Model Comparison

Claude Opus 4 vs o4-miniWhich is better in 2026?

Claude Opus 4 has a slight edge in benchmark performance. o4-mini is 15.6x cheaper per token.

Verdict: Claude Opus 4 vs o4-mini — which is better?

Claude Opus 4 (by Anthropic) and o4-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 Opus 4 outperforms in 3 benchmarks (SWE-Bench Verified, TAU-bench Airline, TAU-bench Retail), while o4-mini is better at 2 benchmarks (AIME 2025, GPQA). Claude Opus 4 has a slight edge in benchmark performance.

On price, o4-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 Opus 4 if…

  • you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 3 of 5 shared benchmarks
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped May 2025

Choose o4-mini if…

  • cost matters — it's about 15.6x cheaper per token

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

5 benchmarks

Claude Opus 4 outperforms in 3 benchmarks (SWE-Bench Verified, TAU-bench Airline, TAU-bench Retail), while o4-mini is better at 2 benchmarks (AIME 2025, GPQA).

Claude Opus 4 has a slight edge in benchmark performance.

Tue Jul 28 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Pricing Analysis

Price comparison per million tokens

o4-mini costs less

For input processing, Claude Opus 4 ($15.00/1M tokens) is 13.6x more expensive than o4-mini ($1.10/1M tokens).

For output processing, Claude Opus 4 ($75.00/1M tokens) is 17.0x more expensive than o4-mini ($4.40/1M tokens).

In conclusion, Claude Opus 4 is more expensive than o4-mini.*

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

Lowest available price from all providers
Tue Jul 28 2026 • llm-stats.com
Anthropic
Claude Opus 4
Input tokens$15.00
Output tokens$75.00
Best providerAnthropic
OpenAI
o4-mini
Input tokens$1.10
Output tokens$4.40
Best providerOpenAI
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. o4-mini can generate longer responses up to 100,000 tokens, while Claude Opus 4 is limited to 32,000 tokens.

Anthropic
Claude Opus 4
Input200,000 tokens
Output32,000 tokens
OpenAI
o4-mini
Input200,000 tokens
Output100,000 tokens
Tue Jul 28 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Both Claude Opus 4 and o4-mini support multimodal inputs.

They are both capable of processing various types of data, offering versatility in application.

Claude Opus 4

Text
Images
Audio
Video

o4-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 Opus 4

Proprietary

Closed source

o4-mini

Proprietary

Closed source

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Claude Opus 4 was released on 2025-05-22, while o4-mini was released on 2025-04-16.

Claude Opus 4 is 1 month newer than o4-mini.

Claude Opus 4

May 22, 2025

1.2 years ago

1mo newer
o4-mini

Apr 16, 2025

1.3 years ago

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

o4-mini has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2024-05-31, while Claude Opus 4's cutoff date is not specified.

We can confirm o4-mini's training data extends to 2024-05-31, but cannot make a direct comparison without Claude Opus 4's cutoff date.

Claude Opus 4

—

o4-mini

May 2024

Provider Availability

Claude Opus 4 is available from Anthropic, Bedrock, Google. o4-mini is available from OpenAI.

Claude Opus 4

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

o4-mini

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
Higher SWE-Bench Verified score (72.5% vs 68.1%)
Higher TAU-bench Airline score (59.6% vs 49.2%)
Higher TAU-bench Retail score (81.4% vs 71.8%)
OpenAI
Less expensive input tokens
Less expensive output tokens
Higher AIME 2025 score (92.7% vs 75.5%)
Higher GPQA score (81.4% vs 79.6%)
AnthropicClaude Opus 4
OpenAIo4-mini
Compare in Playground

Detailed Comparison

Interactive Arena

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Claude Opus 4 and o4-mini side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Claude Opus 4
✓ Preferred
o4-mini
Open in Playground
AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
Anthropic
Claude Opus 4
OpenAI
o4-mini

FAQ

Common questions about Claude Opus 4 vs o4-mini.

Which is better, Claude Opus 4 or o4-mini?

Claude Opus 4 has a slight edge in benchmark performance. Claude Opus 4 is made by Anthropic and o4-mini is made by OpenAI. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their benchmark scores, pricing, and capabilities above.

How does Claude Opus 4 compare to o4-mini in benchmarks?

Claude Opus 4 scores MMMLU: 88.8%, TAU-bench Retail: 81.4%, GPQA: 79.6%, MMMU (validation): 76.5%, AIME 2025: 75.5%. o4-mini scores AIME 2024: 93.4%, AIME 2025: 92.7%, MathVista: 84.3%, MMMU: 81.6%, GPQA: 81.4%.

Is Claude Opus 4 cheaper than o4-mini?

o4-mini is 13.6x cheaper for input tokens. Claude Opus 4 costs $15.00/M input and $75.00/M output via anthropic. o4-mini costs $1.10/M input and $4.40/M output via openai.

What are the context window sizes for Claude Opus 4 and o4-mini?

Claude Opus 4 supports 200K tokens and o4-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 Opus 4 and o4-mini?

Key differences include input pricing ($15.00 vs $1.10/M). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Claude Opus 4 and o4-mini?

Claude Opus 4 is developed by Anthropic and o4-mini is developed by OpenAI.

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