Claude Opus 4 vs GPT-4o
A complete head-to-head: pricing, context window, benchmarks, modality coverage, and openness, with a programmatic verdict synthesized from the underlying data.
Updated
Claude Opus 4 specs · GPT-4o specs- PriceGPT-4o
GPT-4o is roughly 7.5× cheaper on output tokens ($10.00 vs $75.00 per 1M).
- Context windowClaude Opus 4
Claude Opus 4 accepts 200K tokens vs 128K, 1.6× the room for long documents and codebases.
- BenchmarksClaude Opus 4
Claude Opus 4 leads in 1 of 1 shared benchmarks; the biggest gap is on HumanEval (Python coding), where it scores 95.0 vs 90.2.
- ModalitiesGPT-4o
GPT-4o supports 3 modalities (text, vision, audio) vs 2 for Claude Opus 4.
- OpennessTie
Both are closed-weight, API-only.
It's a genuine coin-flip between Claude Opus 4 and GPT-4o: 2 category wins each, with the rest tied. GPT-4o is roughly 7.5× cheaper on output tokens ($10.00 vs $75.00 per 1M). Claude Opus 4 accepts 200K tokens vs 128K, 1.6× the room for long documents and codebases.
Claude Opus 4 leads in 1 of 1 shared benchmarks; the biggest gap is on HumanEval (Python coding), where it scores 95.0 vs 90.2. They differ in modality coverage, Claude Opus 4 handles text, vision while GPT-4o handles text, vision, audio, which can be the deciding factor before you even look at benchmarks. Both are closed-weight, API-only.
Claude Opus 4 is the newer of the two, released 12 months after GPT-4o, which usually means a more recent knowledge cutoff and updated safety post-training. Claude Opus 4 is usually picked for coding llm and coding agent workloads, while GPT-4o sees more deployments in chatbots and vision. If pricing matters more than every last benchmark point, run the numbers in the calculator below before committing.
Side-by-side specs
| Spec | Claude Opus 4 | GPT-4o |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Anthropic | OpenAI |
| Released | May 2025 | May 2024 |
| Modalities | text, vision | text, vision, audio |
| Context window | 200K tokens | 128K tokens |
| Max output | , | , |
| Input · 1M | $15.00 / 1M tokens | $2.50 / 1M tokens |
| Output · 1M | $75.00 / 1M tokens | $10.00 / 1M tokens |
| Knowledge cutoff | 2025-03 | 2023-10 |
| 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$158 vs $22.50
- Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day$1,575 vs $225
- RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day$2,700 vs $435
Light usage, 100k in / 50k out per day: $158 vs $22.50 per month, model B comes out ahead. Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day: $1,575 vs $225 per month, model B comes out ahead. RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day: $2,700 vs $435 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 Opus 4$5.25
- GPT-4o$0.750
Benchmarks compared
Only sourced numbers. Where a benchmark is missing for one model we show the available value rather than fabricating the other.
- MMLU,88.7
- HumanEval95.090.2
- SWE-bench Verified72.5
Claude Opus 4 fits when…
- Set the SWE-bench bar at launch
- Excellent for writing and code
- Strong long-context handling
- Long-context tasks, handles 200K tokens vs 128K for GPT-4o.
GPT-4o fits when…
- Native multimodal
- Mature SDK and tooling
- Cost-sensitive workloads, 7.5× cheaper than Claude Opus 4 on output tokens.
- Multimodal needs covering audio.
Consider Claude Opus 4.7
Anthropic's mid-2026 flagship, ahead on SWE-bench, agent reliability, and writing quality.
Frequently asked
Is Claude Opus 4 or GPT-4o cheaper?
GPT-4o is cheaper at $10.00 / 1M tokens per million output tokens, vs $75.00 / 1M tokens for Claude Opus 4.Which has the larger context window?
Claude Opus 4 accepts 200K tokens vs 128K for GPT-4o.Is Claude Opus 4 or GPT-4o better for coding?
Both Claude Opus 4 and GPT-4o 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 Opus 4 and GPT-4o released?
Claude Opus 4 was released by Anthropic on 2025-05-22. GPT-4o was released by OpenAI on 2024-05-13.
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