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Every score has a dated snapshot.

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  3. Claude Opus 4.8 vs OpenAI: GPT-4.1

Pairwise benchmark snapshot · Aug 17, 2026noindex (thin pair)

Claude Opus 4.8 vs OpenAI: GPT-4.1 benchmark

In this head-to-head showdown, OpenAI: GPT-4.1 is more budget-friendly at $8/1M per 1M output tokens. Review the complete breakdown below to determine which model best fits your performance and budget requirements.

Executive Comparison Verdict

Bottom Line: Choose Claude Opus 4.8 if your priority is peak reasoning, complex code generation, and top preference Elo. Choose OpenAI: GPT-4.1 if you are optimizing for low latency, high throughput, and cost-efficient API deployment.
Share Analysis:
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Anthropic
Claude Opus 4.8

Prior Opus generation still billed at $5/$25. Kept as a compare baseline against Opus 5.

Opus 4.8Elo 1,598$25/1M out
OpenAI
OpenAI: GPT-4.1

Auto-discovered from OpenRouter (openai/gpt-4.1). Preview until a second source matches.

$8/1M out

Claude 4 Series Family & Variants (5)

Speed, cost, and intelligence tradeoffs across the Anthropic lineup

vs Base Model
Claude Opus 4.5
Anthropic
Base Model
Reasoning
Elo1568
Speed62 t/s
In /1M$5
Out /1M$25
View specs →vs this
Claude Opus 4.6
Anthropic
Opus 4.6
Reasoning
Elo1574
Speed64 t/s
In /1M$5
Out /1M$25
+6 Elo0% price
View specs →vs this
Claude Sonnet 4.5
Anthropic
Sonnet 4.5
Elo1524
Speed88 t/s
In /1M$3
Out /1M$15
-44 Elo-40% price1.4x speed
View specs →vs this
Claude Opus 4.8
Anthropic
Opus 4.8
Reasoning
Elo1598
Speed66 t/s
In /1M$5
Out /1M$25
+30 Elo0% price1.1x speed
Selected
Claude Haiku 4.5
Anthropic
Haiku 4.5
Elo1438
Speed175 t/s
In /1M$1
Out /1M$5
-130 Elo-80% price2.8x speed
View specs →vs this

Claude Opus 4.8 Thinking Depth & Cost Scaler

Simulate accuracy gains vs added response time & token cost

Mode: Medium (16k budget)

Reasoning models “think before answering” by generating internal reasoning tokens. Higher effort improves math, coding, and logic accuracy, but increases response delay and token costs.

Thinking Delay
330 ms
Standard speed
Reasoning Depth
~3,200
Internal tokens
Cost / 1k Calls
$90.00
9.0× standard bill
Accuracy Boost
+5.2% accuracy
STEM & SWE-bench
Top Rival Showdowns for Claude Opus 4.8
All Matchups
Compare vs:vs GPT-5vs Gemini 3 Provs Grok 4.6vs DeepSeek V4 Provs Qwen 3 Max
Preference Leader

No shared data

Single model data

Throughput Leader

No shared data

No latency data

Value per Dollar Leader

OpenAI: GPT-4.1

$8 / 1M output

Capability Percentiles

Relative percentile scores computed across all active models in the benchmark catalog.

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 AdvantageClaude Opus 4.8 4/6
Head-to-Head Comparison

Overall Matchup Breakdown

Category wins across reasoning intelligence, generation speed, and token cost.

Claude Opus 4.8 (7)vsOpenAI: GPT-4.1 (3)
Claude Opus 4.8: 7W (70%)Overall: Claude Opus 4.8OpenAI: GPT-4.1: 3W (30%)
← Claude Opus 4.8OpenAI: GPT-4.1 →
Claude Opus 4.8 (5/5)

Intelligence & Reasoning

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

Preference Elo
1,598vs—
Coding Elo
1,604vs—
SWE-bench
78.4%vs—
LiveBench
73.6%vs—
GPQA Diamond
86.2%vs—
Claude Opus 4.8: 5WOpenAI: GPT-4.1: 0W
Claude Opus 4.8 (2/2)

Speed & Latency

Generation throughput and time to first token responsiveness

Output speed
66 tok/svs—
Time to first token
330 msvs—
Claude Opus 4.8: 2WOpenAI: GPT-4.1: 0W
OpenAI: GPT-4.1 (3/3)

Pricing & Capacity

Cost per million tokens and max context window length

Output price
$25/1Mvs$8/1M
Input price
$5/1Mvs$2/1M
Context window
1Mvs1M
Claude Opus 4.8: 0WOpenAI: GPT-4.1: 3W

