tech
April 2, 2026
Vibe Check: Anthropic Just Made Opus Cheaper Without Calling It That
Sonnet 4.6 delivers Opus-close performance at half the price—but speed didn't come along for the ride
TL;DR
- Sonnet 4.6 is priced at $3 input/$15 output per million tokens, significantly cheaper than Opus.
- The model performs well on coding, brainstorming, and complex restructuring tasks, maintaining a thread and following instructions.
- While not significantly faster than Opus, Sonnet 4.6 offers Opus-quality output at a lower cost, making it suitable for production AI apps.
- The model showed some erratic behavior, such as starting a task before confirmation or getting stuck on issues Opus solved quickly.
- Anthropic's strategy may involve continuously improving Sonnet to match Opus capabilities over time at a stable, lower price point.
- Sonnet 4.6 is recommended for developers building AI products concerned about cost and for users on the $20 Pro plan seeking more power.