GPT-4o vs Claude 3.5 Sonnet
Pricing, context window, and benchmark comparison · Last updated April 2026
GPT-4o is cheaper than Claude 3.5 Sonnet at $2.50/1M/1M vs $3.00/1M/1M input tokens — a 1.2x cost difference. Claude 3.5 Sonnet scores higher on quality benchmarks (ELO 1295). Choose GPT-4o for cost-sensitive workloads; choose Claude 3.5 Sonnet for maximum quality.
Which is cheaper: GPT-4o or Claude 3.5 Sonnet?
GPT-4o is the cheaper option at $2.50/1M per 1M input tokens, compared to $3.00/1M for Claude 3.5 Sonnet. That is a 1.2x cost difference on input tokens. Output pricing follows a similar pattern: GPT-4o charges $10.00/1M/1M vs $15.00/1M/1M for Claude 3.5 Sonnet.
Which has better quality: GPT-4o or Claude 3.5 Sonnet?
Based on LMSYS Chatbot Arena rankings, Claude 3.5 Sonnet achieves a higher ELO score (1295 vs 1286), suggesting stronger performance on open-ended tasks. GPT-4o excels at multimodal: handles text, images, and audio natively. Claude 3.5 Sonnet is known for 200k context window — best for long documents.
Which should you choose: GPT-4o or Claude 3.5 Sonnet?
- → Multimodal: handles text, images, and audio natively
- → Strong reasoning and instruction following
- → Excellent coding capabilities
- → 200K context window — best for long documents
- → Industry-leading coding performance
- → Nuanced instruction following
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is cheaper: GPT-4o or Claude 3.5 Sonnet?
GPT-4o is cheaper at $2.50/1M per 1M input tokens, making it 1.2x more affordable.
Which has better quality: GPT-4o or Claude 3.5 Sonnet?
Claude 3.5 Sonnet scores higher on the LMSYS Chatbot Arena with an ELO of 1295, suggesting better overall quality for most tasks.
Which has a larger context window: GPT-4o or Claude 3.5 Sonnet?
Claude 3.5 Sonnet has a larger context window at 200K tokens.
Should I choose GPT-4o or Claude 3.5 Sonnet?
Choose GPT-4o if cost is the priority. Choose Claude 3.5 Sonnet if benchmark quality is most important. Consider your specific use case: GPT-4o is best for coding and image-understanding, while Claude 3.5 Sonnet excels at coding and document-analysis.
Is GPT-4o or Claude 3.5 Sonnet open source?
GPT-4o is proprietary. Claude 3.5 Sonnet is proprietary.