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Model comparison

Claude Sonnet 5 vs MAI-Thinking-1

Data verified

Head-to-head evidence from 4 shared benchmark results across 2 categories. Overall scores shown here use the public BenchAlign v5 ranking lane.

65.32/100
No comparison
N/A
2 category wins1 category wins

Public leaderboard positions: Claude Sonnet 5 #29 (Estimated); MAI-Thinking-1 unranked (Not scored). Intervals and evidence labels describe ranking uncertainty, not a guarantee for a specific workload.

Evidence parity. Claude Sonnet 5 and MAI-Thinking-1 share 4 comparable benchmark results. 3 of 8 categories are comparable. 32 results are unique to Claude Sonnet 5; 9 to MAI-Thinking-1.

Updated July 23, 2026
Shared results
4
Claude Sonnet 5 only
32
MAI-Thinking-1 only
9
Comparable categories
3 / 8

Treat this as a split decision. Claude Sonnet 5 makes more sense if agentic is the priority or you need the larger 1M context window; MAI-Thinking-1 is the better fit if knowledge is the priority.

Confidence note. This is a partial-evidence comparison with 4 shared benchmark results across 2 evidence categories; 3 of 8 categories currently have scoreable aggregates for both models. Treat the verdict as directional until coverage is more balanced.

Why this result

Claude Sonnet 5 and MAI-Thinking-1 finish on the same BenchAlign overall score, so this is less about a single winner and more about where the edge shows up. The BenchAlign headline says tie; the benchmark table is where the real choice happens.

Claude Sonnet 5 gives you the larger context window at 1M, compared with 256K for MAI-Thinking-1.

Category breakdown

Exact category averages are shown below. Not measured means BenchLM does not have enough sourced public coverage for that model and category.

Category scores and score margins for Claude Sonnet 5 and MAI-Thinking-1
CategoryClaude Sonnet 5ΔMAI-Thinking-1
AgenticClaude Sonnet 581.9Margin← 35.9MAI-Thinking-146.0
KnowledgeClaude Sonnet 557.4Margin→ 15.1MAI-Thinking-172.5
CodingClaude Sonnet 576.7Margin← 11.2MAI-Thinking-165.5
MathClaude Sonnet 5Not measuredMarginNo overlapMAI-Thinking-189.7
MultimodalClaude Sonnet 588.3MarginNo overlapMAI-Thinking-1Not measured
Inst. FollowingClaude Sonnet 5Not measuredMarginNo overlapMAI-Thinking-185.0

Decisive benchmark drivers

The largest measured benchmark gaps in this matchup, with exact reported values.

More
A · Claude Sonnet 5B · MAI-Thinking-1

  1. Terminal-Bench 2.0

    Agentic
    Source ↗
    A 80.4%B 46%
    Winner: Claude Sonnet 5Δ 34.4
    Terminal-Bench 2.0: Claude Sonnet 5 scored 80.4%; MAI-Thinking-1 scored 46%. Claude Sonnet 5 wins this benchmark.

  2. SWE-bench Verified

    Coding
    Source ↗
    A 85.2%B 73.5%
    Winner: Claude Sonnet 5Δ 11.7
    SWE-bench Verified: Claude Sonnet 5 scored 85.2%; MAI-Thinking-1 scored 73.5%. Claude Sonnet 5 wins this benchmark.

  3. SWE-bench Pro

    Coding
    Source ↗
    A 63.2%B 52.8%
    Winner: Claude Sonnet 5Δ 10.4
    SWE-bench Pro: Claude Sonnet 5 scored 63.2%; MAI-Thinking-1 scored 52.8%. Claude Sonnet 5 wins this benchmark.

Operational comparison

Runtime and commercial metrics are compared only when both models have a complete sourced value.

MetricClaude Sonnet 5MAI-Thinking-1Comparison
Input / output priceUSD per 1M tokensClaude Sonnet 5$2 input / $10 outputMAI-Thinking-1Not availableA complete price comparison is not available.
Generation speedtokens per secondClaude Sonnet 5Not availableMAI-Thinking-1Not availableA complete speed comparison is not available.
First-answer latencyseconds to first tokenClaude Sonnet 5Not availableMAI-Thinking-1Not availableA complete latency comparison is not available.
Context windowmaximum listed tokensClaude Sonnet 51MMAI-Thinking-1256KClaude Sonnet 5 lists the larger context window.

