Model Comparison

o3-mini vs Claude Opus 4Which is better in 2026?

Claude Opus 4 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. o3-mini is 15.6x cheaper per token.

Verdict: o3-mini vs Claude Opus 4 — which is better?

o3-mini (by OpenAI) and Claude Opus 4 (by Anthropic) 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.

o3-mini outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Claude Opus 4 is better at 4 benchmarks (GPQA, SWE-Bench Verified, TAU-bench Airline, TAU-bench Retail). Claude Opus 4 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 o3-mini if…

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

Choose Claude Opus 4 if…

  • you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 4 of 4 shared benchmarks
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped May 2025

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

4 benchmarks

o3-mini outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Claude Opus 4 is better at 4 benchmarks (GPQA, SWE-Bench Verified, TAU-bench Airline, TAU-bench Retail).

Claude Opus 4 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Wed Jul 15 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Pricing Analysis

Price comparison per million tokens

o3-mini costs less

For input processing, o3-mini ($1.10/1M tokens) is 13.6x cheaper than Claude Opus 4 ($15.00/1M tokens).

For output processing, o3-mini ($4.40/1M tokens) is 17.0x cheaper than Claude Opus 4 ($75.00/1M tokens).

In conclusion, Claude Opus 4 is more expensive than o3-mini.*

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

Lowest available price from all providers
Wed Jul 15 2026 • llm-stats.com
OpenAI
o3-mini
Input tokens$1.10
Output tokens$4.40
Best providerAzure
Anthropic
Claude Opus 4
Input tokens$15.00
Output tokens$75.00
Best providerAnthropic
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. o3-mini can generate longer responses up to 100,000 tokens, while Claude Opus 4 is limited to 32,000 tokens.

OpenAI
o3-mini
Input200,000 tokens
Output100,000 tokens
Anthropic
Claude Opus 4
Input200,000 tokens
Output32,000 tokens
Wed Jul 15 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Claude Opus 4 supports multimodal inputs, whereas o3-mini does not.

Claude Opus 4 can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.

o3-mini

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Claude Opus 4

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.

o3-mini

Proprietary

Closed source

Claude Opus 4

Proprietary

Closed source

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

o3-mini was released on 2025-01-30, while Claude Opus 4 was released on 2025-05-22.

Claude Opus 4 is 4 months newer than o3-mini.

o3-mini

Jan 30, 2025

1.5 years ago

Claude Opus 4

May 22, 2025

1.1 years ago

3mo newer

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

o3-mini has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2023-09-30, while Claude Opus 4'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 Opus 4's cutoff date.

o3-mini

Sep 2023

Claude Opus 4

—

Provider Availability

o3-mini is available from Azure, OpenAI. Claude Opus 4 is available from Anthropic, Bedrock, Google.

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

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
* Prices shown are per million tokens

Outputs Comparison

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Key Takeaways

OpenAI
Less expensive input tokens
Less expensive output tokens
Anthropic
Supports multimodal inputs
Higher GPQA score (79.6% vs 77.2%)
Higher SWE-Bench Verified score (72.5% vs 49.3%)
Higher TAU-bench Airline score (59.6% vs 32.4%)
Higher TAU-bench Retail score (81.4% vs 57.6%)
OpenAIo3-mini
AnthropicClaude Opus 4
Compare in Playground

Detailed Comparison

Interactive Arena

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against o3-mini and Claude Opus 4 side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

o3-mini
✓ Preferred
Claude Opus 4
Open in Playground
AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
OpenAI
o3-mini
Anthropic
Claude Opus 4

FAQ

Common questions about o3-mini vs Claude Opus 4.

Which is better, o3-mini or Claude Opus 4?

Claude Opus 4 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. o3-mini is made by OpenAI and Claude Opus 4 is made by Anthropic. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their benchmark scores, pricing, and capabilities above.

How does o3-mini compare to Claude Opus 4 in benchmarks?

o3-mini scores COLLIE: 98.7%, MATH: 97.9%, IFEval: 93.9%, MGSM: 92.0%, AIME 2024: 87.3%. Claude Opus 4 scores MMMLU: 88.8%, TAU-bench Retail: 81.4%, GPQA: 79.6%, MMMU (validation): 76.5%, AIME 2025: 75.5%.

Is o3-mini cheaper than Claude Opus 4?

o3-mini is 13.6x cheaper for input tokens. o3-mini costs $1.10/M input and $4.40/M output via azure. Claude Opus 4 costs $15.00/M input and $75.00/M output via anthropic.

What are the context window sizes for o3-mini and Claude Opus 4?

o3-mini supports 200K tokens and Claude Opus 4 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 o3-mini and Claude Opus 4?

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

Who makes o3-mini and Claude Opus 4?

o3-mini is developed by OpenAI and Claude Opus 4 is developed by Anthropic.

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