--- title: "Opus vs Sonnet vs Haiku: Which Claude Model? (2026)" description: "Opus vs Sonnet vs Haiku in 2026: how the three Claude models compare on capability, speed and cost per token, and which one to pick for coding and agents." type: "comparison" locale: "en" canonical: "https://agenticschool.dev/compare/opus-vs-sonnet-vs-haiku" datePublished: "2026-06-13" dateModified: "2026-06-13" --- # Opus vs Sonnet vs Haiku: Which Claude Model? (2026) - Keywords: opus vs sonnet vs haiku, which claude model, claude model comparison, opus or sonnet for coding - Canonical URL: https://agenticschool.dev/compare/opus-vs-sonnet-vs-haiku - Locale: en > Opus vs Sonnet vs Haiku in 2026: how the three Claude models compare on capability, speed and cost per token, and which one to pick for coding and agents. Anthropic ships Claude in three sizes, and picking the right one is the simplest, biggest lever on both quality and your bill. Opus is the most capable model for the hardest reasoning, Sonnet is the balanced workhorse that handles most coding and agent tasks well, and Haiku is the fast, cheap model for high-volume and latency-sensitive work. They share the same core abilities and, in 2026, a 1M-token context at standard pricing; what changes is depth of reasoning, speed and cost per token. This page compares them honestly so you can match the model to the task instead of paying for Opus on work Haiku would nail, or sending a genuinely hard problem to Haiku and getting frustrated. It pairs with our Choosing an AI Model article. Prices are list rates as of 2026 and move over time. ## Options ### Claude Opus The most capable Claude, for the hardest problems. - Tagline: Complex reasoning, tricky multi-file refactors, architecture and the agentic tasks where quality matters most. - + Highest reasoning quality and the strongest results on hard, multi-step coding tasks. - + 1M-token context at standard pricing in 2026 for large-codebase work. - + The model to reach for when getting it right the first time saves the most time. - - Most expensive per token (about USD 5 input / USD 25 output per million in 2026). - - Slower than Sonnet and Haiku, so it is overkill for simple, high-volume work. ### Claude Sonnet The balanced workhorse for everyday building. - Tagline: Most day-to-day coding, agent loops and content work where you want strong quality at a sensible price. - + Excellent quality-to-cost ratio; handles the large majority of real coding tasks well. - + Faster and far cheaper than Opus (about USD 3 input / USD 15 output per million in 2026). - + The sensible default for most Claude Code sessions and agent workflows. - - Can fall short of Opus on the very hardest reasoning or gnarly refactors. - - Pricier than Haiku for simple, bulk tasks that do not need its depth. ### Claude Haiku The fast, cheap model for volume and latency. - Tagline: High-volume classification, extraction, simple edits, subagent side work and anything latency-sensitive. - + Cheapest per token (about USD 1 input / USD 5 output per million in 2026) and the fastest. - + Ideal for high-throughput pipelines, simple tasks and read-only subagents. - + Great cost lever: route narrow work to Haiku while a stronger model leads. - - Less capable on deep reasoning and complex, multi-step coding. - - Can need more supervision or retries on ambiguous or hard tasks. | Claude Opus | Claude Sonnet | Claude Haiku | - Tier: Most capable | Balanced | Fastest and cheapest - Best for: Hardest reasoning, architecture, complex refactors | Most coding and agent work | High volume, simple tasks, latency-sensitive work - Relative capability: Highest | High | Good for its size - Relative speed: Slowest | Fast | Fastest - Input price per million (as of 2026): About USD 5 | About USD 3 | About USD 1 - Output price per million (as of 2026): About USD 25 | About USD 15 | About USD 5 - Context window (2026): 1M tokens at standard pricing | 1M tokens at standard pricing | Large context ## Verdict Make Sonnet your default: it handles the large majority of coding and agent work at a strong quality-to-cost ratio, which is why Claude Code defaults to it. Reach for Opus on the genuinely hard problems, complex reasoning, tricky refactors and architecture, where its extra depth pays for itself by getting things right the first time. Drop to Haiku for high-volume, simple or latency-sensitive work like classification, extraction and read-only subagents, where speed and cost matter more than peak reasoning. A great pattern is to mix them: a stronger model leads while Haiku does the cheap, narrow side work. To cut spend further, use prompt caching for repeated context and batch processing for non-urgent jobs. When in doubt, start on Sonnet and only move up or down when a task clearly demands it. ## FAQ ### Which Claude model should I use for coding? Use Sonnet as your default for most coding; it is the balanced workhorse and what Claude Code uses by default. Switch to Opus for the hardest reasoning, complex refactors and architecture, and use Haiku for high-volume or simple tasks like extraction and read-only subagent work where speed and cost matter most. ### What is the difference between Opus, Sonnet and Haiku? They are three sizes of Claude. Opus is the most capable and most expensive, best for the hardest problems. Sonnet is the balanced middle that handles most work at a strong quality-to-cost ratio. Haiku is the fastest and cheapest, best for high-volume, simple and latency-sensitive tasks. They share core abilities and a large context window. ### Which Claude model is cheapest? Haiku is the cheapest, at roughly USD 1 input and USD 5 output per million tokens as of 2026, compared with about USD 3 / USD 15 for Sonnet and about USD 5 / USD 25 for Opus. You can lower any model's effective cost further with prompt caching for repeated context and batch processing for non-urgent jobs. ### Is Opus worth it over Sonnet? Only for hard tasks. Opus delivers the best reasoning and is worth its higher cost when getting a complex refactor, tricky bug or architecture decision right the first time saves more time than it costs. For most everyday coding, Sonnet is the better value and you will not notice a quality gap. Start on Sonnet and escalate to Opus when a task clearly needs it. ### Do all three Claude models have a 1M-token context? In 2026, Opus and Sonnet offer a 1M-token context at standard pricing, which is a major help for large codebases, and Haiku also offers a large context window. See our context window glossary entry for what that means in practice and how to use it without wasting tokens.