Anthropic's best model for when quality matters more than speed or cost.
92
Coding
95
Writing
93
Research
10
Images
8
Value
88
Long Context
Use this when
Demanding professional tasks requiring deep reasoning, nuanced judgment, and high-quality long-form output.
Strengths
Exceptional instruction-following and nuanced judgment on ambiguous tasks
Strong agentic coding with deep multi-file project comprehension across its 200K context
Industry-leading long-form writing quality with coherent voice and structure
Reliable on complex multi-step reasoning chains with fewer hallucinations than many peers
Weaknesses
Output cost of $75/1M tokens makes it prohibitively expensive for high-volume or production pipelines
Monthly cost estimate
See what Anthropic: Claude Opus 4 actually costs at your usage level
Input tokens / month1M
10k50M
Output tokens / month500k
10k25M
Input cost
$5.00
Output cost
$12.50
Total / month
$17.50
Based on Anthropic: Claude Opus 4 API pricing: $5/1M input · $25/1M output. Real costs vary by provider discounts and caching. Check the provider for exact current rates.
Price History
Anthropic: Claude Opus 4 pricing over time
↓67% since May 9
4 data points · tracked daily since May 9, 2026
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Demanding professional tasks requiring deep reasoning, nuanced judgment, and high-quality long-form output.. Start free — no card required.
Recommendations are made independently based on real-world use and public benchmarks. See our disclosures for details.
Compare alternatives
Similar models worth checking before you commit.
AnthropicPremium
Anthropic: Claude 3.5 Sonnet
Claude 3.5 Sonnet is Anthropic's mid-cycle flagship model, balancing strong reasoning, coding, and instruction-following with a 200K context window. It sits between Haiku and Opus in Anthropic's lineup, offering near-flagship quality at a lower cost than top-tier models.
Verdict
One of the best models for coding and complex instruction-following, but its premium pricing demands premium use cases.
Quality score
81%
Pricing
$6.00/1M in
$30.00/1M out
Speed
Change history
Pricing moves, ranking shifts, and capability updates.
PricingMay 12, 2026
Anthropic: Claude Opus 4 — output price cut
Anthropic: Claude Opus 4 output pricing changed from $75.00/1M to $25.00/1M (↓ cheaper, 67% cut).
Anthropic: Claude Opus 4 is best for demanding professional tasks requiring deep reasoning, nuanced judgment, and high-quality long-form output.. It is a strong fit when that workflow matters more than the tradeoffs around premium pricing and deliberate speed.
When should I avoid Anthropic: Claude Opus 4?
You're building cost-sensitive applications, need real-time responses, or your task is routine enough to be handled well by Claude Sonnet 4.
What is a cheaper alternative to Anthropic: Claude Opus 4?
Meta: Llama 3.1 8B Instruct is the lower-cost option to compare first when you want a similar workflow fit with less token spend.
What is a faster alternative to Anthropic: Claude Opus 4?
Anthropic: Claude 3.5 Sonnet is the better pick when response time matters more than maximum depth or premium quality.
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Skip this if
You're building cost-sensitive applications, need real-time responses, or your task is routine enough to be handled well by Claude Sonnet 4.
No native image generation capability despite multimodal input support
Slower inference than Claude Sonnet 4 or Haiku 3.5, making real-time applications impractical
Balanced
Best for complex coding tasks, multi-step reasoning, and long-document analysis where gpt-4o-class quality is needed without paying for the absolute top tier.
Context
200k tokens
Pricing at $6 input / $30 output per million tokens is significantly higher than GPT-4o ($2.50/$10). Best accessed via Anthropic API or Amazon Bedrock. Claude 3.5 Sonnet (October 2024 version) supersedes the June 2024 release with improved performance.
Claude Opus 4.1 is Anthropic's top-tier flagship model, designed for the most demanding tasks requiring deep reasoning, nuanced writing, and complex multi-step analysis. It sits at the apex of the Claude 4 family, prioritizing capability over cost and speed.
Verdict
Anthropic's most capable model for demanding professional work, but its steep output cost demands justification.
Quality score
83%
Pricing
$15.00/1M in
$75.00/1M out
Speed
Deliberate
Best for high-stakes professional work where output quality justifies premium pricing — legal analysis, advanced research synthesis, and complex agentic workflows.
Context
200k tokens
Output pricing at $75/1M tokens is among the highest in the market — nearly 3x GPT-4.1's output cost. Batch API discounts may be available through Anthropic. Context window is 200K but very long prompts at Opus pricing can become extremely expensive quickly. Note: supersedes field lists Claude 4 Haiku, which is likely a data error — Opus 4.1 more logically succeeds Claude Opus 4.
FlagshipPremiumReasoningLong ContextAgentic
Best for
High-stakes professional work where output quality justifies premium pricing — legal analysis, advanced research synthesis, and complex agentic workflows.
Claude Opus 4.5 is Anthropic's flagship reasoning and writing model, offering deep analytical capability and nuanced instruction-following across a 200K context window. It sits at the top of the Claude 4 lineup, prioritizing quality over speed.
Verdict
Anthropic's most capable model delivers best-in-class reasoning and writing quality, but the steep output cost demands genuinely complex use cases to justify it.
Quality score
82%
Pricing
$5.00/1M in
$25.00/1M out
Speed
Deliberate
Best for complex multi-step reasoning, long-document analysis, and high-stakes writing tasks where output quality is non-negotiable.
Context
200k tokens
Pricing is $5 input / $25 output per 1M tokens — identical output cost to GPT-5.4 tier models. Note the 'Supersedes Claude 4 Haiku' label appears to be a data anomaly; Opus 4.5 is the top-tier model, not a Haiku replacement. Confirm model availability on the Anthropic API dashboard as Opus-tier models sometimes have access restrictions.
