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Model

Claude 4 (Claude Opus 4 and Claude Sonnet 4)

Claude Opus 4 and Claude Sonnet 4, announced on 22 May 2025, were hybrid models with extended thinking. Anthropic called Opus 4 the best coding model in the world, and Claude Code became generally available the same day.

Status DeprecatedModality Text, ImageContext (K tokens) 200 Era Generative AI for everyone

License
Proprietary
Access
API, App, Enterprise
Release date
Developer
Anthropic

What it is

Claude Opus 4 and Claude Sonnet 4 were announced on 22 May 2025, under the API identifiers claude-opus-4-20250514 and claude-sonnet-4-20250514. Both were hybrid models, offering near-instant responses as well as extended thinking, a mode in which the model reasons at length before answering. Sonnet 4 was an upgrade to Claude Sonnet 3.7. Anthropic called Opus 4 “the best coding model in the world”, and said it could work continuously for several hours on long, multi-step tasks.[1][3]

Origins

The two models arrived as part of a wider set of releases. Claude Code became generally available the same day, and GitHub said Sonnet 4 would power the new coding agent in GitHub Copilot.[1]

Anthropic's safety work also shaped the launch. Claude Opus 4 was the first model the company deployed under AI Safety Level 3 (ASL-3) protections. Anthropic described this as a precautionary and provisional step because of improving knowledge related to chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) weapons. The company ruled out that Sonnet 4 needed ASL-3 protections.[2]

Main features

On SWE-bench Verified, Claude Opus 4 scored 72.5% and Sonnet 4 scored 72.7%. With parallel test-time compute, which runs several attempts and combines them, the scores rose to 79.4% and 80.2%. Opus 4 also scored 43.2% on Terminal-bench.[1]

The models added extended thinking with tool use in beta. Tools such as web search could be used during reasoning. They could also use tools in parallel, and, when given local file access, create and maintain memory files.[1]

New API features were released with the models: a code execution tool, an MCP connector, a Files API and prompt caching for up to one hour.[1] MCP (Model Context Protocol) is an open standard that lets a model connect to outside tools and data sources.

Anthropic reported that both models were 65% less likely than Sonnet 3.7 to use shortcuts or loopholes on agentic tasks that are susceptible to them.[1]

Pricing per million tokens was $15 for input and $75 for output for Opus 4, and $3 for input and $15 for output for Sonnet 4.[1][4] Both models were available on the Pro, Max, Team and Enterprise plans, on the Claude API, on Amazon Bedrock and on Google Cloud Vertex AI. Free users received Sonnet 4.[1][4]

Its place in development

According to Wikipedia, training data for both models ran to March 2025.[5] Their successors were Claude Opus 4.1, released on 5 August 2025, and Claude Sonnet 4.5, released on 29 September 2025.[5]

Anthropic announced the deprecation of both models on 14 April 2026, and they were retired from the Claude API on 15 June 2026.[3]

CapabilitiesLarge language modelsReasoningCodeAgents & tool use

Governance & standardsSafety & governance

Version history

20
  1. 2023
    • Mar 14, 2023 Claude (March 2023)

      Claude is the AI assistant Anthropic announced on 14 March 2023, its first publicly available assistant. It was built around training AI to be helpful, honest and harmless, and it started the Claude model line.

    • Jul 11, 2023 Claude 2

      Claude 2 is the second major version of Anthropic's assistant model, released on 11 July 2023 with better performance and longer responses. It was the first Claude model open to the general public.

    • Nov 21, 2023 Claude 2.1

      Claude 2.1, released on 21 November 2023, doubled the context window to 200,000 tokens and cut false statements by half compared with Claude 2.0. It added tool use and system prompts.

  2. 2024
    • Mar 4, 2024 Claude 3 Opus

      Claude 3 Opus, announced on 4 March 2024, was the most capable model in the Claude 3 family. It added vision and launched with a 200K-token context window and a Needle In A Haystack recall above 99%.

    • Mar 4, 2024 Claude 3 Sonnet

      Claude 3 Sonnet was the middle model of Anthropic's Claude 3 family, announced on 4 March 2024. It powered the free tier of claude.ai, offered a 200K-token context window, and was retired on 21 July 2025.

    • Jun 20, 2024 Claude 3.5 Sonnet

      Claude 3.5 Sonnet, released on 20 June 2024, was the first model of the Claude 3.5 family. It ran twice as fast as Claude 3 Opus at the mid-tier price and powered the new Artifacts and Projects features.

    • Oct 22, 2024 Claude 3.5 Sonnet (October 2024 upgrade)

      The upgraded Claude 3.5 Sonnet, announced on 22 October 2024, raised coding and agentic scores and introduced computer use in public beta, the first such offer from a frontier AI model.

  3. 2025
    • Feb 24, 2025 Claude 3.7 Sonnet

      Claude 3.7 Sonnet, released on 24 February 2025, was described by Anthropic as the first hybrid reasoning model on the market, able to answer quickly or think step by step at length. It launched with Claude Code.

