AI model comparison
Claude Opus 4.5 vs Claude Opus 4.1
Pricing, context window, benchmarks, and features compared side by side. Or skip the guesswork and send one prompt to both.
Anthropic
Claude Opus 4.5
Claude Opus 4.5 is Anthropic’s frontier reasoning model optimized for complex software engineering, agentic workflows, and long-horizon computer use.
- Input / 1M
- $5
- Output / 1M
- $25
- Context
- 200K
Anthropic
Claude Opus 4.1
Claude Opus 4.1 is an updated version of Anthropic’s flagship model, offering improved performance in coding, reasoning, and agentic tasks.
- Input / 1M
- $15
- Output / 1M
- $75
- Context
- 200K
At a glance
Quick verdict
How the two models stack up on the things people ask about most.
Lower price
Claude Opus 4.5
3.0x cheaper for a typical chat
Higher intelligence score
Claude Opus 4.5
29.1 vs 22.8 on Artificial Analysis
Larger context window
Tie
200K vs 200K tokens
Newer release
Claude Opus 4.5
Released November 24, 2025
Benchmarks
Benchmark scores
Independent scores from Artificial Analysis. Higher is better.
Intelligence index
Coding index
Agentic index
Pricing
Claude Opus 4.5 vs Claude Opus 4.1 API pricing
Per-token API rates. Cheaper option highlighted.
| Metric | ||
|---|---|---|
| Input tokensPer 1M tokens | $5 | $15 |
| Output tokensPer 1M tokens | $25 | $75 |
| Cached input (read)Per 1M tokens | $0.50 | $1.50 |
| Cache writePer 1M tokens | $6.25 | $18.75 |
| Web searchPer request | $0.01 | $0.01 |
What it costs in practice
Estimated cost per 1,000 requests at standard rates. Coding and long-document figures also show the cost when the input is already cached.
Chat message
2K in, 500 out
Coding task
30K in, 4K out
Long document summary
150K in, 2K out
Specs
Context window and capabilities
How much each model can read, how much it can write, and what it accepts as input.
| Metric | ||
|---|---|---|
| Context window | 200K tokens | 200K tokens |
| Max output | 64K tokens | 32K tokens |
| Input types | File, Image, Text | File, Image, Text |
| Output types | Text | Text |
| Reasoning effort levels | Not available | Not available |
| Default reasoning effort | Not available | Not available |
| Release date | November 24, 2025 | August 5, 2025 |
Features
Supported features
API features available for each model.
| Metric | ||
|---|---|---|
| Tool calling | Supported | Supported |
| Structured outputs | Supported | Not supported |
| JSON mode | Supported | Not supported |
| Reasoning | Supported | Supported |
| Temperature | Supported | Supported |
| Stop sequences | Supported | Supported |
| Deterministic seed | Not supported | Not supported |
| Verbosity control | Supported | Not supported |
Our take
Claude Opus 4.5 is 3.0x cheaper for a typical chat. Claude Opus 4.5 scores higher on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index (29.1 vs 22.8). The right pick depends on your workload, so the quickest way to settle it is to send the same prompt to both and compare.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Is Claude Opus 4.5 or Claude Opus 4.1 cheaper?
Claude Opus 4.5 is cheaper for a typical chat (2K input tokens and 500 output tokens). Claude Opus 4.5 costs $5 per 1M input tokens and $25 per 1M output tokens, while Claude Opus 4.1 costs $15 per 1M input tokens and $75 per 1M output tokens.
Which has a bigger context window, Claude Opus 4.5 or Claude Opus 4.1?
Claude Opus 4.5 supports up to 200K tokens of context, compared with 200K for Claude Opus 4.1.
Is Claude Opus 4.5 smarter than Claude Opus 4.1?
On the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, Claude Opus 4.5 scores 29.1 and Claude Opus 4.1 scores 22.8, putting Claude Opus 4.5 ahead. Benchmarks don't capture everything, so the best test is running your own prompts through both.
Can I use Claude Opus 4.5 and Claude Opus 4.1 at the same time?
Yes. Shortcut Chat sends one prompt to multiple models at once, so you can see Claude Opus 4.5 and Claude Opus 4.1 answer side by side and keep the better response.
Why choose? Ask both.
Send one prompt to Claude Opus 4.5 and Claude Opus 4.1 at the same time. Compare the answers side by side and keep the best one.