Claude 3.5 Sonnet vs Claude Sonnet 5.5

Wins 0 of 3 benchmarks
$0.88 / task
Wins 0 of 3 benchmarks
3.5 Sonnet—
Sonnet 5.545.8
3.5 Sonnet—
Sonnet 5.543.9
3.5 Sonnet—
Sonnet 5.559.4

Specs

Spec3.5 SonnetSonnet 5.5
Input, per 1M—$2
Output, per 1M—$10
Cost per task?—$0.88
Speed, tok/s—106
Context—1M
WeightsNot verifiedClosed
Released—Sep 2026
See images✓✓
Read PDFs—✓
Hear audio——
Watch video——
Call tools✓✓
Force a tool call?—
Return strict JSON—✓
Search the web?✓
Run code?✓
Use a computer?✓

What breaks when you switch

3.5 Sonnet → Sonnet 5.5
No forced tool use›

Forced tool_choice any or tool returns HTTP 400; remove the forced choice.

Replace disabled thinking›

Disabled thinking returns HTTP 400; use between_tools for the lowest thinking setting.

No manual thinking budgets›

Manual thinking budgets and extra between_tools fields return HTTP 400; remove manual budgets and send between_tools without display, budget_tokens or block_binding.

Remove sampling parameters›

Non-default temperature, top_p or top_k returns HTTP 400; remove these parameters.

No assistant prefill›

A prefilled final assistant turn returns HTTP 400; remove that prefill.

Old computer tool rejected · Claude API / Google Cloud›

The computer_20251124 tool returns HTTP 400 on the Claude API and Google Cloud; use computer_toolset_20260801 there.

Sonnet 5.5 → 3.5 Sonnet
Context: not verified
No PDF input
No strict JSON