    • May 22, 2025 Claude 4 (Claude Opus 4 and Claude Sonnet 4) · This page

      Claude Opus 4 and Claude Sonnet 4, announced on 22 May 2025, were hybrid models with extended thinking. Anthropic called Opus 4 the best coding model in the world, and Claude Code became generally available the same day.

    • Aug 5, 2025 Claude Opus 4.1

      Claude Opus 4.1, released on 5 August 2025, upgraded Claude Opus 4 for agentic tasks, real-world coding and reasoning, at the same price. Anthropic later succeeded it with Claude Opus 4.5.

    • Sep 29, 2025 Claude Sonnet 4.5

      Claude Sonnet 4.5, released on 29 September 2025, was a drop-in replacement for Sonnet 4 at the same price. Anthropic reported that it could stay focused on complex tasks for more than 30 hours.

    • Nov 24, 2025 Claude Opus 4.5

      Claude Opus 4.5, released on 24 November 2025, cost a third as much as Opus 4.1 per token and introduced an effort parameter that lets developers trade capability for time and cost. Claude Opus 4.6 succeeded it.

  4. 2026
    • Feb 5, 2026 Claude Opus 4.6

      Released on 5 February 2026, Claude Opus 4.6 was an upgrade to Anthropic's smartest model. It was the first Opus-class model with a 1M-token context window, in beta at launch, and it introduced agent teams in Claude Code.

    • Feb 17, 2026 Claude Sonnet 4.6

      Released on 17 February 2026 with a 1M-token context window in beta, Claude Sonnet 4.6 kept the price of Sonnet 4.5 and became the default model for Free and Pro users on claude.ai.

    • Apr 16, 2026 Claude Opus 4.7

      Released on 16 April 2026 at the same price as Opus 4.6, Claude Opus 4.7 added an xhigh effort level and accepted much larger images. It was the first model to test automatic blocking of high-risk cybersecurity requests.

    • May 28, 2026 Claude Opus 4.8

      Released on 28 May 2026 at the same price as Opus 4.7, Claude Opus 4.8 added a fast mode at 2.5 times the speed, with fewer unnoticed flaws in its own code. Anthropic called it a modest but tangible improvement.

    • Jun 30, 2026 Claude Sonnet 5

      Claude Sonnet 5, released on 30 June 2026, is Anthropic's most agentic Sonnet model. It can make plans, use browsers and terminals, and run autonomously, at an introductory price of $2 and $10 per million tokens.

    • Jul 24, 2026 Claude Opus 5

      Claude Opus 5, released on 24 July 2026 at $5 and $25 per million tokens, is Anthropic's most aligned model to date and its most capable generally available model for scientific research.

    • Sep 22, 2026 Claude Opus 5.5

      Claude Opus 5.5, released on 22 September 2026, is the first model in Anthropic's Claude 5.5 family. Anthropic said it performs at the level of Fable 5.1 on most work, at about 40% lower cost than Opus 5.

    • Sep 28, 2026 Claude Sonnet 5.5

      Claude Sonnet 5.5, released on 28 September 2026, is the second model in the Claude 5.5 family and Anthropic's fastest Sonnet to date. It costs $2 and $10 per million tokens, with cache reads halved in October 2026.

20253

  1. UpdateTRAE introduces the SOLO autonomous coding mode

    On 17 July 2025 TRAE announced SOLO, an autonomous coding mode that drafts a spec, then plans, builds and ships features. SOLO became generally available on 4 November 2025 with SOLO Coder and SOLO Builder.

  2. PolicyAnthropic activates AI Safety Level 3 protections

    On 22 May 2025 Anthropic switched on its AI Safety Level 3 deployment and security protections alongside the launch of Claude Opus 4, a precautionary and provisional step it said was prompted by continuing gains in chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear knowledge and capabilities.

  3. ReleaseAnthropic launches Claude Opus 4 and Claude Sonnet 4

    On 22 May 2025 Anthropic launched Claude Opus 4 and Claude Sonnet 4, hybrid models with extended thinking and tool use. Anthropic called Opus 4 the world's best coding model, and Claude Code became generally available the same day.

Developed by1

Anthropic

Succeeded by2

Claude Sonnet 4.5Claude Opus 4.1

Successor of1

Claude 3.7 Sonnet

Powers4

Claude apps (claude.ai)Claude CodeTRAEGitHub Copilot

Uses3

Chain of thought and reasoning modelsTransformerConstitutional AI

Notes and sources

  1. Introducing Claude 4https://www.anthropic.com/news/claude-4
  2. Activating AI Safety Level 3 Protectionshttps://www.anthropic.com/news/activating-asl3-protections
  3. Model deprecationshttps://platform.claude.com/docs/en/about-claude/model-deprecations
  4. Pricinghttps://platform.claude.com/docs/en/about-claude/pricing
  5. Claude (language model)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claude_(language_model)

Cite this page: Claude 4 (Claude Opus 4 and Claude Sonnet 4). TellWorld, https://www.tellworld.net/models/claude-4. Updated 2026-11-08