Pairwise benchmark snapshot · Aug 1, 2026

Claude 3.5 Sonnet vs GPT-4.5 Orion benchmark

Name: Claude 3.5 Sonnet vs GPT-4.5 Orion AI benchmark comparison
Creator: CompareLLM
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

This page compares Claude 3.5 Sonnet (Anthropic) and GPT-4.5 Orion (OpenAI) using the latest snapshots we have as of Aug 1, 2026. On preference Elo, GPT-4.5 Orion is ahead by 260 points (1,540 vs 1,280; seed-bootstrap (Aug 1, 2026)). On SWE-bench coding, GPT-4.5 Orion resolves 71% versus 49% (seed-bootstrap (Aug 1, 2026)). Claude 3.5 Sonnet streams faster (80 tok/s) while Claude 3.5 Sonnet is the cheaper output token ($15/1M). Claude 3.5 Sonnet has the larger context window (200k tokens). Every cell below is a dated snapshot from a named public source — we do not invent missing scores, and we do not run SWE-bench ourselves.

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Anthropic

Claude 3.5 Sonnet

2024 workhorse. Still a high-intent compare against GPT-4o.

Elo 1,280$15/1M out

OpenAI

GPT-4.5 Orion

OpenAI largest dense non-reasoning model with expansive world knowledge and reduced hallucinations.

Elo 1,540$150/1M out

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Model A

Model B

Quick vs:vs Claude Opus 4.5 vs Claude Opus 4.6 vs Claude Sonnet 4.5 vs Claude 3.7 Sonnet

Interactive Comparison Diagram

Matchup Breakdown

Tug-of-War Matchup Matrix

Category wins across intelligence, speed, and pricing efficiency.

Claude 3.5 Sonnet (5)vsGPT-4.5 Orion (5)

Claude 3.5 Sonnet: 5W (50%)Overall: Even matchupGPT-4.5 Orion: 5W (50%)

← Claude 3.5 SonnetGPT-4.5 Orion →

GPT-4.5 Orion (5/5)

Intelligence & Reasoning

Preference Elo, Coding proficiency, SWE-bench & LiveBench accuracy

Preference Elo

1,280vs1,540

Coding Elo

—vs1,520

SWE-bench

49%vs71%

LiveBench

52.1%vs68.5%

GPQA Diamond

65%vs84%

Claude 3.5 Sonnet: 0WGPT-4.5 Orion: 5W

Claude 3.5 Sonnet (2/2)

Speed & Latency

Generation throughput and time to first token responsiveness

Output speed

80 tok/svs60 tok/s

Time to first token

280 msvs350 ms

Claude 3.5 Sonnet: 2WGPT-4.5 Orion: 0W

Claude 3.5 Sonnet (3/3)

Pricing & Capacity

Cost per million tokens and max context window length

Output price

$15/1Mvs$150/1M

Input price

$3/1Mvs$75/1M

Context window

200kvs128k

Claude 3.5 Sonnet: 3WGPT-4.5 Orion: 0W

Capability Matchup Radar

Multi-Dimensional Capability Radar

Each spoke is a skill. Farther from the center is better (0–100th percentile). Tap any dot to inspect details.

Tap any node to inspect

Percentile 0–100

Dimensional AdvantageEven 3–3

Preference Elo

GPT-4.5 Orion

260 pts advantage

Throughput Speed

Claude 3.5 Sonnet

20 tok/s faster

Price Efficiency

Claude 3.5 Sonnet

$135.00/1M cheaper

Full Benchmark Score Matrix

—

Elo

High is better

1,280

EloHigh is better

1,540+20%

Code Elo

High is better

—

Code EloHigh is better

1,520

LiveBench

High is better

52.1%

LiveBenchHigh is better

68.5%+31%

SWE-bench

High is better

49%

SWE-benchHigh is better

71%+45%

GPQA

High is better

65%

GPQAHigh is better

84%+29%

TTFT

Low is better

+25%280 ms

TTFTLow is better

350 ms

Speed

High is better

+33%80 tok/s

SpeedHigh is better

60 tok/s

In $

Low is better

+2400%$3/1M

In $Low is better

$75/1M

Out $

Low is better

+900%$15/1M

Out $Low is better

$150/1M

Context

High is better

+56%200k

ContextHigh is better

128k

Interactive Simulator

Workload Cost & Savings Calculator

Simulate monthly production API costs based on published $/1M tokens.

