Claude Opus 4vsClaude 3 Opus
Anthropic vs Anthropic — Side-by-side model comparison
Head-to-Head Comparison
| Metric | Claude Opus 4 | Claude 3 Opus |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | ||
| Arena Rank | #1 | #7 |
| Context Window | 200K | 200K |
| Input Pricing | $5.00/1M tokens | $15.00/1M tokens |
| Output Pricing | $25.00/1M tokens | $75.00/1M tokens |
| Parameters | Undisclosed | Undisclosed |
| Open Source | No | No |
| Best For | Complex reasoning, coding, agentic tasks | Complex analysis, research, nuanced writing |
| Release Date | May 22, 2025 | Mar 4, 2024 |
Claude Opus 4
Claude Opus 4 is Anthropic's most powerful AI model, holding the #1 position on the Chatbot Arena leaderboard. It represents a breakthrough in extended thinking and agentic capabilities, able to work autonomously on complex multi-step tasks for hours. With a 200K token context window, it excels at analyzing entire codebases, lengthy legal documents, and research papers in a single pass. The model demonstrates exceptional performance in coding (setting new benchmarks on SWE-bench), advanced reasoning, and nuanced writing tasks. Its agentic capabilities allow it to use tools, navigate computers, and execute multi-step workflows with minimal human oversight. Opus 4 is the preferred choice for enterprises requiring the highest quality output on mission-critical tasks where accuracy and depth matter more than speed or cost.
View Anthropic profile →Claude 3 Opus
Claude 3 Opus, developed by Anthropic, is the most capable model in the Claude 3 generation with a 200K token context window. The model specializes in complex analysis, research synthesis, nuanced writing, and tasks requiring deep comprehension of lengthy documents. Claude 3 Opus demonstrated state-of-the-art performance when released, matching or exceeding GPT-4 on multiple benchmarks including MMLU and HumanEval. Its Constitutional AI training approach emphasizes safety and accuracy while maintaining strong creative and analytical capabilities. Priced at $15.00 per million input tokens and $75.00 per million output tokens, it targets enterprise use cases where output quality justifies premium pricing. Claude 3 Opus ranks #7 on the Chatbot Arena leaderboard, reflecting its position among the most capable language models available.
View Anthropic profile →Key Differences: Claude Opus 4 vs Claude 3 Opus
Claude Opus 4 ranks higher in arena benchmarks (#1) indicating stronger overall performance.
Claude Opus 4 is 3.0x cheaper on average, making it the better choice for high-volume applications.
When to use Claude Opus 4
- +You need the highest quality output based on arena rankings
- +Budget is a concern and you need cost efficiency
- +Your use case involves complex reasoning, coding, agentic tasks
When to use Claude 3 Opus
- +Quality matters more than cost
- +Your use case involves complex analysis, research, nuanced writing
Cost Analysis
At current pricing, Claude Opus 4 is 3.0x more affordable than Claude 3 Opus. For a typical enterprise workload processing 100M tokens per month:
Claude Opus 4 monthly cost
$1,500
100M tokens/mo (50/50 in/out)
Claude 3 Opus monthly cost
$4,500
100M tokens/mo (50/50 in/out)
The Verdict
Claude Opus 4 wins our head-to-head comparison with 3 out of 5 category wins. It's the stronger choice for complex reasoning, coding, agentic tasks, though Claude 3 Opus holds an edge in complex analysis, research, nuanced writing.
Last compared: April 2026 · Data sourced from public benchmarks and official pricing pages