Model Comparison

Claude 3 Opus vs o3-miniWhich is better in 2026?

o3-mini significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. o3-mini is 15.6x cheaper per token.

Verdict: Claude 3 Opus vs o3-mini — which is better?

Claude 3 Opus (by Anthropic) and o3-mini (by OpenAI) are two of the AI models people compare most. Here is how they stack up on benchmarks, price and capabilities, and which one to pick in 2026.

Claude 3 Opus outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while o3-mini is better at 4 benchmarks (GPQA, MATH, MGSM, MMLU). o3-mini significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

On price, o3-mini is roughly 15.6x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.

Choose Claude 3 Opus if…

  • you want predictable pricing at $15.00/M input and $75.00/M output

Choose o3-mini if…

  • you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 4 of 4 shared benchmarks
  • cost matters — it's about 15.6x cheaper per token
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Jan 2025
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Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

4 benchmarks

Claude 3 Opus outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while o3-mini is better at 4 benchmarks (GPQA, MATH, MGSM, MMLU).

o3-mini significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Tue Jun 16 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Pricing Analysis

Price comparison per million tokens

o3-mini costs less

For input processing, Claude 3 Opus ($15.00/1M tokens) is 13.6x more expensive than o3-mini ($1.10/1M tokens).

For output processing, Claude 3 Opus ($75.00/1M tokens) is 17.0x more expensive than o3-mini ($4.40/1M tokens).

In conclusion, Claude 3 Opus is more expensive than o3-mini.*

* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens

Lowest available price from all providers
Tue Jun 16 2026 • llm-stats.com
Anthropic
Claude 3 Opus
Input tokens$15.00
Output tokens$75.00
Best providerAnthropic
OpenAI
o3-mini
Input tokens$1.10
Output tokens$4.40
Best providerAzure
Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue→

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Both models have the same input context window of 200,000 tokens. Claude 3 Opus can generate longer responses up to 200,000 tokens, while o3-mini is limited to 100,000 tokens.

Anthropic
Claude 3 Opus
Input200,000 tokens
Output200,000 tokens
OpenAI
o3-mini
Input200,000 tokens
Output100,000 tokens
Tue Jun 16 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Claude 3 Opus supports multimodal inputs, whereas o3-mini does not.

Claude 3 Opus can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.

Claude 3 Opus

Text
Images
Audio
Video

o3-mini

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Both models are licensed under proprietary licenses.

Both models have usage restrictions defined by their respective organizations.

Claude 3 Opus

Proprietary

Closed source

o3-mini

Proprietary

Closed source

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Claude 3 Opus was released on 2024-02-29, while o3-mini was released on 2025-01-30.

o3-mini is 11 months newer than Claude 3 Opus.

Claude 3 Opus

Feb 29, 2024

2.3 years ago

o3-mini

Jan 30, 2025

1.4 years ago

11mo newer

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

o3-mini has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2023-09-30, while Claude 3 Opus's cutoff date is not specified.

We can confirm o3-mini's training data extends to 2023-09-30, but cannot make a direct comparison without Claude 3 Opus's cutoff date.

Claude 3 Opus

—

o3-mini

Sep 2023

Provider Availability

Claude 3 Opus is available from Anthropic, Bedrock, Google. o3-mini is available from Azure, OpenAI.

Claude 3 Opus

anthropic logo
Anthropic
Input Price:Input: $15.00/1MOutput Price:Output: $75.00/1M
bedrock logo
AWS Bedrock
Input Price:Input: $15.00/1MOutput Price:Output: $75.00/1M
google logo
Google
Input Price:Input: $15.00/1MOutput Price:Output: $75.00/1M

o3-mini

azure logo
Azure
Input Price:Input: $1.10/1MOutput Price:Output: $4.40/1M
openai logo
OpenAI
Input Price:Input: $1.10/1MOutput Price:Output: $4.40/1M
* Prices shown are per million tokens

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion→

Key Takeaways

Anthropic
Supports multimodal inputs
OpenAI
Less expensive input tokens
Less expensive output tokens
Higher GPQA score (77.2% vs 50.4%)
Higher MATH score (97.9% vs 60.1%)
Higher MGSM score (92.0% vs 90.7%)
Higher MMLU score (86.9% vs 86.8%)

Detailed Comparison

AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
Anthropic
Claude 3 Opus
OpenAI
o3-mini

FAQ

Common questions about Claude 3 Opus vs o3-mini.

Which is better, Claude 3 Opus or o3-mini?

o3-mini significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Claude 3 Opus is made by Anthropic and o3-mini is made by OpenAI. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their benchmark scores, pricing, and capabilities above.

How does Claude 3 Opus compare to o3-mini in benchmarks?

Claude 3 Opus scores ARC-C: 96.4%, HellaSwag: 95.4%, GSM8k: 95.0%, MGSM: 90.7%, BIG-Bench Hard: 86.8%. o3-mini scores COLLIE: 98.7%, MATH: 97.9%, IFEval: 93.9%, MGSM: 92.0%, AIME 2024: 87.3%.

Is Claude 3 Opus cheaper than o3-mini?

o3-mini is 13.6x cheaper for input tokens. Claude 3 Opus costs $15.00/M input and $75.00/M output via anthropic. o3-mini costs $1.10/M input and $4.40/M output via azure.

What are the context window sizes for Claude 3 Opus and o3-mini?

Claude 3 Opus supports 200K tokens and o3-mini supports 200K tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.

What are the main differences between Claude 3 Opus and o3-mini?

Key differences include input pricing ($15.00 vs $1.10/M), multimodal support (yes vs no). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Claude 3 Opus and o3-mini?

Claude 3 Opus is developed by Anthropic and o3-mini is developed by OpenAI.

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