Save up to 93% with Claude 3.5 Sonnet

Monthly Volume50M tokens/mo

Quick Presets:

Token Ratio (In vs Out)70% In / 30% Out

RAG / Search (10% out)Coding / Chat (50% out)

Claude 3.5 Sonnet$330.00 / mo

In: $105.00Out: $225.00

GPT-4.5 Orion$4,875.00 / mo

In: $2625.00Out: $2250.00

Estimated Cost Delta

Claude 3.5 Sonnet is estimated to save $4,545.00/month ($54,540/year).

Based on 50M tokens (30% gen)

Key Selection Recommendations

1
GPT-4.5 Orion:Pick GPT-4.5 Orion when repo-level coding accuracy is the constraint.
2
Claude 3.5 Sonnet:Pick Claude 3.5 Sonnet when you are optimizing output cost.
3
Claude 3.5 Sonnet:Pick Claude 3.5 Sonnet when time-to-first-token matters more than peak Elo.

Recommended Workload Routing

Repo / coding agentsGPT-4.5 Orion

Higher SWE-bench (71%).

High-volume chatClaude 3.5 Sonnet

Lower output list price ($15/1M).

Voice / low-latency UIClaude 3.5 Sonnet

Lower TTFT (280 ms).

Long-document RAGClaude 3.5 Sonnet

Larger window (200k).

Screenshots / visionGPT-4.5 Orion

Both accept images. Defaulting to the higher-Elo side (GPT-4.5 Orion).

Target Workload	Recommended Pick	Evaluation Rationale
Repo / coding agents	GPT-4.5 Orion	Higher SWE-bench (71%).
High-volume chat	Claude 3.5 Sonnet	Lower output list price ($15/1M).
Voice / low-latency UI	Claude 3.5 Sonnet	Lower TTFT (280 ms).
Long-document RAG	Claude 3.5 Sonnet	Larger window (200k).
Screenshots / vision	GPT-4.5 Orion	Both accept images. Defaulting to the higher-Elo side (GPT-4.5 Orion).

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LIVE

Anthropic

Claude 3.5 Sonnet

Elo 1,280

LiveBench52.1%

SWE-bench49%

Speed80 tok/s

Output cost$15/1M

OpenAI

GPT-4.5 Orion

Elo 1,540

LiveBench68.5%

SWE-bench71%

Speed60 tok/s

Output cost$150/1M

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is better overall, Claude 3.5 Sonnet or GPT-4.5 Orion?: GPT-4.5 Orion has the higher preference Elo in our latest snapshot (1,540). “Better” still depends on coding, price, and latency — see the table.
Which is better at coding, Claude 3.5 Sonnet or GPT-4.5 Orion?: GPT-4.5 Orion leads SWE-bench at 71% vs 49%. SWE-bench is one harness, not your repo.
Which is cheaper to run in production?: Claude 3.5 Sonnet output tokens are $15/1M versus $150/1M. Input prices and retry rates still move the real bill.
Which is faster, Claude 3.5 Sonnet or GPT-4.5 Orion?: Claude 3.5 Sonnet has the lower time-to-first-token (280 ms vs 350 ms). Tokens/sec is a separate column if you care about long completions.
Which has the larger context window?: Claude 3.5 Sonnet accepts 200k tokens versus 128k.
Can I self-host either model?: Neither model is marked open-weights here. You are comparing hosted APIs.
Are these scores from CompareLLM’s own evals?: No. V1 aggregates public leaderboards (and optional first-party latency pings). Each cell names its source and date. Read /methodology.
What does preference Elo mean on this page?: Preference Elo is a crowd vote from LMArena / Arena. People see two hidden answers and pick the one they like more. The model that wins more often gets a higher Elo. That means people preferred it — not that it passed a school test. It is not SWE-bench, not accuracy, and not a number we invent. Claude 3.5 Sonnet and GPT-4.5 Orion Elo cells are dated snapshots from the named source — we do not compute Arena ourselves.

