Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs Solar Pro 3
Wins 5 of 6 areas
Coding · Agents · Reasoning · Facts · Long documents
Wins 1 of 6 areas
Following instructions
Claude Sonnet 4.6 is the stronger all-rounder.Solar Pro 3 is cheaper and better at following instructions.
Scores updated · 17 tests both models report · How we compare
Where each one wins
Tests won in each of the six areas where both have results. Each piece is one test, so a longer bar means more evidence; grey means the two scored within a point of each other.
- CodingWriting and fixing software30Claude Sonnet 4.63 of 3 tests
- AgentsCarrying out multi-step tasks on its own30Claude Sonnet 4.63 of 3 tests
- ReasoningHard problems that need careful thinking30Claude Sonnet 4.63 of 3 tests
- FactsGetting facts right instead of making them up20Claude Sonnet 4.62 of 2 tests
- Long documentsFinding answers in very long texts10Claude Sonnet 4.61 of 1 test
- Following instructionsDoing exactly what it is asked01Solar Pro 31 of 1 test
Long documents and following instructions rest on a single test each.
What it costs
Prices per million tokens, roughly 750,000 words. The bars show the cost of a million tokens read plus a million written.
Solar Pro 3 costs 96% less for the same work.
The biggest differences
The tests each model wins by the widest margin, up to three each. Scores are out of 100.
Where Claude Sonnet 4.6 pulls ahead
- Command-line tasks in a real terminalTerminal-Bench 2.1+59.2points ahead
- Reasons across sets of long documentsAA-LCR+47.7points ahead
- Hard command-line tasks in a real terminalTerminal-Bench Hard+45.4points ahead
Where Solar Pro 3 pulls ahead
- Follows unfamiliar, precisely checkable instructionsIFBench+14.6points ahead
Every test, side by side
All 17 tests both models report. The winning score is in its model's colour; marks a score checked independently.
CodingClaude Sonnet 4.6
- Terminal-Bench 2.1Claude Sonnet 4.6 by 59.271.212+59.2
- Terminal-Bench HardClaude Sonnet 4.6 by 45.4537.6+45.4
- SciCodeClaude Sonnet 4.6 by 24.650.125.5+24.6
AgentsClaude Sonnet 4.6
- GDPValClaude Sonnet 4.6 by 36.736.70+36.7
- τ-Bench V3 · BankingClaude Sonnet 4.6 by 25.734.48.7+25.7
- Terminal-Bench 4.0Claude Sonnet 4.6 by 330+3
ReasoningClaude Sonnet 4.6
- Humanity's Last ExamClaude Sonnet 4.6 by 23.333.610.3+23.3
- GPQA DiamondClaude Sonnet 4.6 by 15.187.572.4+15.1
- CritPtClaude Sonnet 4.6 by 3.13.10+3.1
FactsClaude Sonnet 4.6
- AA-Omniscience · Non-hallucinationClaude Sonnet 4.6 by 39.851.611.8+39.8
- AA-Omniscience · AccuracyClaude Sonnet 4.6 by 22.440.918.5+22.4
Long documentsClaude Sonnet 4.6
- AA-LCRClaude Sonnet 4.6 by 47.78032.3+47.7
Following instructionsSolar Pro 3
- IFBenchSolar Pro 3 by 14.656.671.2+14.6
Other results4 tests, not counted
Tests outside the eight areas. They are not counted above: several are summary scores built from other tests, or the same test under another name.
- AA-OmniscienceClaude Sonnet 4.6 by 65.612.2-53.4+65.6
- Artificial Analysis Coding IndexClaude Sonnet 4.6 by 46.86316.2+46.8
- AA IntelligenceClaude Sonnet 4.6 by 22.330.17.8+22.3
- τ²-Bench Telecom (AA run)Solar Pro 3 by 10.675.786.3+10.6
Questions people ask
Which is better, Claude Sonnet 4.6 or Solar Pro 3?
Claude Sonnet 4.6 wins five of the six areas where both have results: coding, agents, reasoning, facts and long documents. Solar Pro 3 wins following instructions, and costs 96% less.
Which is better for coding?
Claude Sonnet 4.6. It wins 3 of the 3 coding tests both models report; Solar Pro 3 wins none.
Which is cheaper?
Claude Sonnet 4.6 costs $3.00 per million input tokens and $15.00 per million output tokens; Solar Pro 3 costs $0.15 and $0.60. That makes Solar Pro 3 about 96% cheaper for the same work.
How do you compare the two?
We use the 17 benchmark tests both models have published scores on. The verdict counts the 13 tests in the eight capability areas, and a gap under one point (ten on rating-style scales) counts as a tie. The other 4 are listed but not counted, because several are summary scores or repeat a test. Each score is the one shown on the model's own page.