Claude 3.5 Sonnet vs GPT-5
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 Sonnet specs · GPT-5 specs- PriceGPT-5
GPT-5 is roughly 1.5× cheaper on output tokens ($10.00 vs $15.00 per 1M).
- Context windowGPT-5
GPT-5 accepts 400K tokens vs 200K, 2.0× the room for long documents and codebases.
- BenchmarksGPT-5
GPT-5 leads in 1 of 1 shared benchmarks; the biggest gap is on HumanEval (Python coding), where it scores 96.2 vs 92.0.
- ModalitiesGPT-5
GPT-5 supports 3 modalities (text, vision, audio) vs 2 for Claude 3.5 Sonnet.
- OpennessTie
Both are closed-weight, API-only.
On balance GPT-5 edges ahead, winning 4 of 5 categories against Claude 3.5 Sonnet's 0. GPT-5 is roughly 1.5× cheaper on output tokens ($10.00 vs $15.00 per 1M). GPT-5 accepts 400K tokens vs 200K, 2.0× the room for long documents and codebases.
GPT-5 leads in 1 of 1 shared benchmarks; the biggest gap is on HumanEval (Python coding), where it scores 96.2 vs 92.0. They differ in modality coverage, Claude 3.5 Sonnet handles text, vision while GPT-5 handles text, vision, audio, which can be the deciding factor before you even look at benchmarks. Both are closed-weight, API-only.
GPT-5 is the newer of the two, released 10 months after Claude 3.5 Sonnet, which usually means a more recent knowledge cutoff and updated safety post-training. Claude 3.5 Sonnet is usually picked for coding llm and code review workloads, while GPT-5 sees more deployments in coding llm and agents. If pricing matters more than every last benchmark point, run the numbers in the calculator below before committing.
Side-by-side specs
| Spec | Claude 3.5 Sonnet | GPT-5 |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Anthropic | OpenAI |
| Released | Oct 2024 | Aug 2025 |
| Modalities | text, vision | text, vision, audio |
| Context window | 200K tokens | 400K tokens |
| Max output | , | 128K tokens |
| Input · 1M | $3.00 / 1M tokens | $1.25 / 1M tokens |
| Output · 1M | $15.00 / 1M tokens | $10.00 / 1M tokens |
| Knowledge cutoff | , | 2024-09 |
| Open weights | No | No |
| API available | Yes | Yes |
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$31.50 vs $18.75
- Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day$315 vs $188
- RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day$540 vs $248
Light usage, 100k in / 50k out per day: $31.50 vs $18.75 per month, model B comes out ahead. Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day: $315 vs $188 per month, model B comes out ahead. RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day: $540 vs $248 per month, model B comes out ahead.
Estimated spend for the listed models at your usage. Numbers are derived from each model's published per-million-token rates.
- Claude 3.5 Sonnet$1.05
- GPT-5$0.625
Benchmarks compared
Only sourced numbers. Where a benchmark is missing for one model we show the available value rather than fabricating the other.
- MMLU,91.4
- HumanEval92.096.2
- GPQA,89.4
- SWE-bench Verified,74.9
Claude 3.5 Sonnet fits when…
- Mature and battle-tested
- Strong code
GPT-5 fits when…
- Unified model, reasoning routed automatically per query
- Excellent tool-use and JSON-mode discipline
- Strong agent performance on SWE-bench Verified
- Cost-sensitive workloads, 1.5× cheaper than Claude 3.5 Sonnet on output tokens.
- Long-context tasks, handles 400K tokens vs 200K for Claude 3.5 Sonnet.
Consider Claude Opus 4.7
Anthropic's mid-2026 flagship, ahead on SWE-bench, agent reliability, and writing quality.
Frequently asked
Is Claude 3.5 Sonnet or GPT-5 cheaper?
GPT-5 is cheaper at $10.00 / 1M tokens per million output tokens, vs $15.00 / 1M tokens for Claude 3.5 Sonnet.Which has the larger context window?
GPT-5 accepts 400K tokens vs 200K for Claude 3.5 Sonnet.Is Claude 3.5 Sonnet or GPT-5 better for coding?
Both Claude 3.5 Sonnet and GPT-5 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 Sonnet and GPT-5 released?
Claude 3.5 Sonnet was released by Anthropic on 2024-10-22. GPT-5 was released by OpenAI on 2025-08-07.
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