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Claude Sonnet 4.6 alternatives

The best cheaper alternative to Claude Sonnet 4.6 is Gemini 3.8 Flash: 39 points higher Overall, for 75% less per output token.

The best open-weights alternative is Kimi K3, 35 points higher Overall.

30 models score higher Overall, led by Claude Fable 5.1.

Updated Sep 28, 2026 · Method v1.1 · Higher score, lower price or open weights, best first

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Top 10 of 34 alternatives

  1. Claude Fable 5.1

    Anthropic

    New
    Overall90
    Rank
    #1 Overall
    Best job
    #1 Math
    Price, 1M tokens
    $10 in · $50 out
    Released
    Sep 1, 2026
    Higher score62 points higher Overall · 3.3× the output price

  2. Claude Opus 5

    Anthropic

    Overall88
    Rank
    #2 Overall
    Best job
    #1 Coding
    Price, 1M tokens
    $5 in · $25 out
    Released
    Jul 24, 2026
    Higher score60 points higher Overall · 1.7× the output price

  3. GPT-6 Astra

    OpenAI

    New
    Overall85
    Rank
    #3 Overall
    Best job
    #1 Agents
    Price, 1M tokens
    $10 in · $50 out
    Released
    Sep 3, 2026
    Higher score57 points higher Overall · 3.3× the output price

  4. Claude Fable 5

    Anthropic

    Overall77
    Rank
    #4 Overall
    Best job
    #2 Coding
    Price, 1M tokens
    $10 in · $50 out
    Released
    Jun 9, 2026
    Higher score49 points higher Overall · 3.3× the output price

  5. GPT-5.6 Sol

    OpenAI

    Overall69
    Rank
    #5 Overall
    Best job
    #5 Agents
    Price, 1M tokens
    $4 in · $20 out
    Released
    Jul 9, 2026
    Higher score41 points higher Overall · 1.3× the output price

  6. Gemini 3.8 Flash

    Google DeepMind

    New
    Overall67
    Rank
    #6 Overall
    Best job
    #3 Reasoning
    Price, 1M tokens
    $0.75 in · $3.75 out
    Released
    Sep 2, 2026
    Higher scoreCheaper39 points higher Overall · 75% less per output token

  7. Gemini 3.7 Flash

    Google DeepMind

    Overall66
    Rank
    #7 Overall
    Best job
    #4 Reasoning
    Price, 1M tokens
    $0.75 in · $3.75 out
    Released
    Aug 13, 2026
    Higher scoreCheaper38 points higher Overall · 75% less per output token

  8. Kimi K3

    Moonshot

    Open weights
    Overall63
    Rank
    #8 Overall
    Best job
    #7 Coding
    Price, 1M tokens
    $3 in · $15 out
    Released
    Jul 16, 2026
    Higher scoreOpen weights35 points higher Overall · the same output price

  9. Claude Opus 4.6

    Anthropic

    Overall59
    Rank
    #9 Overall
    Best job
    #2 Writing
    Price, 1M tokens
    $5 in · $25 out
    Released
    Feb 5, 2026
    Higher score31 points higher Overall · 1.7× the output price

  10. GPT-5.5

    OpenAI

    Overall59
    Rank
    #9 Overall
    Best job
    #5 Coding
    Price, 1M tokens
    $5 in · $30 out
    Released
    Apr 23, 2026
    Higher score31 points higher Overall · 2.0× the output price