All vikis
007 First Light
AI
Aion 2
Ananta
ARC Raiders
ArcheAge Chronicles
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4
Chrono Odyssey
Civilization 3
Civilization 4
Claude
Crimson Desert
Deadlock
Diablo 4
Diablo 5
Enshrouded
Fable
Final Fantasy Resonance
Football Manager 27
Forza Horizon 6
God of War
Grand Theft Auto 6
Heroes of Might and Magic 3OpenAI API vs Claude API
The OpenAI API and Anthropic's Claude API charge the same for their top models ($10 input, $50 output per 1M tokens for GPT-6 Astra and Claude Fable 5.1) and their cheapest ($0.10 and $0.50 for GPT-6 Luna and Claude Haiku 5.5), as of Nov 6, 2026. Claude leads the dated coding and text leaderboards and charges no long-context premium; OpenAI is the only one of the two with image, speech and realtime voice models.
As of Nov 6, 2026, the OpenAI API and Anthropic's Claude API cost the same at both ends: the top models, GPT-6 Astra and Claude Fable 5.1, are $10 per 1M input tokens and $50 per 1M output tokens, and the cheapest, GPT-6 Luna and Claude Haiku 5.5, are $0.10 and $0.50. The differences are elsewhere. Claude ranks higher on the dated measured leaderboards for coding and text (LMArena, Artificial Analysis), bills its whole 1M-token context at the standard rate, and commits to keeping its current models until at least September 2027. OpenAI has cheaper capable mid-range models (GPT-6.1 Sol at $2 and $10, GPT-6.1 Terra at $1 and $5), more speed and price tiers, and the image, transcription and realtime voice models that Claude's API does not offer. Pick by task: the verdicts below say which wins where, and where nothing settles it yet. For OpenAI's platform alone, see OpenAI API; for the chat apps, see ChatGPT vs Claude.
Learn more: Claude API vs OpenAI API on claude.vi.ki
Quick facts
| Top model price | GPT-6 Astra $10 / $50; Claude Fable 5.1 $10 / $50, per 1M tokens, as of Nov 6, 2026 |
| Mid-price flagship | GPT-6.1 Sol $2 / $10; Claude Opus 5.5 $4 / $20, Anthropic's suggested default |
| Cheapest | GPT-6 Luna $0.10 / $0.50; Claude Haiku 5.5 $0.10 / $0.50 (prompts up to 100K tokens) |
| Context window | 1,050,000 vs 1M tokens; both 128K max output |
| Batch discount | 50% on both |
| Web search tool | $10 per 1,000 calls on both |
| Image, speech, realtime voice | OpenAI only |
Prices side by side
| Model tier | OpenAI (in / cached / out) | Claude (in / cache hit / out) |
|---|---|---|
| Top | GPT-6 Astra $10.00 / $1.00 / $50.00 | Fable 5.1 $10.00 / $0.25 / $50.00 |
| Upper middle | GPT-6.1 Sol $2.00 / $0.10 / $10.00 | Opus 5.5 $4.00 / $0.20 / $20.00 |
| Middle | GPT-6.1 Terra $1.00 / $0.05 / $5.00 | Sonnet 5.5 $2.00 / $0.10 / $10.00 |
| Cheapest | GPT-6 Luna $0.10 / $0.01 / $0.50 | Haiku 5.5 $0.10 / $0.01 / $0.50 |
Sources: OpenAI API pricing and Claude API pricing, per 1M tokens, standard tier, short prompts, read Nov 6, 2026. The tiers pair models by price and maker positioning, not by measured quality.
Caching. Both charge 1.25x input to write a short-lived cache (OpenAI's lasts 30 minutes, Claude's 5). For a long-lived cache OpenAI charges 2.5x input for 12 hours and Claude 2x for 1 hour (OpenAI, Anthropic). Cache reads run 0.05x to 0.1x input on OpenAI's GPT-6 models; on Claude, 0.025x on Fable 5.1, 0.05x on Opus 5.5 and Sonnet 5.5, and 0.1x on Haiku 5.5. Claude Fable 5.1's cache hits at $0.25 per 1M tokens are a quarter of Astra's $1.00.
Long prompts. This is the biggest price difference. OpenAI charges higher rates for prompts over 272K input tokens: GPT-6 Astra goes to $20 input and $75 output. Anthropic bills the full 1M-token context at standard rates on Claude 4.6 and later, except Haiku 5.5, which costs $0.50 and $2.50 for prompts over 100,000 tokens (Claude pricing).
Speed tiers. OpenAI offers Flex (half price, slower), Fast (2x) and Ultrafast (6x, Astra and Sol only) (pricing). Anthropic offers fast mode on Opus 5.5 at $8 and $40, also 2x, not combinable with its Batch API.
