# Claude Sonnet 4 (Thinking) ![Organization](https://img.shields.io/badge/Org-Anthropic-d97757) ![Context](https://img.shields.io/badge/Context-200K%20tokens-1f6feb) ![Pricing](https://img.shields.io/badge/Price-%243%20%2F%20%2415%20per%201M-2da44e) ![License](https://img.shields.io/badge/License-Proprietary-d29922) ![Modality](https://img.shields.io/badge/Modality-Text%20%2B%20Vision-8957e5) ![Released](https://img.shields.io/badge/Released-May%202025-555) > **Quick answer:** Claude Sonnet 4 with extended thinking enabled scores 55.9% on LiveCodeBench and 7.76% on Humanity's Last Exam. It is the mid-tier option in the Claude 4 thinking family at $3/$15 per 1M tokens — nearly matching Claude Opus 4 Thinking on coding (55.9% vs 56.6%) at 80% lower cost, making it the highest-value extended-thinking model in the Claude 4 line. ## At a Glance **Where Claude Sonnet 4 (Thinking) leads** - 55.9% LiveCodeBench — nearly matches Opus 4 Thinking (56.6%) at 80% lower cost - $3/$15 per 1M — best price/performance for extended-thinking in Claude 4 - Extended thinking: visible chain-of-thought reasoning - 200K context window - Computer use capability **Where it lags** - 7.76% HLE — below Opus 4 Thinking (10.72%) on expert-level tasks - Trailing o4-mini-high (80.2% LiveCodeBench) and o3 (75.8%) on coding - $3/$15 higher than o4-mini ($1.10/$4.40) for lower coding performance **Best for:** Extended-thinking coding and reasoning tasks at Sonnet-tier pricing; the recommended Claude 4 thinking model for the majority of use cases. ## What Claude Sonnet 4 (Thinking) Is Claude Sonnet 4 (Thinking) is the mid-tier extended-thinking model in Anthropic's May 2025 Claude 4 family. With thinking enabled, it achieves 55.9% LiveCodeBench — within 0.7 percentage points of Claude Opus 4 Thinking (56.6%), while costing 5× less per token. This makes it the highest-value extended-thinking model in the Claude 4 lineup. The extended thinking mode provides a visible reasoning scratchpad, allowing users to inspect the model's reasoning process. This is valuable for debugging, verification, and tasks requiring transparent multi-step problem solving. Claude Sonnet 4 Thinking replaced Claude 3.7 Sonnet as the recommended mid-tier extended-thinking model with the May 2025 Claude 4 launch. For most coding and reasoning tasks that require thinking, Claude Sonnet 4 Thinking is the recommended choice over Opus 4 Thinking. ## Specifications | Field | Value | |---|---| | Organization | Anthropic | | Parameters | Undisclosed | | Context window | 200,000 tokens | | Max output | 32,000 tokens (including thinking tokens) | | License | Proprietary (API only) | | Release date | May 22, 2025 | | Knowledge cutoff | March 2025 | | Thinking mode | Extended (visible reasoning) | | Modality | Text + Vision (multimodal) | ## Pricing | | Input (per 1M tokens) | Output (per 1M tokens) | |---|---|---| | Anthropic API | $3.00 | $15.00 | Thinking tokens billed as output tokens. Prompt caching available. Pricing per [Anthropic pricing page](https://www.anthropic.com/pricing). ## Public Benchmark Scores | Benchmark | Score | Source | Date | |---|---|---|---| | [LiveCodeBench](/benchmarks/livecodebench) | 55.9% | Benchgen evaluation | 2025-07 | | [Humanity's Last Exam](/benchmarks/humanitys-last-exam) | 7.76% | Benchgen evaluation | 2025-07 | ## Claude Sonnet 4 (Thinking) vs Alternatives | Model | LiveCodeBench | HLE | Thinking | Price (in/out per 1M) | |---|---|---|---|---| | **Claude Sonnet 4 (Thinking)** | 55.9% | 7.76% | Yes | $3 / $15 | | [Claude Opus 4 (Thinking)](/models/anthropic/claude-opus-4-thinking) | 56.6% | 10.72% | Yes | $15 / $75 | | [Claude 3.7 Sonnet](/models/anthropic/claude-sonnet-3-7) | — | 8.04% | Yes | $3 / $15 | | [o4-mini (high)](/models/openai/o4-mini-high) | 80.2% | 18.08% | Yes | $1.10 / $4.40 | Claude Sonnet 4 Thinking nearly matches Opus 4 Thinking on LiveCodeBench at $3/$15 — making it the better value for most coding tasks. o4-mini-high dominates on coding benchmarks at lower cost, making it the preferred choice for purely coding-intensive workloads. Claude Sonnet 4 Thinking is differentiated by Anthropic's safety properties and visible thinking. ## Related Models & Benchmarks - Compare: [Claude Opus 4 (Thinking)](/models/anthropic/claude-opus-4-thinking) · [Claude 3.7 Sonnet](/models/anthropic/claude-sonnet-3-7) · [o4-mini](/models/openai/o4-mini) - Benchmarks: [LiveCodeBench](/benchmarks/livecodebench) · [Humanity's Last Exam](/benchmarks/humanitys-last-exam) ## Frequently Asked Questions

What is Claude Sonnet 4 Thinking?

Claude Sonnet 4 (Thinking) is Anthropic's May 2025 mid-tier model with extended thinking enabled, scoring 55.9% LiveCodeBench and 7.76% HLE. Priced at $3/$15 per 1M tokens.

Should I use Claude Sonnet 4 Thinking or Opus 4 Thinking?

For coding tasks, Claude Sonnet 4 Thinking is the better value: 55.9% vs 56.6% LiveCodeBench at 80% lower cost. Use Claude Opus 4 Thinking only when the HLE gap (10.72% vs 7.76%) matters for your specific expert-knowledge task.

How much does Claude Sonnet 4 (Thinking) cost?

$3.00 per 1M input tokens and $15.00 per 1M output tokens. Thinking tokens count as output tokens.

--- *Specs and scores from Anthropic's official Claude 4 announcement (May 2025) and Benchgen evaluations. Pricing cited to the Anthropic pricing page. Last updated 2026-07-24.*

Claude Sonnet 4 (Thinking) — Files