Claude 3.5 Sonnet vs GPT-4.5
GPT-4.5 shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks. Claude 3.5 Sonnet is 15.6x cheaper per token.
Anthropic · OpenAI · Updated for 2026
Which is better?
Claude 3.5 Sonnet outperforms in 3 benchmarks (HumanEval, SWE-Bench Verified, TAU-bench Retail), while GPT-4.5 is better at 6 benchmarks (GPQA, GSM8k, MathVista, MMLU, MMMU, TAU-bench Airline). GPT-4.5 shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks.
On price, Claude 3.5 Sonnet is roughly 15.6x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.
Claude 3.5 Sonnet also accepts a larger context window (200,000 input tokens), making it the stronger choice for long documents and large codebases.
Based on current benchmark, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.
Choose Claude 3.5 Sonnet
- cost matters — it's about 15.6x cheaper per token
- you process long inputs — it offers a 200,000 token context window
Choose GPT-4.5
- you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 6 of 9 shared benchmarks
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Feb 2025
At a glance
The differences that matter most.
Performance Benchmarks
Comparative analysis across standard metrics
Claude 3.5 Sonnet outperforms in 3 benchmarks (HumanEval, SWE-Bench Verified, TAU-bench Retail), while GPT-4.5 is better at 6 benchmarks (GPQA, GSM8k, MathVista, MMLU, MMMU, TAU-bench Airline).
GPT-4.5 shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks.
Arena Performance
Playground indexes and blind preference scores
Pricing Analysis
Price comparison per million tokens
For input processing, Claude 3.5 Sonnet ($3.00/1M tokens) is 25.0x cheaper than GPT-4.5 ($75.00/1M tokens).
For output processing, Claude 3.5 Sonnet ($15.00/1M tokens) is 10.0x cheaper than GPT-4.5 ($150.00/1M tokens).
In conclusion, GPT-4.5 is more expensive than Claude 3.5 Sonnet.*
* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Claude 3.5 Sonnet accepts 200,000 input tokens compared to GPT-4.5's 128,000 tokens. Claude 3.5 Sonnet can generate longer responses up to 200,000 tokens, while GPT-4.5 is limited to 4,096 tokens.
Input Capabilities
Supported data types and modalities
Both Claude 3.5 Sonnet and GPT-4.5 support multimodal inputs.
They are both capable of processing various types of data, offering versatility in application.
Claude 3.5 Sonnet
GPT-4.5
License
Usage and distribution terms
Both models are licensed under proprietary licenses.
Both models have usage restrictions defined by their respective organizations.
Proprietary
Closed source
Proprietary
Closed source
Release Timeline
When each model was launched
Claude 3.5 Sonnet was released on 2024-10-22, while GPT-4.5 was released on 2025-02-27.
GPT-4.5 is 4 months newer than Claude 3.5 Sonnet.
Oct 22, 2024
1.8 years ago
Feb 27, 2025
1.5 years ago
4mo newerKnowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Neither model specifies a knowledge cutoff date.
Unable to compare the recency of their training data.
Provider Availability
Claude 3.5 Sonnet is available from Anthropic, Bedrock, Google. GPT-4.5 is available from OpenAI.
Claude 3.5 Sonnet
GPT-4.5
Outputs Comparison
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against Claude 3.5 Sonnet and GPT-4.5 side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
FAQ
Common questions about Claude 3.5 Sonnet vs GPT-4.5.