Claude Haiku 4.5 vs Claude Sonnet 5
Which one to choose
Pick Claude Haiku 4.5 for fast, high-volume work such as chat front ends, classification and extraction, where reply speed matters more than depth. Pick Claude Sonnet 5 when the job is an agent that plans, codes or browses over many steps and has to finish the task and check its own output. The deciding factor is task length: Haiku is the low-latency worker, Sonnet is the everyday agent model of the newer generation.
Pricing comparison
| Claude Haiku 4.5 | Claude Sonnet 5 | |
|---|---|---|
| Model maker | Anthropic | Anthropic |
| Delivery availability | Available | Available |
| Context window | 200K | 1M |
| Max output | 64K | 128K |
| Official price | Input$1.00per 1M tokensOutput$5.00per 1M tokens | Input$3.00per 1M tokensOutput$15.00per 1M tokens |
| TokenLab price | Input$0.30per 1M tokensOutput$1.50per 1M tokens | Input$0.90per 1M tokensOutput$4.50per 1M tokens |
| Model performance |
|
|
| Capabilities | JSON modePrompt CacheReasoningTool useVision | JSON modePrompt CacheReasoningTool useVision |
Choose Claude Haiku 4.5 when
- You run a customer-facing widget where each reply must come back quickly
- You tag tickets or pull fields from screenshots thousands of times a day
- You need cheap sub-agent workers inside a larger agent system
Choose Claude Sonnet 5 when
- You hand the model a bug or feature and expect it to plan, edit and test the change
- You run browsing or search agents that must stay on task through many steps
- You want a model from the Claude 5 generation with more recent knowledge
How they differ
| Aspect | Claude Haiku 4.5 | Claude Sonnet 5 |
|---|---|---|
| Task length | Suited to short, well-defined requests where the answer is a few turns away. | Built to carry a complex task through to the end instead of stopping early. |
| Self-checking | Does what the prompt asks; checking steps need to be written into the prompt or the pipeline. | Anthropic says it checks its own work without being prompted, for example by writing a test that reproduces a bug first. |
| Thinking control | Extended thinking is optional and set with an explicit token budget per request. | Reasoning behaviour follows the newer Claude 5 design; sampling parameters such as temperature must stay at their defaults. |
| Speed role | Anthropic positions it as the fastest model in its lineup. | A mid-tier model aimed at capability on agent work rather than raw reply speed. |
| Knowledge freshness | Earlier knowledge cutoff, so it knows fewer recent libraries and events. | Released in June 2026 and knows more about recent tooling. |
Summary
- Claude Haiku 4.5: Input $0.30 / Output $1.50 per 1M tokens; Claude Sonnet 5: Input $0.90 / Output $4.50 per 1M tokens. Rates depend on the billing unit, specification, and usage. Compare matching conditions in the model's detailed pricing; a single rate does not determine the total cost.
- Claude Sonnet 5 has a 5.0x larger context window
- Claude Sonnet 5 supports 2.0x more output tokens
FAQ
Is Claude Sonnet 5 better than Claude Haiku 4.5?
For long coding, planning and browsing tasks, yes: Sonnet 5 is the newer, higher-tier model and is built to finish complex work. For quick classification, extraction or chat where latency is what you notice, Haiku 4.5 is the better fit.
Which is better for coding?
Claude Sonnet 5 for anything beyond a small edit. It plans, writes tests and confirms its fixes. Haiku 4.5 handles short, contained code tasks and sub-agent steps well.
Can I swap Haiku 4.5 for Sonnet 5 without changing prompts?
Mostly, since both are Claude models that take text and images and call tools. Check thinking settings and sampling parameters: Haiku uses a manual thinking budget, and Sonnet 5 rejects non-default temperature, top_p and top_k.
Can I use both together?
Yes. A common setup has Sonnet 5 plan and review while Haiku 4.5 workers run the many small, fast steps such as lookups, tagging and extraction.
Which is cheaper, Claude Haiku 4.5 or Claude Sonnet 5?
Claude Haiku 4.5: Input $0.30 / Output $1.50 per 1M tokens; Claude Sonnet 5: Input $0.90 / Output $4.50 per 1M tokens. Rates depend on the billing unit, specification, and usage. Compare matching conditions in the model's detailed pricing; a single rate does not determine the total cost.
What are the key differences between Claude Haiku 4.5 and Claude Sonnet 5?
Both models share similar capabilities.
Sources
- Introducing Claude Sonnet 5
- Claude Sonnet 5 overview
- Introducing Claude Haiku 4.5
- Claude Haiku 4.5 overview
Reviewed Oct 2, 2026