Anthropic launches Claude Sonnet 5, a cheaper way to run agents

Anthropic has launched Claude Sonnet 5, its most agentic mid-tier model yet. It runs close to the flagship Opus 4.8 on many tasks, but costs less than half as much.

Anthropic said on June 30, 2026 that Sonnet 5 is available today across every plan. The company built it to act, not just answer. It can make plans, drive browsers and terminals, and run on its own for long stretches. That kind of work needed bigger, pricier models only a few months ago.

The pitch is simple. Sonnet 5 offers near-flagship performance at a mid-tier price. It lands close to Opus 4.8, Anthropic’s most capable model, on reasoning, tool use, coding, and knowledge work. It clearly beats its predecessor, Sonnet 4.6. And it costs far less than Opus to run.

Cheaper agents, on purpose

Price sits at the centre of this launch. Sonnet 5 starts at $2 per million input...

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