Claude 3 Opus vs Claude 3 Sonnet
Compare pricing, context windows, and strengths for Claude 3 Opus by Anthropic and Claude 3 Sonnet by Anthropic - and see how to put either to work in Appaca.
Claude 3 Opus
The most intelligent Claude 3 model, built for highly complex reasoning, analysis, and open-ended problem solving across any domain.
View Claude 3 OpusClaude 3 Sonnet
Balanced model offering high intelligence with fast performance, excellent for scalable enterprise workloads and real-time responses.
View Claude 3 SonnetClaude 3 Opus vs Claude 3 Sonnet at a glance
Specs and pricing side by side, from the Appaca AI models directory.
| Spec | Claude 3 Opus | Claude 3 Sonnet |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Anthropic | Anthropic |
| Model type | Text | Text |
| Context window | 200K tokens | 200K tokens |
| Input price | $15 / 1M tokens | $3 / 1M tokens |
| Output price | $75 / 1M tokens | $15 / 1M tokens |
| Status | Superseded by Claude 4.1 Opus | Superseded by Claude 4.5 Sonnet |
How Claude 3 Opus and Claude 3 Sonnet differ
What the numbers mean in practice when choosing between Claude 3 Opus and Claude 3 Sonnet.
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Claude 3 Sonnet is 80% cheaper on input tokens ($3 vs $15 per million), which adds up quickly in document-heavy workloads.
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Claude 3 Sonnet is 80% cheaper on output tokens ($15 vs $75 per million) - the bigger factor for tools that generate long documents.
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Both models offer the same 200K tokens context window.
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Claude 3 Opus has been superseded by Claude 4.1 Opus - for new builds, consider the newer model first.
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Claude 3 Sonnet has been superseded by Claude 4.5 Sonnet - for new builds, consider the newer model first.
Strengths side by side
Where each model shines, according to benchmarks and provider positioning.
Claude 3 Opus
1. Intelligence & Reasoning
- Highest capability in the Claude 3 family
- Near-human comprehension and fluency
- Excels at MMLU, GPQA, GSM8K, advanced reasoning tasks
2. Complex Problem Solving
- Best for research, strategy, multi-step planning
- Handles ambiguous, open-ended tasks with ease
3. Vision & Multimodal Capabilities
- Strong chart/graph understanding
- Processes documents, technical diagrams, and dense visual data
4. Recall & Long-Context Reasoning
- Near-perfect recall (>99% on NIAH benchmark)
- Handles very large documents and multi-file workflows
5. Enterprise-Grade Accuracy
- Significantly reduced hallucinations
- High correctness rate for factual queries
Claude 3 Sonnet
1. Speed + Intelligence Blend
- 2x faster than Claude 2/2.1
- Strong reasoning with lower cost
2. Enterprise-Ready
- Designed for high-volume, large-scale deployments
- Excellent stability for production workloads
3. Versatile Task Performance
- Great for RAG, search, document understanding
- High-quality code generation
- Effective at sales automation and knowledge retrieval
4. Vision Capabilities
- Reads charts, graphs, images reliably
- Extracts text from visuals efficiently
Use Claude 3 Opus or Claude 3 Sonnet - or both
Appaca is the AI workspace for operators. Build internal tools and AI co-workers powered by Claude 3 Opus or Claude 3 Sonnet - connected to your real data and ready for your whole team. No code, no deployment.
Describe it, and it's built
Tell the Appaca agent the internal tool you need and it builds a working app powered by Claude 3 Opus or Claude 3 Sonnet. No code, no API keys, no deployment.
Switch models without rebuilding
Start on Claude 3 Opus, test the same tool on Claude 3 Sonnet, and keep whichever performs better - the rest of your app stays exactly as it is.
Automated for the whole team
Schedule tools to run on autopilot - daily digests, weekly reports, real-time triggers - and share them with your whole team from one workspace.
Describe it, and it's built
Tell the Appaca agent what your team needs and it builds a working app powered by Claude 3 Opus or Claude 3 Sonnet - connected to the tools you already use.
Related comparisons
See how Claude 3 Opus and Claude 3 Sonnet stack up against other models in the directory.
FAQs
Claude 3 Sonnet is generally cheaper: $3 input / $15 output per million tokens, versus $15 / $75 for Claude 3 Opus. Actual cost depends on how many tokens your workload reads and writes.
They are equal: both Claude 3 Opus and Claude 3 Sonnet support a 200K tokens context window.
It depends on the job. Compare the pricing, context window, and strengths above against your workload - and remember the choice isn't permanent. In Appaca you can build a tool on Claude 3 Opus, test the same tool on Claude 3 Sonnet, and switch at any time without rebuilding anything.
Yes. Appaca is a no-code AI workspace: describe the internal tool your team needs and the Appaca agent builds it as a working app powered by Claude 3 Opus, Claude 3 Sonnet, or any other model in the directory - with a built-in database, team access, and integrations. No API keys to wire up and nothing to deploy.
Build AI tools with Claude 3 Opus or Claude 3 Sonnet
Describe the tool your team needs and get a working app powered by the model you choose - with a built-in database, team access, and integrations. No code, no deployment.