Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs GPT-5 Mini
How do these models stack up? Below is an expert side-by-side comparison of specifications, context window capacity, live pricing per million tokens, and standardized benchmark scores for Claude Sonnet 4.6 and GPT-5 Mini.
Claude Sonnet 4.6
Sonnet 4.6 is Anthropic's most capable Sonnet-class model yet, with frontier performance across coding, agents, and professional work. It excels at iterative development, complex codebase navigation, end-to-end project management with...
GPT-5 Mini
GPT-5 Mini is a compact version of GPT-5, designed to handle lighter-weight reasoning tasks. It provides the same instruction-following and safety-tuning benefits as GPT-5, but with reduced latency and cost....
Technical Specifications
| Specification | Claude Sonnet 4.6 | GPT-5 Mini |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Anthropic | OpenAI |
| Context Window | 1,000,000 tokens | 400,000 tokens |
| Agent Suitability | 94/100 | 85/100 |
| Time to First Token (TTFT) | 350 ms | 180 ms |
| Deployment Model | managed api | managed api |
| Production Stability | stable | stable |
| API Available | Yes | Yes |
| Released Date | 2026-02-17 | 2025-08-07 |
API Pricing Comparison
Input Price per Million Tokens
Claude Sonnet 4.6
$3.00
GPT-5 Mini
$0.25
Output Price per Million Tokens
Claude Sonnet 4.6
$15.00
GPT-5 Mini
$2.00
Want to test both models live?
Run side-by-side prompt prompts in our dynamic Sandbox. Check execution speeds, latency metrics, and compute actual costs in real-time.
Benchmark Performance Metrics
Scores show the raw performance percentages verified across key evaluation suites. Higher bars indicate superior accuracy and capability in that domain.
Claude Sonnet 4.6 Quirks & Gotchas
- ▸Best balance of speed and capability — default for most Claude integrations
- ▸Computer-use (beta) feature enables autonomous UI interaction
GPT-5 Mini Quirks & Gotchas
- ▸Excellent for high-frequency classification and routing tasks
- ▸Tool calling reliability drops on complex multi-step chains — use GPT-5 for agentic workflows