Opus follows instructions better than sonnet for big tasks, but it can sometimes overthink or overengineer something. Sonnet tends to be more direct but can sometimes not follow instructions as good as opus. I'd say opus is great at planning and executing big tasks, while sonnet is best for simpler tasks that dont need the intelligence of opus.or at least plan with opus, code with sonnet, is another way. Answer from Hauven on reddit.com
Reddit
reddit.com › r/claudeai › are you seeing big difference between sonnet vs. opus?
r/ClaudeAI on Reddit: Are you seeing big difference between Sonnet vs. Opus?
June 22, 2025 -
I’m on the $100/month plan. 1-2 prompts in I got my limit on Opus, then I spend most of my coding day on Sonnet.
Whenever I am on Opus, it isn’t obvious it’s writing code that Sonnet can’t. I see a bigger difference between prompts that do vs. do not have “ultrathink” rather than Sonnet/Opus.
Does anyone with more experience have a clear perspective on Sonnet vs Opus? Even on the benchmarks they are about the same.
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Opus follows instructions better than sonnet for big tasks, but it can sometimes overthink or overengineer something. Sonnet tends to be more direct but can sometimes not follow instructions as good as opus. I'd say opus is great at planning and executing big tasks, while sonnet is best for simpler tasks that dont need the intelligence of opus.or at least plan with opus, code with sonnet, is another way.
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Opus is absolutely worth it for me and a large codebase at least. It's not just the line of code being different, it's the entire logic process. Basically, it's much more efficient which saves me time.
Anthropic
anthropic.com › news › claude-opus-4-5
Introducing Claude Opus 4.5
November 24, 2025 - Claude Opus 4.5 excels at long-horizon, autonomous tasks, especially those that require sustained reasoning and multi-step execution. In our evaluations it handled complex workflows with fewer dead-ends. On Terminal Bench it delivered a 15% improvement over Sonnet 4.5, a meaningful gain that ...
How big of a difference is there between Opus and Sonnet for coding?
My take on this is that occasionally the resulting code is quite shitty with Sonnet, while it is almost never a problem with Opus. More on reddit.com
Claude Code Opus vs Sonnet
Yeah, consistently better on harder tasks and recovering from errors, just get the 20x max, absurd value for money More on reddit.com
Claude Opus/Sonnet vs pro? : ClaudeAI
Hey, I always work with at least 2-3 Springboot Microservices per problem I solve, sometimes databases involved and complex tasks. My question:... More on old.reddit.com
Claude opus and sonnet 4 vs gpt4.1 - first hand experience as a professional firmware engineer experimenting with vibe. : ClaudeAI
So to preface this, I've been writing software and firmware for over a decade, my profession is specifically in reverse engineering, problem... More on old.reddit.com
When is Opus worth it?
Use Opus for complex reasoning, long-context analysis, research, strategy, or high-stakes domains.
ai-pro.org
ai-pro.org › learn-ai › articles › claude-3-sonnet-vs-opus-unveiling-the-differences-between-anthropics-advanced-ai-models
Claude 3 Sonnet vs Opus: Comprehensive AI Model Comparison | ...
Does Sonnet support long documents?
Yes, it supports expanded context for typical use; Opus is better for extremely long inputs.
ai-pro.org
ai-pro.org › learn-ai › articles › claude-3-sonnet-vs-opus-unveiling-the-differences-between-anthropics-advanced-ai-models
Claude 3 Sonnet vs Opus: Comprehensive AI Model Comparison | ...
Can I start with Sonnet and later upgrade?
Absolutely. Many teams prototype with Sonnet for speed and cost efficiency, then move select workloads to Opus.
ai-pro.org
ai-pro.org › learn-ai › articles › claude-3-sonnet-vs-opus-unveiling-the-differences-between-anthropics-advanced-ai-models
Claude 3 Sonnet vs Opus: Comprehensive AI Model Comparison | ...
Videos
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Claude Sonnet 4 Vs Opus 4 - Two BEAST Models But Which Is Better?
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Claude Opus 4.1 CRUSHES Sonnet & Gemini in Coding Benchmarks! - ...
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Lisa Peyton
lisapeyton.com › home › claude 4.1 opus vs. claude 4.5 sonnet: a real-world showdown for content marketers
Claude 4.1 Opus vs. Claude 4.5 Sonnet: A Real-World Showdown for Content Marketers | Lisa Peyton
October 2, 2025 - Claude 4.1 Opus came out swinging with energy. The opening line—”Let’s talk real talk: You’re not getting replaced by AI”—hits hard and immediately establishes a conversational vibe. It leaned heavily into metaphors (the orchestra conductor theme) and maintained a consistently upbeat, almost motivational speaker energy throughout. Claude 4.5 Sonnet opened with: “Here’s the truth nobody’s saying out loud: Your job isn’t one thing—it’s fifty things wrapped in a fancy title.” Different approach, but equally engaging.
Anthropic
anthropic.com › news › claude-4
Introducing Claude 4
Claude Opus 4 and Sonnet 4 are hybrid models offering two modes: near-instant responses and extended thinking for deeper reasoning. The Pro, Max, Team, and Enterprise Claude plans include both models and extended thinking, with Sonnet 4 also available to free users.
Hacker News
news.ycombinator.com › item
I still feel like the difference between Sonnet and Opus is a bit unclear. Somew... | Hacker News
October 25, 2024 - And finally, in the table in the blogpost, Opus isn't even included? It seems to me like Opus is the best model they have, but they don't want people to default using it, maybe the ROI is lower on Opus or something · When I manually tested it, I feel like Opus gives slightly better replies ...
YouTube
youtube.com › watch
Claude 4.5 Sonnet Is Here! Better Than Opus? - YouTube
✅ WORK WITH MEJoin the waitlist for my membership and get direct access to me + all my books for authors FREE when you join ▶ ▶ https://storytellingdb.com/go...
Published October 1, 2025
Reddit
reddit.com › r/claudeai › how big of a difference is there between opus and sonnet for coding?
r/ClaudeAI on Reddit: How big of a difference is there between Opus and Sonnet for coding?
July 27, 2025 -
I’m seeing a lot of discussion about using Opus to plan and sonnet to code.
What is the main difference between the two on coding tasks?
Writingmate
writingmate.ai › blog › claude-sonnet-vs-opus
Claude 3.5 Sonnet vs Claude 3 Opus: A Comprehensive Comparison | Writingmate Blog
January 31, 2025 - Claude 3 Opus, on the other hand, focuses on delivering deep analytical capabilities, making it ideal for more intensive tasks like research, strategy, and high-level content creation. Many think that there is Claude 3.5 Opus, but… not yet. So we will compare models that actually exist, Claude3opus and Claude 3.5 sonnet, giving features comparison table with competitors.
Reddit
reddit.com › r/claudeai › claude code opus vs sonnet
r/ClaudeAI on Reddit: Claude Code Opus vs Sonnet
June 20, 2025 -
I heard people prefer Opus over Sonnet in Claude Code, is this true? I’ve been using Sonnet for the past two weeks and it works great, but gets things wrong sometimes? Is Opus any better?
Top answer 1 of 5
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Yeah, consistently better on harder tasks and recovering from errors, just get the 20x max, absurd value for money
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Opus is great but not at everything. It's often good when Sonnet gets stuck, it's good for planning, but I personally find Opus can sometimes overthink and/or overengineer a task while Sonnet tends to be more direct. I use Opus only when Sonnet gets stuck or consistently goes in the wrong direction with something, or when I need a plan. Not to mention Sonnet responds faster.