Side-by-Side Benchmark Matrix

Preference Elo
Claude Opus 4.81,598
lmarena · Aug 16, 2026
OpenAI: GPT-4.1—
Coding Elo
Claude Opus 4.81,604
lmarena · Aug 16, 2026
OpenAI: GPT-4.1—
LiveBench
Claude Opus 4.873.6%
livebench · Aug 16, 2026
OpenAI: GPT-4.1—
SWE-bench
Claude Opus 4.878.4%
swebench · Aug 16, 2026
OpenAI: GPT-4.1—
GPQA Diamond
Claude Opus 4.886.2%
seed-bootstrap · Aug 16, 2026
OpenAI: GPT-4.1—
Time to first token
Claude Opus 4.8330 ms
seed-bootstrap · Aug 16, 2026
OpenAI: GPT-4.1—
Output speed
Claude Opus 4.866 tok/s
seed-bootstrap · Aug 16, 2026
OpenAI: GPT-4.1—
Input priceOpenAI: GPT-4.1 (+$3/1M)
Claude Opus 4.8$5/1M
openrouter · Aug 17, 2026
OpenAI: GPT-4.1$2/1M
openrouter · Aug 17, 2026
Output priceOpenAI: GPT-4.1 (+$17/1M)
Claude Opus 4.8$25/1M
openrouter · Aug 17, 2026
OpenAI: GPT-4.1$8/1M
openrouter · Aug 17, 2026
Context windowOpenAI: GPT-4.1 (+48k)
Claude Opus 4.81M
openrouter · Aug 17, 2026
OpenAI: GPT-4.11M
openrouter · Aug 17, 2026
BenchmarkClaude Opus 4.8OpenAI: GPT-4.1Advantage Delta
Preference Elo
1,598
lmarena · Aug 16, 2026
——
Coding Elo
1,604
lmarena · Aug 16, 2026
——
LiveBench
73.6%
livebench · Aug 16, 2026
——
SWE-bench
78.4%
swebench · Aug 16, 2026
——
GPQA Diamond
86.2%
seed-bootstrap · Aug 16, 2026
——
Time to first token
330 ms
seed-bootstrap · Aug 16, 2026
——
Output speed
66 tok/s
seed-bootstrap · Aug 16, 2026
——
Input price
$5/1M
openrouter · Aug 17, 2026
$2/1M
openrouter · Aug 17, 2026
OpenAI: GPT-4.1 (+$3/1M)
Output price
$25/1M
openrouter · Aug 17, 2026
$8/1M
openrouter · Aug 17, 2026
OpenAI: GPT-4.1 (+$17/1M)
Context window
1M
openrouter · Aug 17, 2026
1M
openrouter · Aug 17, 2026
OpenAI: GPT-4.1 (+48k)
Interactive Simulator (USD)

Workload Cost & Savings Calculator

Simulate monthly production API costs in USD (US Dollar).

Save up to 65% with OpenAI: GPT-4.1
Monthly Volume50M tokens/mo
Quick Presets:
Token Ratio (In vs Out)70% In / 30% Out
RAG / Search (10% out)Coding / Chat (50% out)
Claude Opus 4.8$550.00 / mo
In: $175Out: $375
OpenAI: GPT-4.1$190.00 / mo
In: $70Out: $120
Estimated Cost Delta

OpenAI: GPT-4.1 is estimated to save $360.00/month ($4,320/year).

Based on 50M tokens (30% gen)

Key Selection Recommendations

  • 1
    OpenAI: GPT-4.1:Pick OpenAI: GPT-4.1 when you are optimizing output cost.
  • 2
    OpenAI: GPT-4.1:Pick OpenAI: GPT-4.1 for million-token RAG or long-document jobs.

Recommended Workload Routing

Repo / coding agentsinsufficient data

Need SWE-bench on both sides.

High-volume chatOpenAI: GPT-4.1

Lower output list price ($8/1M).

Voice / low-latency UIinsufficient data

Need TTFT on both sides.

Long-document RAGOpenAI: GPT-4.1

Larger window (1M).

Screenshots / visionClaude Opus 4.8

Claude Opus 4.8 is the side marked multimodal in the catalog.

Target WorkloadRecommended PickEvaluation Rationale
Repo / coding agentsinsufficient dataNeed SWE-bench on both sides.
High-volume chatOpenAI: GPT-4.1Lower output list price ($8/1M).
Voice / low-latency UIinsufficient dataNeed TTFT on both sides.
Long-document RAGOpenAI: GPT-4.1Larger window (1M).
Screenshots / visionClaude Opus 4.8Claude Opus 4.8 is the side marked multimodal in the catalog.

Related Editorial Dispatches & Benchmark Notes

View all news
launchJun 20, 2026

Keep Opus 4.8 on the board: a baseline, not a flagship

Opus 4.8 still bills $5/$25. We keep it so Opus 5 vs 4.8 is a real generation delta, not marketing.

Community Sentiment

Cast Your Matchup Vote

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CompareLLM Matrix

Verified head-to-head card

LIVE
VS
Anthropic

Claude Opus 4.8

Elo 1,598
LiveBench73.6%
SWE-bench78.4%
Speed66 tok/s
Output cost$25/1M
OpenAI

OpenAI: GPT-4.1

Elo n/a
LiveBench—
SWE-bench—
Speed—
Output cost$8/1M

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is better overall, Claude Opus 4.8 or OpenAI: GPT-4.1?
We do not have preference Elo for both models, so we do not declare an overall winner. Compare the metrics that exist.
Which is better at coding, Claude Opus 4.8 or OpenAI: GPT-4.1?
SWE-bench is missing for at least one model, so we do not rank coding from a single number.
Which is cheaper to run in production?
OpenAI: GPT-4.1 output tokens are $8/1M versus $25/1M. Input prices and retry rates still move the real bill.
Which is faster, Claude Opus 4.8 or OpenAI: GPT-4.1?
We do not have TTFT for both models.
Which has the larger context window?
OpenAI: GPT-4.1 accepts 1M tokens versus 1M.
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 Opus 4.8 and OpenAI: GPT-4.1 Elo cells are dated snapshots from the named source — we do not compute Arena ourselves.

Related news

  • launch · Jun 20, 2026

    Keep Opus 4.8 on the board: a baseline, not a flagship

Similar Head-to-Head Comparisons

All Claude Opus 4.8 matchups →|All OpenAI: GPT-4.1 matchups →
Claude Opus 4.8 vs Claude Opus 4.6 (previous opus)Claude Opus 4.8 vs Claude Opus 5 (next opus)GPT-5.6 Sol vs Claude Opus 4.8Claude Fable 5 vs Claude Opus 4.8Claude Opus 4.5 vs Claude Opus 4.8GPT-5 vs Claude Opus 4.8