Model Comparison

Claude Opus 4.8 vs GPT-5.5Which is better in 2026?

Claude Opus 4.8 shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks. Claude Opus 4.8 is 1.1x cheaper per token.

Verdict: Claude Opus 4.8 vs GPT-5.5 — which is better?

Claude Opus 4.8 (by Anthropic) and GPT-5.5 (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 4.8 outperforms in 11 benchmarks (Finance Agent v2, FrontierSWE, GDPval-AA, Graphwalks BFS >128k, Graphwalks parents >128k, Humanity's Last Exam, MCP Atlas, OfficeQA Pro, OSWorld-Verified, SWE-Bench Pro, Toolathlon), while GPT-5.5 is better at 5 benchmarks (BrowseComp, CyberGym, Finance Agent, LiveBench, Terminal-Bench 2.0). Claude Opus 4.8 shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks.

On price, Claude Opus 4.8 is roughly 1.1x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.

GPT-5.5 also accepts a larger context window (1,050,000 input tokens), making it the stronger choice for long documents and large codebases.

Choose Claude Opus 4.8 if…

  • you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 11 of 17 shared benchmarks
  • cost matters — it's about 1.1x cheaper per token
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped May 2026

Choose GPT-5.5 if…

  • you process long inputs — it offers a 1,050,000 token context window

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

17 benchmarks

Claude Opus 4.8 outperforms in 11 benchmarks (Finance Agent v2, FrontierSWE, GDPval-AA, Graphwalks BFS >128k, Graphwalks parents >128k, Humanity's Last Exam, MCP Atlas, OfficeQA Pro, OSWorld-Verified, SWE-Bench Pro, Toolathlon), while GPT-5.5 is better at 5 benchmarks (BrowseComp, CyberGym, Finance Agent, LiveBench, Terminal-Bench 2.0).

Claude Opus 4.8 shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks.

Fri Jul 17 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Pricing Analysis

Price comparison per million tokens

Claude Opus 4.8 costs less

For input processing, Claude Opus 4.8 ($5.00/1M tokens) costs the same as GPT-5.5 ($5.00/1M tokens).

For output processing, Claude Opus 4.8 ($25.00/1M tokens) is 1.2x cheaper than GPT-5.5 ($30.00/1M tokens).

In conclusion, GPT-5.5 is more expensive than Claude Opus 4.8.*

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

Lowest available price from all providers
Fri Jul 17 2026 • llm-stats.com
Anthropic
Claude Opus 4.8
Input tokens$5.00
Output tokens$25.00
Best providerAnthropic
OpenAI
GPT-5.5
Input tokens$5.00
Output tokens$30.00
Best providerOpenAI
Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue→

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

GPT-5.5 accepts 1,050,000 input tokens compared to Claude Opus 4.8's 1,000,000 tokens. Both models can generate responses up to 128,000 tokens.

Anthropic
Claude Opus 4.8
Input1,000,000 tokens
Output128,000 tokens
OpenAI
GPT-5.5
Input1,050,000 tokens
Output128,000 tokens
Fri Jul 17 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Both Claude Opus 4.8 and GPT-5.5 support multimodal inputs.

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

Claude Opus 4.8

Text
Images
Audio
Video

GPT-5.5

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 4.8

Proprietary

Closed source

GPT-5.5

Proprietary

Closed source

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Claude Opus 4.8 was released on 2026-05-28, while GPT-5.5 was released on 2026-04-23.

Claude Opus 4.8 is 1 month newer than GPT-5.5.

Claude Opus 4.8

May 28, 2026

1 months ago

1mo newer
GPT-5.5

Apr 23, 2026

2 months ago

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

GPT-5.5 has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2025-12-01, while Claude Opus 4.8's cutoff date is not specified.

We can confirm GPT-5.5's training data extends to 2025-12-01, but cannot make a direct comparison without Claude Opus 4.8's cutoff date.

Claude Opus 4.8

—

GPT-5.5

Dec 2025

Provider Availability

Claude Opus 4.8 is available from Anthropic, Vertex AI. GPT-5.5 is available from OpenAI.

Claude Opus 4.8

anthropic logo
Anthropic
Input Price:Input: $5.00/1MOutput Price:Output: $25.00/1M
vertex logo
Unknown Organization
Input Price:Input: $5.00/1MOutput Price:Output: $25.00/1M

GPT-5.5

openai logo
OpenAI
Input Price:Input: $5.00/1MOutput Price:Output: $30.00/1M
* Prices shown are per million tokens

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion→

Key Takeaways

Anthropic
Less expensive output tokens
Higher Finance Agent v2 score (53.9% vs 51.8%)
Higher FrontierSWE score (75.0% vs 73.0%)
Higher GDPval-AA score (54.6% vs 37.8%)
Higher Graphwalks BFS >128k score (68.1% vs 45.4%)
Higher Graphwalks parents >128k score (83.3% vs 58.5%)
Higher Humanity's Last Exam score (57.9% vs 52.2%)
Higher MCP Atlas score (82.2% vs 75.3%)
Higher OfficeQA Pro score (66.2% vs 54.1%)
Higher OSWorld-Verified score (83.4% vs 78.7%)
Higher SWE-Bench Pro score (69.2% vs 58.6%)
Higher Toolathlon score (59.9% vs 55.6%)
OpenAI
Larger context window (1,050,000 tokens)
Higher BrowseComp score (84.4% vs 84.3%)
Higher CyberGym score (81.8% vs 78.8%)
Higher Finance Agent score (60.0% vs 53.9%)
Higher LiveBench score (80.7% vs 77.2%)
Higher Terminal-Bench 2.0 score (82.7% vs 74.6%)

Detailed Comparison

Interactive Arena

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Claude Opus 4.8 and GPT-5.5 side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Claude Opus 4.8
✓ Preferred
GPT-5.5
Open in Playground
AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
Anthropic
Claude Opus 4.8
OpenAI
GPT-5.5

FAQ

Common questions about Claude Opus 4.8 vs GPT-5.5.

Which is better, Claude Opus 4.8 or GPT-5.5?

Claude Opus 4.8 shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks. Claude Opus 4.8 is made by Anthropic and GPT-5.5 is made by OpenAI. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their benchmark scores, pricing, and capabilities above.

How does Claude Opus 4.8 compare to GPT-5.5 in benchmarks?

Claude Opus 4.8 scores GPQA: 93.6%, DeepSearchQA: 93.1%, CharXiv-R: 89.9%, SWE-Bench Verified: 88.6%, ScreenSpot Pro: 87.9%. GPT-5.5 scores Tau2 Telecom: 98.0%, ARC-AGI: 95.0%, GPQA: 93.6%, ARC-AGI v2: 85.0%, GDPval-MM: 84.9%.

Is Claude Opus 4.8 cheaper than GPT-5.5?

Both models cost $5.00 per million input tokens.

What are the context window sizes for Claude Opus 4.8 and GPT-5.5?

Claude Opus 4.8 supports 1.0M tokens and GPT-5.5 supports 1.1M 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 4.8 and GPT-5.5?

Key differences include context window (1.0M vs 1.1M). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Claude Opus 4.8 and GPT-5.5?

Claude Opus 4.8 is developed by Anthropic and GPT-5.5 is developed by OpenAI.

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