Claude Opus 4.7 vs. Sonnet 4.6 — which Claude to pick

Opus is the flagship, Sonnet is the workhorse. Here is the five-minute decision tree for when to pay 2x more for Opus and when Sonnet handles it.

25 min · Reviewed 2026

Two Claudes, one question

Open the Anthropic model picker and you will see Opus 4.7 at the top and Sonnet 4.6 right under it. Both have a 1 million token context window, both handle vision, both run extended thinking. So why is Opus five times more expensive per output token? The honest answer: Opus earns that premium on a small slice of tasks. For the other 80% of your work, Sonnet is the right call.

What you are actually paying for

Dimension	Claude Opus 4.7	Claude Sonnet 4.6
API price	$5 in / $25 out per M tokens	$3 in / $15 out per M tokens
Context window	1,000,000 tokens	1,000,000 tokens
Extended thinking	Yes, deeper budget	Yes
Release date	April 16, 2026	2025
Best at	multi-file refactors, legal briefs, tough coding agents	everyday chat, code review, document QA
Speed	Slower per token	Faster per token

Reach for Opus when

You need to refactor code that spans 5+ files and depends on subtle invariants
You are drafting a legal brief, policy memo, or regulatory filing where mistakes cost real money
You are pushing a long-horizon agent (Claude Code on a complex branch, auto-PR generation)
You are analyzing a 500-page report and the answer matters for a real decision

Sonnet is enough when

Customer-support chatbot answering product questions
Daily email drafts, meeting notes, summaries
Code review on single files or small PRs
Routine document Q&A where citations matter more than depth

The API call looks the same

from anthropic import Anthropic

client = Anthropic()

# Opus for a hard coding job
opus_reply = client.messages.create(
    model="claude-opus-4-7",
    max_tokens=4096,
    thinking={"type": "enabled", "budget_tokens": 8000},
    messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Refactor this multi-file auth module..."}],
)

# Sonnet for everyday chat — same shape, cheaper
sonnet_reply = client.messages.create(
    model="claude-sonnet-4-6",
    max_tokens=1024,
    messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Summarize this meeting transcript."}],
)The only difference is the model string — swap when cost matters.

End-of-lesson check

15 questions · take it digitally for instant feedback at tendril.neural-forge.io/learn/quiz/end-model-claude-opus-vs-sonnet-builders

What is the core idea behind "Claude Opus 4.7 vs. Sonnet 4.6 — which Claude to pick"?
1. Opus is the flagship, Sonnet is the workhorse. Here is the five-minute decision tree for when to pay 2x more for Opus and when Sonnet handles it.
2. cost per call
3. Output is designed to fool listeners about who is speaking, without disclosure
4. The consent covers the specific use (podcast vs. ads vs.
Which term best describes a foundational idea in "Claude Opus 4.7 vs. Sonnet 4.6 — which Claude to pick"?
1. context window
2. extended thinking
3. frontier model
4. token budget
A learner studying Claude Opus 4.7 vs. Sonnet 4.6 — which Claude to pick would need to understand which concept?
1. extended thinking
2. frontier model
3. context window
4. token budget
Which of these is directly relevant to Claude Opus 4.7 vs. Sonnet 4.6 — which Claude to pick?
1. extended thinking
2. context window
3. token budget
4. frontier model
Which of the following is a key point about Claude Opus 4.7 vs. Sonnet 4.6 — which Claude to pick?
1. You need to refactor code that spans 5+ files and depends on subtle invariants
2. You are drafting a legal brief, policy memo, or regulatory filing where mistakes cost real money
3. You are pushing a long-horizon agent (Claude Code on a complex branch, auto-PR generation)
4. You are analyzing a 500-page report and the answer matters for a real decision
Which of these does NOT belong in a discussion of Claude Opus 4.7 vs. Sonnet 4.6 — which Claude to pick?
1. cost per call
2. You need to refactor code that spans 5+ files and depends on subtle invariants
3. You are drafting a legal brief, policy memo, or regulatory filing where mistakes cost real money
4. You are pushing a long-horizon agent (Claude Code on a complex branch, auto-PR generation)
Which statement is accurate regarding Claude Opus 4.7 vs. Sonnet 4.6 — which Claude to pick?
1. Daily email drafts, meeting notes, summaries
2. Code review on single files or small PRs
3. Customer-support chatbot answering product questions
4. Routine document Q&A where citations matter more than depth
Which of these does NOT belong in a discussion of Claude Opus 4.7 vs. Sonnet 4.6 — which Claude to pick?
1. Code review on single files or small PRs
2. cost per call
3. Daily email drafts, meeting notes, summaries
4. Customer-support chatbot answering product questions
What is the key insight about "The 2x-5x rule" in the context of Claude Opus 4.7 vs. Sonnet 4.6 — which Claude to pick?
1. Opus usually costs 1.67x more on input and 1.67x more on output — but once you turn on extended thinking with a large bu…
2. cost per call
3. Output is designed to fool listeners about who is speaking, without disclosure
4. The consent covers the specific use (podcast vs. ads vs.
What is the key insight about "Do not default to Opus" in the context of Claude Opus 4.7 vs. Sonnet 4.6 — which Claude to pick?
1. cost per call
2. The most common mistake Tendril sees on student projects is defaulting to Opus for everything.
3. Output is designed to fool listeners about who is speaking, without disclosure
4. The consent covers the specific use (podcast vs. ads vs.
What is the recommended tip about "Match model to task" in the context of Claude Opus 4.7 vs. Sonnet 4.6 — which Claude to pick?
1. cost per call
2. Output is designed to fool listeners about who is speaking, without disclosure
3. Different models have different strengths. A coding model won't write great poetry; a creative model won't write tight S…
4. The consent covers the specific use (podcast vs. ads vs.
Which statement accurately describes an aspect of Claude Opus 4.7 vs. Sonnet 4.6 — which Claude to pick?
1. cost per call
2. Output is designed to fool listeners about who is speaking, without disclosure
3. The consent covers the specific use (podcast vs. ads vs.
4. Open the Anthropic model picker and you will see Opus 4.7 at the top and Sonnet 4.6 right under it.
Which best describes the scope of "Claude Opus 4.7 vs. Sonnet 4.6 — which Claude to pick"?
1. It focuses on Opus is the flagship, Sonnet is the workhorse. Here is the five-minute decision tree for when to pay
2. It is unrelated to model-families workflows
3. It applies only to the opposite beginner tier
4. It was deprecated in 2024 and no longer relevant
Which section heading best belongs in a lesson about Claude Opus 4.7 vs. Sonnet 4.6 — which Claude to pick?
1. cost per call
2. Reach for Opus when
3. Output is designed to fool listeners about who is speaking, without disclosure
4. The consent covers the specific use (podcast vs. ads vs.
Which section heading best belongs in a lesson about Claude Opus 4.7 vs. Sonnet 4.6 — which Claude to pick?
1. cost per call
2. Output is designed to fool listeners about who is speaking, without disclosure
3. Sonnet is enough when
4. The consent covers the specific use (podcast vs. ads vs.

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