Claude Sonnet 5 (Max)
By Anthropic · released 2026-06-30 (3 months) · snapshot 2026-10-24
- Intelligence index
- 38.20
- Cost to run the AA index
- $6998
- Price per 1M tokens (in / out)
- $2.00 / $10.0
- End-to-end time
- 183.6s
Is Claude Sonnet 5 (Max) on the Pareto frontier, and what beats it?
Off the frontier
No. Claude Opus 5.5 (Xhigh, Default Fallback) is at least as smart for the same money or less.
Next step up: Claude Opus 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback), smarter but dearer.
| # | Model | Creator | Intelligence | Total cost | E2E total | Open | Released | Frontier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Claude Sonnet 5 (Max) | Anthropic | 38.20 | $6998 | 183.6s | 2026-06-30 | ||
| 2 | Claude Opus 5.5 (Xhigh, Default Fallback) | Anthropic | 56.00 | $4057 | 123.1s | 2026-09-22 | Frontier | |
| 3 | Claude Opus 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) | Anthropic | 57.60 | $8708 | 626.1s | 2026-09-22 | Frontier |
Open in the picker Daily check URL: 200 on the frontier, 409 once beaten
Claude Sonnet 5 (Max) today
5 of 6 effort levels plotted. The remaining levels lack intelligence or benchmark cost data.
Intelligence: Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index. Cost: total cost to run that benchmark, so reasoning tokens count. API id: claude-sonnet-5.
Compare head to head
Suggested: what beats it, its effort levels, and frontier models near its price.
- Claude Sonnet 5 (Max) vs Claude Opus 5.5 (Xhigh, Default Fallback)
- Claude Sonnet 5 (Max) vs Claude Opus 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback)
- Claude Sonnet 5 (Max) vs Claude Sonnet 5 (Low)
- Claude Sonnet 5 (Max) vs Claude Sonnet 5 (Medium)
- Claude Sonnet 5 (Max) vs Claude Sonnet 5 (High)
- Claude Sonnet 5 (Max) vs Claude Sonnet 5 (Xhigh)
- Claude Sonnet 5 (Max) vs Claude Sonnet 5 (Non-reasoning, High)
- Claude Sonnet 5 (Max) vs Kimi K3.1 Pro
What the Claude Sonnet 5 release did to the frontier on 2026-06-30
2 of 6 effort levels reached the frontier at launch (Claude Sonnet 5 (High), Claude Sonnet 5 (Xhigh)). Impact 0.01, #45 of 46 releases this past year.
Should you use Claude Sonnet 5 (Max)?
Should you use Claude Sonnet 5 (Max)?
Only when it fits your setup: Claude Opus 5.5 (Xhigh, Default Fallback) is at least as smart for the same money or less, so Claude Sonnet 5 (Max) is off the value frontier today.
What is better and cheaper than Claude Sonnet 5 (Max)?
Claude Opus 5.5 (Xhigh, Default Fallback) — at least as smart for the same money or less.
How much does Claude Sonnet 5 (Max) cost?
$2.00/$10 in/out per 1M tokens, and $6998 to run the full Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, the honest all-in number for reasoning models.
Is Claude Sonnet 5 (Max) on the Pareto frontier?
No: Claude Opus 5.5 (Xhigh, Default Fallback) beats it on intelligence, cost, or both.
Frontier membership by axis pair
Other axis pairs where Claude Sonnet 5 (Max) is Pareto-optimal.
| Y axis | X axis | On the frontier |
|---|---|---|
| AA intelligence index | AA total cost to run (USD) | |
| AA intelligence index | End-to-end total seconds | |
| AA intelligence index | Output speed tokens/sec |
Accept: text/markdown or ?format=md returns this page as Markdown. JSON: /api/v1/models/claude-sonnet-5 · Markdown: /api/v1/models/claude-sonnet-5?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill