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Claude Opus 4.8 vs Laguna S 2.1

Claude Opus 4.8 leads the LLM Stats Score 51.7 to 41.4. Laguna S 2.1 is 80.0x cheaper per token.

Anthropic · Poolside · Updated for 2026

Which is better?

Claude Opus 4.8 leads the overall LLM Stats Score 51.7 to 41.4, ranking #10 overall.

In the 4 individual benchmarks reported for both models, Claude Opus 4.8 wins 4; this is a narrower head-to-head signal than the composite indexes.

On price, Laguna S 2.1 is roughly 80.0x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.

Laguna S 2.1 also accepts a larger context window (1,048,576 input tokens), making it the stronger choice for long documents and large codebases.

Based on current LLM Stats indexes, shared benchmarks, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.

Choose Claude Opus 4.8

  • overall performance matters — it scores 51.7 and ranks #10 on LLM Stats
  • your work emphasizes reasoning and coding — it leads those capability indexes
  • you value its reported benchmark strengths — it wins 4 of 4 exact shared results

Choose Laguna S 2.1

  • cost matters — it's about 80.0x cheaper per token
  • you process long inputs — it offers a 1,048,576 token context window
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Jul 2026
  • you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune

At a glance

The differences that matter most.

Claude Opus 4.8
Anthropic
Laguna S 2.1
Poolside
Core performance indexes
LLM Stats Score
51.7
#10
41.4
#43
Reasoning
51.2
#10
41.5
#40
Coding
43.8
#8
33.1
#37
Agents
36.8
#14
25.7
#43
Cost, coverage & limits
Benchmark wins
4 of 4
0 of 4
Input price
$5.00 / M
$0.10 / M
Output price
$25.00 / M
$0.20 / M
Context window
1,000,000
1,048,576

Capability indexes

Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks

1 shared
Index
Claude Opus 4.8
Laguna S 2.1
Tool use
31.1#11
18.9#56
Conservative TrueSkill rating · higher is betterHow scores work

Individual benchmarks

26 reported for Claude Opus 4.8 · 6 for Laguna S 2.1

4 shared

Claude Opus 4.8 outperforms in 4 benchmarks (DeepSWE 1.1, SWE-bench Multilingual, SWE-Bench Pro, Toolathlon), while Laguna S 2.1 is better at 0 benchmarks.

Claude Opus 4.8 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Fri Aug 28 2026 • llm-stats.com

Human preference

Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores

Pricing Analysis

Price comparison per million tokens

Laguna S 2.1 costs less

For input processing, Claude Opus 4.8 ($5.00/1M tokens) is 50.0x more expensive than Laguna S 2.1 ($0.10/1M tokens).

For output processing, Claude Opus 4.8 ($25.00/1M tokens) is 125.0x more expensive than Laguna S 2.1 ($0.20/1M tokens).

In conclusion, Claude Opus 4.8 is more expensive than Laguna S 2.1.*

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

Lowest available price from all providers
Fri Aug 28 2026 • llm-stats.com
Anthropic
Claude Opus 4.8
Input tokens$5.00
Output tokens$25.00
Best providerAnthropic
Poolside
Laguna S 2.1
Input tokens$0.10
Output tokens$0.20
Best providerPoolside
Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue→

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Laguna S 2.1 accepts 1,048,576 input tokens compared to Claude Opus 4.8's 1,000,000 tokens. Only Claude Opus 4.8 specifies output context (128,000 tokens).

Anthropic
Claude Opus 4.8
Input1,000,000 tokens
Output128,000 tokens
Poolside
Laguna S 2.1
Input1,048,576 tokens
Output- tokens
Fri Aug 28 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input capabilities

Documented input modalities across available providers

Claude Opus 4.8 supports multimodal inputs, whereas Laguna S 2.1 does not.

Claude Opus 4.8 can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.

Claude Opus 4.8

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Laguna S 2.1

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Claude Opus 4.8 is licensed under a proprietary license, while Laguna S 2.1 uses OpenMDW License v1.1.

License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.

Claude Opus 4.8

Proprietary

Closed source

Laguna S 2.1

OpenMDW License v1.1

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Claude Opus 4.8 was released on 2026-05-28, while Laguna S 2.1 was released on 2026-07-21.

Laguna S 2.1 is 2 months newer than Claude Opus 4.8.

Claude Opus 4.8

May 28, 2026

3 months ago

Laguna S 2.1

Jul 21, 2026

1 months ago

1mo newer

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Neither model specifies a knowledge cutoff date.

Unable to compare the recency of their training data.

No cutoff dates available

Provider Availability

Claude Opus 4.8 is available from Anthropic, Vertex AI. Laguna S 2.1 is available from Poolside.

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

Laguna S 2.1

poolside logo
Poolside
Input Price:Input: $0.10/1MOutput Price:Output: $0.20/1M
* Prices shown are per million tokens

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion→

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Claude Opus 4.8 and Laguna S 2.1 side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Claude Opus 4.8
✓ Preferred
Laguna S 2.1
Open in Playground

FAQ

Common questions about Claude Opus 4.8 vs Laguna S 2.1.

Which is better, Claude Opus 4.8 or Laguna S 2.1?

Claude Opus 4.8 leads the LLM Stats Score 51.7 to 41.4. Claude Opus 4.8 is made by Anthropic and Laguna S 2.1 is made by Poolside. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their capability indexes, individual benchmarks, pricing, and limits above.

How does Claude Opus 4.8 compare to Laguna S 2.1 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%. Laguna S 2.1 scores SWE-bench Multilingual: 78.5%, Terminal-Bench 2.1: 70.2%, SWE-Bench Pro: 59.4%, Toolathlon: 49.7%, SWE Atlas - Codebase QnA: 46.2%.

Is Claude Opus 4.8 cheaper than Laguna S 2.1?

Laguna S 2.1 is 50.0x cheaper for input tokens. Claude Opus 4.8 costs $5.00/M input and $25.00/M output via anthropic. Laguna S 2.1 costs $0.10/M input and $0.20/M output via poolside.

What are the context window sizes for Claude Opus 4.8 and Laguna S 2.1?

Claude Opus 4.8 supports 1.0M tokens and Laguna S 2.1 supports 1.0M 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 Laguna S 2.1?

Key differences include LLM Stats Score (51.7 vs 41.4), context window (1.0M vs 1.0M), input pricing ($5.00 vs $0.10/M), multimodal support (yes vs no), licensing (Proprietary vs OpenMDW License v1.1). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Claude Opus 4.8 and Laguna S 2.1?

Claude Opus 4.8 is developed by Anthropic and Laguna S 2.1 is developed by Poolside.

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