Claude Sonnet 5 API Pricing: $2.00 / $10.00 per 1M Tokens
The numbers: Claude Sonnet 5 (Anthropic) bills $2.00 per 1M input tokens, $10.00 per 1M output tokens, and $0.20 per 1M cached input tokens, inside a 1M context window. On our reference 200-step agent workload that works out to about $2.69 per task.
Fast agentic coding with a 1M context window; the default choice for most production work. Every figure on this page was read directly from Anthropic’s own documentation on September 18, 2026 — not copied from a third-party comparison table. Rates change; the source link and check date below are part of the data.
Verified rates
| Item | Rate | Unit |
|---|---|---|
| Input | $2.00 | per 1M tokens |
| Output | $10.00 | per 1M tokens |
| Cached input (cache read) | $0.20 | per 1M tokens |
| Context window | 1M | tokens |
Billing notes: The $2/$10 launch rate was scheduled to rise to $3/$15 on September 1, 2026. Anthropic has since stated that increase will not occur; the pricing page now lists $2/$10 as the standard rate with no expiry.
Source: Anthropic official pricing ↗, checked September 18, 2026.
What a real workload costs on Claude Sonnet 5
List rates are not bills. These two reference workloads translate the table above into money. The assumptions are visible so you can swap in your own trace — the cost calculator does exactly that.
Scenario A — one 200-step agent task
A coding agent runs 200 steps against a stable 40,000-token prefix (system prompt, tools, repository map). The prefix is written to cache on the first step, re-read on the remaining 199, and each step produces 500 output tokens. For Anthropic, cache writes bill at 1.25x the input rate.
| Component | Calculation | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Cache write (once) | 40,000 tokens × $2.50 / 1M | $0.10 |
| Cache reads | 199 × 40,000 × $0.20 / 1M | $1.59 |
| Output | 200 × 500 × $10.00 / 1M | $1.00 |
| Total per task | $2.69 |
Scenario B — one heavy month
A production service pushes 50M fresh input tokens, 150M cached input tokens, and 10M output tokens through Claude Sonnet 5 in a month:
| Component | Volume | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Fresh input | 50M × $2.00 | $100.00 |
| Cached input | 150M × $0.20 | $30.00 |
| Output | 10M × $10.00 | $100.00 |
| Monthly total | $230.00 |
Head-to-head cost comparisons
- Claude Sonnet 5 vs GPT-5.6 Sol — same workload, $2.69 vs $5.38 (2.0x apart).
Frequently asked questions
How much does Claude Sonnet 5 cost per million tokens?
Claude Sonnet 5 costs $2.00 per 1M input tokens and $10.00 per 1M output tokens, with cached input at $0.20 per 1M. Verified September 18, 2026 against Anthropic's official pricing.
What is the context window of Claude Sonnet 5?
Claude Sonnet 5 supports a 1M token context window, per Anthropic's documentation checked September 18, 2026.
Does Claude Sonnet 5 support prompt caching?
Yes. Cached input tokens bill at $0.20 per 1M instead of the full input rate; cache writes bill at 1.25x the input rate.
When was this Claude Sonnet 5 price last checked?
On September 18, 2026, against Anthropic's own pricing page: https://platform.claude.com/docs/en/about-claude/pricing