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LLM Toolkit

Model comparison

GPT-4o vs Claude Sonnet 5

Verified pricing, context windows and real-workload costs for both models — computed from official provider rates as of 2026-08-26.

Cheaper input

Claude Sonnet 5

$2.00 /1M in

Cheaper output

GPT-4o

$10.00 /1M out

Bigger context

Claude Sonnet 5

1M tokens

Head to head

Spec GPT-4o Claude Sonnet 5
Input / 1M tokens $2.50 $2.00
Cached input / 1M $1.25 $0.2
Output / 1M tokens $10.00 $10.00
Context window 128K 1M
Provider OpenAI Anthropic
Price verified 2026-08-26 2026-08-26

Monthly cost at three real workloads

Workload GPT-4o Claude Sonnet 5 Winner
Side-project chatbot 30K req · 2,000 in / 500 out · 40% cached $270.00/mo $226.80/mo Claude Sonnet 5
Coding agent 500K req · 12,000 in / 1,500 out · 70% cached $17,250/mo $11,940/mo Claude Sonnet 5
Bulk extraction 2,000K req · 800 in / 120 out · 20% cached $6,000/mo $5,024/mo Claude Sonnet 5

Computed from list prices verified 2026-08-26. Cache savings blend normal and cached input rates by the hit rate; models without published cached rates use the base input price. Adjust every parameter yourself on the API Cost Calculator.

Pick GPT-4o if…

  • You prefer its $2.50 input rate for read-heavy workloads.
  • Your documents fit its 128K window comfortably.
  • You value its provider ecosystem and tooling.

Pick Claude Sonnet 5 if…

  • Output-heavy agent loops favor its $10.00 output rate.
  • You need 1M tokens of context for large codebases or document sets.
  • You want cheaper total spend at your exact volumes — verify with the calculator above.

Frequently asked questions

Is GPT-4o cheaper than Claude Sonnet 5?

Claude Sonnet 5 is cheaper on input at $2.00 per 1M tokens vs $2.50 — input pricing is 1.3× more expensive. On output, GPT-4o wins at $10.00 vs $10.00. At a balanced workload (100K requests, 2K in / 500 out), Claude Sonnet 5 runs $900.00/mo vs $1,000/mo — a 1.1× difference.

GPT-4o vs Claude Sonnet 5: which has the bigger context window?

Claude Sonnet 5, with 1M tokens vs 128K — 7.8× more room. Filling Claude Sonnet 5's window once costs $2.00 at list price, vs $0.320 for the smaller window.

Should I switch from GPT-4o to Claude Sonnet 5?

Switch if your bottleneck matches Claude Sonnet 5's strengths: the larger 1M context and its pricing profile. Stay on GPT-4o if your workload already fits its limits. Test both with your real token counts before committing.

Keep comparing

Or measure your real usage with the AI Token Counter and browse all rates on the Pricing Comparison.