Anthropic’s new Claude Sonnet 5 closes the gap to the pricier Opus model series

Anthropic released Claude Sonnet 5, which beats its predecessor Sonnet 4.6 across all benchmarks and even edges past the larger Opus 4.8 on the GDPval-AA v2 knowledge work test with a score of 1,618. Anthropic is also quick to point out that the model scores far below the models the US government currently has blocked when it comes to cybersecurity tasks, a likely deliberate signal given the ongoing debate.

The open question is whether it’s actually a better deal if it burns through more tokens to get the job done. Anthropic released Claude Sonnet 5. In benchmarks, it closes in on the larger Opus 4.8 and even beats it in some areas. The model is available now at an introductory price.AdDEC_D_Incontent-1 Anthropic calls it the most agentic Sonnet yet: it can build plans, grab tools like browsers and terminals, and work on its own at a level that just months ago only bigger, pricier models could pull off, according to the company. Sonnet 5 is meant to close that gap. Anthropic’s published benchmarks show Sonnet 5 beating its predecessor Sonnet 4.6 in every tested category while gaining ground on the pricier Opus 4.8. On agentic coding, Sonnet 5 hits 63.2 percent on SWE-bench Pro, up from 58.1 percent for Sonnet 4.6. Opus 4.8 sits at 69.2 percent. On Terminal-Bench 2.1, Sonnet 5 pulls 80.4 percent versus Sonnet 4.6’s 67.0 percent. For multidisciplinary reasoning (Humanity’s Last Exam), the model reaches 57.4 percent with tools, nearly matching Opus 4.8 at 57.9 percent. On computer use (OSWorld-Verified), Sonnet 5 posts 81.2 percent compared to 78.5 percent for its predecessor.Ad On the knowledge work benchmark GDPval-AA v2, which tests AI on real-world knowledge tasks, Sonnet 5 actually beats the larger Opus 4.8, scoring 1,618 to Opus’s 1,615. Anthropic says feedback from early-access partners told the same story. Sonnet 5 acts far more agentically than previous versions, showing up in things like how it handles search tasks (see the updated benchmark above). Lately, Anthropic has been making news for models it can’t ship. The US government is blocking the company’s two most capable models, Mythos 5 and Fable 5, over cybersecurity concerns.