Claude Opus 4vsGPT-4o
Anthropic vs OpenAI — Side-by-side model comparison
Head-to-Head Comparison
| Metric | Claude Opus 4 | GPT-4o |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | ||
| Arena Rank | #1 | #2 |
| Context Window | 200K | 128K |
| Input Pricing | $5.00/1M tokens | $2.50/1M tokens |
| Output Pricing | $25.00/1M tokens | $10.00/1M tokens |
| Parameters | Undisclosed | ~200B (est.) |
| Open Source | No | No |
| Best For | Complex reasoning, coding, agentic tasks | General purpose, coding, analysis |
| Release Date | May 22, 2025 | — |
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 →GPT-4o
GPT-4o is OpenAI's flagship multimodal model, capable of processing text, images, and audio in a unified architecture. The 'o' stands for 'omni,' reflecting its ability to seamlessly handle multiple input types. With a 128K token context window and competitive pricing, it strikes an optimal balance between capability and cost-effectiveness. GPT-4o delivers fast response times while maintaining strong performance across coding, analysis, creative writing, and visual understanding tasks. It powers ChatGPT's default experience and is one of the most widely deployed AI models globally, serving millions of API calls daily. The model supports function calling, JSON mode, and structured outputs, making it highly versatile for production applications. Its combination of speed, quality, and multimodal capabilities makes it the go-to choice for most general-purpose AI applications.
View OpenAI profile →Key Differences: Claude Opus 4 vs GPT-4o
Claude Opus 4 ranks higher in arena benchmarks (#1) indicating stronger overall performance.
GPT-4o is 2.4x cheaper on average, making it the better choice for high-volume applications.
Claude Opus 4 supports a larger context window (200K), allowing it to process longer documents in a single request.
When to use Claude Opus 4
- +You need the highest quality output based on arena rankings
- +Quality matters more than cost
- +You need to process long documents (200K context)
- +Your use case involves complex reasoning, coding, agentic tasks
When to use GPT-4o
- +Budget is a concern and you need cost efficiency
- +Your use case involves general purpose, coding, analysis
Cost Analysis
At current pricing, GPT-4o is 2.4x more affordable than Claude Opus 4. For a typical enterprise workload processing 100M tokens per month:
Claude Opus 4 monthly cost
$1,500
100M tokens/mo (50/50 in/out)
GPT-4o monthly cost
$625
100M tokens/mo (50/50 in/out)
The Verdict
GPT-4o wins our head-to-head comparison with 3 out of 5 category wins. It's the stronger choice for general purpose, coding, analysis, though Claude Opus 4 holds an edge in complex reasoning, coding, agentic tasks.
Last compared: March 2026 · Data sourced from public benchmarks and official pricing pages