Benchmark Deep Dive

AgenticClaude Sonnet 5 wins
BenchmarkClaude Sonnet 5MAI-Thinking-1Result
Terminal-Bench 2.0Source 80.4%46%Claude Sonnet 5 leads
BrowseCompSource 84.7%—Not comparable
HLE w/ toolsSource 57.4%—Not comparable
OSWorld-VerifiedSource 81.2%—Not comparable
GDPval-AASource 1607—Not comparable
AA Agentic IndexSource 46.7%—Not comparable
GDPval-AASource 55.4%—Not comparable
AA BriefcaseSource 1388—Not comparable
AA AutomationBenchSource 39.2%—Not comparable
AA EnterpriseOps-GymSource 44.7%—Not comparable
AA Harvey LABSource 90.1%—Not comparable
AA Tau3 BankingSource 28.2%—Not comparable
aaTerminalBench21Source 80.5%—Not comparable
CodingClaude Sonnet 5 wins
BenchmarkClaude Sonnet 5MAI-Thinking-1Result
SWE-bench VerifiedSource 85.2%73.5%Claude Sonnet 5 leads
SWE-bench ProSource 63.2%52.8%Claude Sonnet 5 leads
SWE MultilingualSource 78.3%—Not comparable
SWE MultimodalSource 28.1%—Not comparable
Terminal-Bench 2.0Source 80.4%46.0%Claude Sonnet 5 leads
FrontierCode 1.1 MainSource 42.7%—Not comparable
cursorBench32Source 61.5%—Not comparable
AA Coding IndexSource 71.5%—Not comparable
AA-SciCodeSource 53.6%—Not comparable
Reasoning
BenchmarkClaude Sonnet 5MAI-Thinking-1Result
AA-LCRSource 70.7%—Not comparable
CritPtSource 16.9%—Not comparable
Graphwalks BFS 128KSource —90%Not comparable
KnowledgeMAI-Thinking-1 wins
BenchmarkClaude Sonnet 5MAI-Thinking-1Result
HLESource 57.4%—Not comparable
HLE w/o toolsSource 43.2%—Not comparable
Artificial Analysis Intelligence IndexSource 53.4%—Not comparable
AA-GPQA DiamondSource 91.1%—Not comparable
AA-HLESource 39.6%—Not comparable
AA-Omniscience IndexSource 15.3%—Not comparable
AA-Omniscience AccuracySource 38.3%—Not comparable
AA-Omniscience Hallucination RateSource 37.3%—Not comparable
GPQASource —84.2%Not comparable
GPQA-DSource —84.2%Not comparable
MMLU-ProSource —85%Not comparable
SimpleQASource —31%Not comparable
Math
BenchmarkClaude Sonnet 5MAI-Thinking-1Result
AIME 2025Source —97%Not comparable
AIME26Source —94.5%Not comparable
HMMT Feb 2026Source —84.9%Not comparable
Multimodal
BenchmarkClaude Sonnet 5MAI-Thinking-1Result
CharXivSource 88.3%—Not comparable
CharXiv w/o toolsSource 77%—Not comparable
AA-MMMU-ProSource 77.3%—Not comparable
Design Arena WebsiteSource 1314—Not comparable
Inst. Following
BenchmarkClaude Sonnet 5MAI-Thinking-1Result
IFBenchSource —85%Not comparable
Frequently Asked Questions (4)

Which is better, Claude Sonnet 5 or MAI-Thinking-1?

Claude Sonnet 5 and MAI-Thinking-1 are tied on the BenchAlign overall score, so the right pick depends on which category matters most for your use case.

Which is better for knowledge tasks, Claude Sonnet 5 or MAI-Thinking-1?

MAI-Thinking-1 has the edge for knowledge tasks in this comparison, averaging 72.5 versus 57.4. Claude Sonnet 5 stays close enough that the answer can still flip depending on your workload.

Which is better for coding, Claude Sonnet 5 or MAI-Thinking-1?

Claude Sonnet 5 has the edge for coding in this comparison, averaging 76.7 versus 65.5. Inside this category, Terminal-Bench 2.0 is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for agentic tasks, Claude Sonnet 5 or MAI-Thinking-1?

Claude Sonnet 5 has the edge for agentic tasks in this comparison, averaging 81.9 versus 46. Inside this category, Terminal-Bench 2.0 is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

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