Model comparison
Claude 2 vs Claude Instant
- Input
- $8.00
- Output
- $24.00
- Context
- 100K tokens
- Released
- 2023-07-11
- Input
- $1.63 per million tokens
- Output
- $5.51 per million tokens
- Context
- 100,000 tokens
- Released
- 2023-03-14
Claude 2 scores higher on 3 of the 3 benchmarks both models report; Claude Instant is cheaper on input tokens ($1.6 vs $8 per 1M, 4.9×).
Specs and pricing side by side
| Spec | Claude 2 | Claude Instant |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | Anthropic | Anthropicsame |
| Released | 2023-07-11 | 2023-03-14 |
| Context window | 100K tokens | 100,000 tokens |
| Max output | ~4,000 tokens | Not separately published by Anthropic |
| Input price | $8.00 | $1.63 per million tokens |
| Output price | $24.00 | $5.51 per million tokens |
| Parameters | Undisclosed | Undisclosedsame |
| License | Proprietary | Proprietarysame |
| Weights | API only | API onlysame |
| Modalities | Text | Textsame |
| Knowledge cutoff | Early 2023 | Early 2023same |
Benchmarks both models report
| Benchmark | Claude 2 | Claude Instant |
|---|---|---|
| MMLU | 78.5% | 73.4% |
| GSM8K | 88% | 86.7% |
| ARC-Challenge | 91% | 85.7% |
Scores are as published by each maker or its cited source; harness, reasoning effort and date can differ between rows, so treat small gaps as ties. Sources are listed on each model page.
Which one should you pick?
Pick Claude 2 if…
- You care about MMLU, GSM8K, ARC-Challenge (it scores higher on 3 shared benchmarks).
- Your use case is: summarizing and Q&A over long documents — technical manuals, financial reports, contracts, or short books.
Pick Claude Instant if…
- Cost matters: input tokens cost 4.9× less ($1.6 vs $8 per 1M).
- Your use case is: high-volume chat and customer-support assistants where speed and cost mattered more than peak reasoning.
FAQ
Which is better, Claude 2 or Claude Instant?
Claude 2 scores higher on 3 of the 3 benchmarks both models report; Claude Instant is cheaper on input tokens ($1.6 vs $8 per 1M, 4.9×). The better pick depends on whether you value benchmark scores, price per token, context length or openness for your workload.
How much cheaper is Claude Instant?
Claude 2: $8.00 input, $24.00 output. Claude Instant: $1.63 per million tokens input, $5.51 per million tokens output (list API prices as published by each maker).
What are the context windows of Claude 2 and Claude Instant?
Claude 2 offers 100K tokens with up to ~4,000 tokens output; Claude Instant offers 100,000 tokens with up to Not separately published by Anthropic output.
Is Claude 2 newer than Claude Instant?
Claude 2 was released 2023-07-11; Claude Instant was released 2023-03-14.