LLM·Dex
Newsletter

Claude 3.5 Haiku vs GPT-5 nano

A complete head-to-head: pricing, context window, benchmarks, modality coverage, and openness, with a programmatic verdict synthesized from the underlying data.

Updated

Claude 3.5 Haiku specs · GPT-5 nano specs
Verdict by category
  • PriceGPT-5 nano

    GPT-5 nano is roughly 10.0× cheaper on output tokens ($0.40 vs $4.00 per 1M).

  • Context windowGPT-5 nano

    GPT-5 nano accepts 400K tokens vs 200K, 2.0× the room for long documents and codebases.

  • BenchmarksTie

    No directly comparable public benchmarks are available for both models, check the spec sheets for individual scores.

  • ModalitiesTie

    Both handle text, vision.

  • OpennessTie

    Both are closed-weight, API-only.

On balance GPT-5 nano edges ahead, winning 2 of 5 categories against Claude 3.5 Haiku's 0. GPT-5 nano is roughly 10.0× cheaper on output tokens ($0.40 vs $4.00 per 1M). GPT-5 nano accepts 400K tokens vs 200K, 2.0× the room for long documents and codebases.

No directly comparable public benchmarks are available for both models, check the spec sheets for individual scores. Both target the same set of modalities (text, vision), so the deciding factors are price, context, and raw quality. Both are closed-weight, API-only.

GPT-5 nano is the newer of the two, released 9 months after Claude 3.5 Haiku, which usually means a more recent knowledge cutoff and updated safety post-training. Claude 3.5 Haiku is usually picked for customer support and code completion workloads, while GPT-5 nano sees more deployments in cheapest llm and fastest llm. If pricing matters more than every last benchmark point, run the numbers in the calculator below before committing.

Side-by-side specs

SpecClaude 3.5 HaikuGPT-5 nano
ProviderAnthropicOpenAI
ReleasedNov 2024Aug 2025
Modalitiestext, visiontext, vision
Context window200K tokens400K tokens
Max output,128K tokens
Input · 1M$0.80 / 1M tokens$0.050 / 1M tokens
Output · 1M$4.00 / 1M tokens$0.40 / 1M tokens
Knowledge cutoff,2024-09
Open weightsNoNo
API availableYesYes

Pricing at scale

What you'd actually pay at typical workloads. Numbers come from each model's published per-million-token rates.

  • Light usage, 100k in / 50k out per day$8.40 vs $0.750
  • Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day$84.00 vs $7.50
  • RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day$144 vs $9.90

Light usage, 100k in / 50k out per day: $8.40 vs $0.750 per month, model B comes out ahead. Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day: $84.00 vs $7.50 per month, model B comes out ahead. RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day: $144 vs $9.90 per month, model B comes out ahead.

Price calculator

Estimated spend for the listed models at your usage. Numbers are derived from each model's published per-million-token rates.

  • Claude 3.5 Haiku$0.280
  • GPT-5 nano$0.025

Benchmarks compared

Only sourced numbers. Where a benchmark is missing for one model we show the available value rather than fabricating the other.

Benchmark scores not yet available. We only publish numbers we can source from official model cards or independent leaderboards, see methodology.
Pick Claude 3.5 Haiku if

Claude 3.5 Haiku fits when…

  • Fast
  • Cheap for Anthropic
  • Strong code at small size
Pick GPT-5 nano if

GPT-5 nano fits when…

  • Lowest-cost OpenAI model with vision support
  • Fast P99 latency
  • Good enough for routing and classification
  • Cost-sensitive workloads, 10.0× cheaper than Claude 3.5 Haiku on output tokens.
  • Long-context tasks, handles 400K tokens vs 200K for Claude 3.5 Haiku.
Don't want either?

Consider Claude Opus 4.7

Anthropic's mid-2026 flagship, ahead on SWE-bench, agent reliability, and writing quality.

See Claude Opus 4.7 specsClaude 3.5 Haiku vs Claude Opus 4.7GPT-5 nano vs Claude Opus 4.7

Frequently asked

  • Is Claude 3.5 Haiku or GPT-5 nano cheaper?
    GPT-5 nano is cheaper at $0.40 / 1M tokens per million output tokens, vs $4.00 / 1M tokens for Claude 3.5 Haiku.
  • Which has the larger context window?
    GPT-5 nano accepts 400K tokens vs 200K for Claude 3.5 Haiku.
  • Is Claude 3.5 Haiku or GPT-5 nano better for coding?
    Both Claude 3.5 Haiku and GPT-5 nano are competitive on coding benchmarks. See each model's individual spec page for HumanEval and SWE-bench scores where published. For an opinionated pick, consult our Best LLM for Coding ranking.
  • Are either of these models open source?
    Neither model ships open weights, both are accessible only via their respective providers' APIs.
  • When were Claude 3.5 Haiku and GPT-5 nano released?
    Claude 3.5 Haiku was released by Anthropic on 2024-11-04. GPT-5 nano was released by OpenAI on 2025-08-07.
Friday digest

The week's AI launches, in your inbox.

One short email every Friday, new models, leaks, and quietly-shipped APIs you missed.