All the Claude Models available via API: Complete Overview (August 2025 Updated)

The world of Claude’s API models in August 2025 is defined by multiple generations, each offering distinct strengths for speed, reasoning, automation, and multimodality.

Claude 3 family focuses on tiered capability.

Claude 3 Haiku.

Claude 3 Haiku, released in March 2024, is the fastest and most lightweight option in the Claude 3 generation. It is designed for scenarios where latency, throughput, and cost-efficiency are critical, such as high-volume customer service bots, large-scale classification tasks, or real-time document scanning. With a 200 000-token context window, it can handle unusually long documents or extended conversations without losing track of prior context, which is rare in models at this speed tier.

Performance benchmarks show Haiku excels in structured classification—scoring as high as 98% in email categorization—and maintains strong general knowledge performance at around 96.5%. However, it scores lower in complex reasoning (37%) and advanced coding tasks (72%), making it less suitable for deeply analytical workflows or complex software engineering. Its pricing—around $0.25 per million input tokens and $1.25 per million output tokens—positions it as a cost leader in the API ecosystem. Haiku supports both text and vision inputs, allowing developers to feed in images alongside text for classification or basic visual interpretation, and it integrates seamlessly with tool-calling in chat completions.

Claude 3 Sonnet and Claude 3 Opus.

The Sonnet variant in the Claude 3 series occupies the balanced middle ground between speed and reasoning power. It is suitable for mixed workloads that require both efficiency and moderately deep analysis, such as research assistants, report drafting tools, or technical support chatbots. Opus, at the other end of the spectrum, is the flagship performer of the Claude 3 generation, delivering high scores in mathematical reasoning, logical deduction, and coding accuracy. It handles multimodal tasks with greater nuance, making it a strong choice for enterprise-level data analysis, complex automation pipelines, or scientific research applications.

Claude 3.5 family brings higher performance and new agent abilities.

Claude 3.5 Sonnet.

Claude 3.5 Sonnet represents a clear evolutionary step over Claude 3 Opus, especially in code generation, multi-step reasoning, and visual interpretation. It introduced the Artifacts feature, which allows the API to return embedded previews for generated code, diagrams, or structured outputs. This is particularly valuable for developer tools, as it enables real-time feedback and review without having to copy results into another environment. It is well-suited for roles such as automated analysts, complex research agents, and software development assistants that must handle both abstract reasoning and structured deliverables.

Claude 3.5 Haiku.

Claude 3.5 Haiku keeps the ultrafast profile of its predecessor but incorporates more advanced reasoning capabilities and improved handling of code snippets. This makes it a better fit for time-sensitive workflows that also require occasional bursts of more thoughtful processing. Examples include lightweight coding assistants, rapid summarization tools, or conversational agents that sometimes need to parse moderately complex instructions.

Claude 3.5 Computer Use.

Perhaps the most distinctive member of the 3.5 lineup, Claude 3.5 Computer Use extends model capabilities beyond natural language processing into graphical user interface automation. Through the API, it can simulate human interactions with applications—moving cursors, clicking, typing, and navigating menus. This opens new possibilities for building agentic systems that operate existing software without dedicated APIs, such as automatically updating spreadsheets, interacting with ERP dashboards, or completing repetitive data entry tasks in legacy systems.

Claude 3.7 series introduces hybrid reasoning.

Claude 3.7 Sonnet.

Introduced in February 2025, Claude 3.7 Sonnet’s hallmark is hybrid reasoning. This feature allows developers to choose between quick, direct answers and slower, more deliberate multi-step reasoning within the same model, depending on the nature of the query. This adaptability makes it particularly effective in environments where workload complexity fluctuates—such as customer-facing AI systems that must handle both simple FAQs and detailed technical problem-solving.

Claude 3.7 Sonnet also debuted Claude Code, a command-line tool designed for agentic coding assistance. This allows the model to handle more advanced developer workflows, such as debugging, refactoring, and writing production-ready scripts directly in a terminal environment. For engineering teams, this means the same model can pivot between conversational support and hands-on code collaboration.

Claude 4 family pushes into advanced agentic workflows.

Claude Sonnet 4.

Launched in May 2025, Claude Sonnet 4 refines the balance between efficiency and advanced features. It incorporates parallel tool usage, enabling multiple tools to run in the same request without serial dependency; thinking summaries, which provide human-readable explanations of how the model arrived at its conclusions; memory persistence for carrying information across sessions; and a Files API for direct document ingestion and manipulation. It is ideal for enterprise environments where reliability, transparency, and efficiency must co-exist.

Claude Opus 4.

Also released in May 2025, Claude Opus 4 is the powerhouse of its generation. It is engineered for continuous coding sessions lasting hours, capable of managing long-running agentic workflows such as software refactoring, complex data processing, or multi-source research synthesis. Its SWE-Bench score of 72.5% positions it above top competitors like GPT-4.1 and Gemini 2.5 Pro in software engineering tasks. Opus 4’s thinking budget control lets developers fine-tune the depth of reasoning per request, striking a balance between cost, speed, and thoroughness. Pricing comes in at approximately $15 per million input tokens and $75 per million output tokens, with caching and batch discounts that can reduce costs significantly in high-volume deployments.

Claude Opus 4.1.

Released on August 5, 2025, Claude Opus 4.1 builds on its predecessor with improved multi-step reasoning, real-world code execution accuracy, and debugging/refactoring precision. It achieves a 74.5% score on SWE-Bench Verified, signaling elite performance in software engineering benchmarks. Opus 4.1 features a 200 000-token context window, enhanced reliability for long-running, multi-phase pipelines, and more robust tool-calling for orchestrating multi-service workflows. It is also fully integrated into GitHub Copilot (Enterprise and Pro+), and Opus 4 will be retired in favor of 4.1 in the coming weeks.

Summary: Choosing the right Claude for your needs.

• Speed and scale with basic intelligence: Claude 3 Haiku or 3.5 Haiku offer the fastest throughput and lowest cost for high-volume workloads with light reasoning needs.

• Balanced performance and cost: Claude 3 Sonnet, Claude 3.5 Sonnet, or Claude 3.7 Sonnet serve as versatile all-rounders, with the latter adding hybrid reasoning flexibility.

• Advanced coding, analysis, and multimodality: Claude 3 Opus or 3.5 Sonnet deliver higher reasoning performance and handle richer multimodal tasks.

• GUI automation: Claude 3.5 Computer Use stands alone in enabling API-driven interaction with software interfaces.

• Complex reasoning and agentic orchestration: Claude Sonnet 4, Opus 4, and Opus 4.1 excel in high-stakes, multi-tool environments where depth, persistence, and accuracy are paramount.

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