Similar Head-to-Head Comparisons

All Claude 3.5 Sonnet matchups →|All GPT-4.5 Orion matchups →

Claude 3.5 Sonnet vs Claude 3.7 Sonnet (next sonnet)GPT-4.5 Orion vs OpenAI: o1 (previous gpt-flagship)GPT-4.5 Orion vs GPT-5 (next gpt-flagship)Claude Opus 4.5 vs GPT-4.5 Orion Claude Opus 4.6 vs GPT-4.5 Orion Claude Sonnet 4.5 vs GPT-4.5 Orion

Claude 3.5 Sonnet vs GPT-4.5 Orion benchmark

Interactive Comparison Diagram

Matchup Breakdown

Tug-of-War Matchup Matrix

Category wins across intelligence, speed, and pricing efficiency.

Claude 3.5 Sonnet (5)vsGPT-4.5 Orion (5)

Claude 3.5 Sonnet: 5W (50%)Overall: Even matchupGPT-4.5 Orion: 5W (50%)

← Claude 3.5 SonnetGPT-4.5 Orion →

GPT-4.5 Orion (5/5)

Intelligence & Reasoning

Preference Elo, Coding proficiency, SWE-bench & LiveBench accuracy

Preference Elo

1,280vs1,540

Coding Elo

—vs1,520

SWE-bench

49%vs71%

LiveBench

52.1%vs68.5%

GPQA Diamond

65%vs84%

Claude 3.5 Sonnet: 0WGPT-4.5 Orion: 5W

Claude 3.5 Sonnet (2/2)

Speed & Latency

Generation throughput and time to first token responsiveness

Output speed

80 tok/svs60 tok/s

Time to first token

280 msvs350 ms

Claude 3.5 Sonnet: 2WGPT-4.5 Orion: 0W

Claude 3.5 Sonnet (3/3)

Pricing & Capacity

Cost per million tokens and max context window length

Output price

$15/1Mvs$150/1M

Input price

$3/1Mvs$75/1M

Context window

200kvs128k

Claude 3.5 Sonnet: 3WGPT-4.5 Orion: 0W

Recommended Workload Routing

Repo / coding agentsGPT-4.5 Orion

Higher SWE-bench (71%).

High-volume chatClaude 3.5 Sonnet

Lower output list price ($15/1M).

Voice / low-latency UIClaude 3.5 Sonnet

Lower TTFT (280 ms).

Long-document RAGClaude 3.5 Sonnet

Larger window (200k).

Screenshots / visionGPT-4.5 Orion

Both accept images. Defaulting to the higher-Elo side (GPT-4.5 Orion).

Target Workload	Recommended Pick	Evaluation Rationale
Repo / coding agents	GPT-4.5 Orion	Higher SWE-bench (71%).
High-volume chat	Claude 3.5 Sonnet	Lower output list price ($15/1M).
Voice / low-latency UI	Claude 3.5 Sonnet	Lower TTFT (280 ms).
Long-document RAG	Claude 3.5 Sonnet	Larger window (200k).
Screenshots / vision	GPT-4.5 Orion	Both accept images. Defaulting to the higher-Elo side (GPT-4.5 Orion).

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is better overall, Claude 3.5 Sonnet or GPT-4.5 Orion?

GPT-4.5 Orion has the higher preference Elo in our latest snapshot (1,540). “Better” still depends on coding, price, and latency — see the table.

Which is better at coding, Claude 3.5 Sonnet or GPT-4.5 Orion?

GPT-4.5 Orion leads SWE-bench at 71% vs 49%. SWE-bench is one harness, not your repo.

Which is cheaper to run in production?

Claude 3.5 Sonnet output tokens are $15/1M versus $150/1M. Input prices and retry rates still move the real bill.

Which is faster, Claude 3.5 Sonnet or GPT-4.5 Orion?

Claude 3.5 Sonnet has the lower time-to-first-token (280 ms vs 350 ms). Tokens/sec is a separate column if you care about long completions.

Which has the larger context window?

Claude 3.5 Sonnet accepts 200k tokens versus 128k.

Can I self-host either model?

Neither model is marked open-weights here. You are comparing hosted APIs.

Are these scores from CompareLLM’s own evals?

No. V1 aggregates public leaderboards (and optional first-party latency pings). Each cell names its source and date. Read /methodology.

What does preference Elo mean on this page?

Preference Elo is a crowd vote from LMArena / Arena. People see two hidden answers and pick the one they like more. The model that wins more often gets a higher Elo. That means people preferred it — not that it passed a school test. It is not SWE-bench, not accuracy, and not a number we invent. Claude 3.5 Sonnet and GPT-4.5 Orion Elo cells are dated snapshots from the named source — we do not compute Arena ourselves.