Jamba 1.5 Mini
A complete head-to-head: pricing, context window, benchmarks, modality coverage, and openness, with a programmatic verdict synthesized from the underlying data.
- PriceJamba 1.5 Mini
Jamba 1.5 Mini publishes pricing ($0.40 / 1M output tokens) while Claude Sonnet 4.6 does not.
- Context windowJamba 1.5 Mini
Jamba 1.5 Mini 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 Mini.
- OpennessJamba 1.5 Mini
Jamba 1.5 Mini ships open weights (Jamba Open Model License); Claude Sonnet 4.6 is API-only.
On balance Jamba 1.5 Mini edges ahead, winning 3 of 5 categories against Claude Sonnet 4.6's 1. Jamba 1.5 Mini publishes pricing ($0.40 / 1M output tokens) while Claude Sonnet 4.6 does not. Jamba 1.5 Mini 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 Mini handles text, which can be the deciding factor before you even look at benchmarks. Jamba 1.5 Mini 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 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 Jamba 1.5 Mini sees more deployments in long context and summarization. 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 | Jamba 1.5 Mini |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Anthropic | AI21 |
| Released | Jan 2026 | Aug 2024 |
| Modalities | text, vision | text |
| Context window | 200K tokens | 256K tokens |
| Max output | , | , |
| Input · 1M | Pricing not published | $0.20 / 1M tokens |
| Output · 1M | Pricing not published | $0.40 / 1M tokens |
| Knowledge cutoff | , | , |
| Open weights | No | Yes (Jamba Open Model License) |
| 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 $1.20
- Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day, vs $12.00
- RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day, vs $32.40
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
- Jamba 1.5 Mini$0.040
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
- Multimodal needs covering vision.
Jamba 1.5 Mini fits when…
- 256k context at small-model price
- Hybrid SSM-Transformer is efficient on long inputs
- Open weights for self-hosting
- Self-hosting and on-prem requirements, open weights (Jamba Open Model License).
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 Jamba 1.5 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?
Jamba 1.5 Mini accepts 256K tokens vs 200K for Claude Sonnet 4.6.Is Claude Sonnet 4.6 or Jamba 1.5 Mini better for coding?
Both Claude Sonnet 4.6 and Jamba 1.5 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?
Jamba 1.5 Mini ships open weights (Jamba Open Model License). Claude Sonnet 4.6 is API-only.When were Claude Sonnet 4.6 and Jamba 1.5 Mini released?
Claude Sonnet 4.6 was released by Anthropic on 2026-01-20. Jamba 1.5 Mini was released by AI21 on 2024-08-22.
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