Surcharges and tools. Both add 10% for data kept in one region (OpenAI, Anthropic). Web search costs $10 per 1,000 searches on both. Claude's code execution is free alongside its web search or web fetch tools, and otherwise includes 1,550 free hours a month, then $0.05 per hour; OpenAI's containers start at $0.03 per 20-minute session.
Measured quality
The makers' own benchmark tables disagree with each other, so this page leans on measured, dated leaderboards:
| Leaderboard (date) | Best Claude | Best OpenAI |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena WebDev (Oct 27, 2026) | Opus 5.5 (Max), 1st, 1810 | GPT-6 Astra (Max), 2nd, 1773 |
| LMArena Text (Oct 27, 2026) | Opus 5.5 (High), 3rd, 1509 | GPT-5.6 Sol (xHigh), 22nd, 1485 |
| LMArena Vision (Oct 19, 2026) | Fable 5 (High), 1st, 1309 | GPT-6.1 Sol (Max), 9th, 1294 |
| Arena agents (read Nov 6, 2026) | Opus 5.5 (Max), 1st, 20.14% | GPT-6 Astra (Max), 4th, 14.70% |
| Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index v5 (read Nov 6, 2026) | Opus 5.5 (max), 59 | GPT-6 Astra (max), 57 |
Google's Gemini 4 Carbon leads the Text Arena and the Artificial Analysis index above both (LMArena, Artificial Analysis).
Cost per task tells a different story. Artificial Analysis measured the cost of running its index at $10.04 for Claude Opus 5.5 (max), $6.24 for GPT-6 Astra (max) and $1.27 for GPT-6.1 Sol (max), with GPT-6.1 Sol scoring 55 against Opus 5.5's 59. Per point of that index, OpenAI's mid-range models are far cheaper.
The makers' own tables each show the other side winning something. In Anthropic's Opus 5.5 launch table, Opus 5.5 leads Terminal-Bench 4.0 (66.4% vs 57.9%) and Humanity's Last Exam with tools, while GPT-6 Astra leads AutomationBench (41.4% vs 40.0%) and Terminal-Bench-Science (64.6% vs 58.7%) (Anthropic, Sep 22, 2026). OpenAI's Astra table claims leads on ARC-AGI-3 and FrontierMath Tier 4, comparing against Claude Fable 5.1 and Opus 5 rather than Opus 5.5 (OpenAI, Sep 3, 2026). These are the makers' numbers, not independent tests. For more, see OpenAI Benchmarks.
Verdict per task
| Task | OpenAI API | Claude API | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coding and web apps | GPT-6 Astra 2nd on WebDev | Opus 5.5 1st on WebDev | Claude, on the Oct 27, 2026 leaderboard |
| Agents | Agents API, Agents SDK, Programmatic Tool Calling | Managed Agents ($0.08 per session-hour) | Claude leads the Arena agents board; OpenAI has more hosted building blocks |
| Writing and chat | Best OpenAI 22nd on Text Arena | Opus 5.5 3rd | Claude |
| Image understanding | GPT-6.1 Sol 9th on Vision | Fable 5 1st | Claude |
| Image generation | GPT Image models | None (diagrams and SVG only) | OpenAI; Claude's API has no image model |
| Speech and voice | Realtime API, GPT-Live, GPT-Transcribe | No speech models on its pricing page | OpenAI |
| Cheap high-volume work | GPT-6 Luna $0.10 / $0.50 | Haiku 5.5 $0.10 / $0.50 | No reliable quality comparison yet at the low end; Luna scored 28 on Artificial Analysis, Haiku 5.5 was not in the rows read |
| Mid-price quality | GPT-6.1 Sol $2 / $10, index 55 | Sonnet 5.5 $2 / $10, index 55 | A tie on the Artificial Analysis index at the same price |
| Long documents (over 272K tokens) | Long-context surcharge | Standard price to 1M | Claude, on price |
| Latency-sensitive apps | Fast and Ultrafast tiers | Fast mode on Opus 5.5 | OpenAI has more options; no independent latency test was read |
| Model stability | Many 2026 and 2027 shutdowns | Retirement not before Sep 2027 for current models | Claude |
| Fine-tuning | Winding down | Not checked for this page | Neither is a good bet for new tuning work |
Platforms, SDKs and limits
SDKs. OpenAI ships official SDKs for Python, JavaScript, .NET and Ruby, with Java and Go in beta (OpenAI quickstart), plus the open-source Agents SDK. Anthropic's Claude Code documentation lists an Agent SDK among its surfaces (Claude Code docs); Anthropic's full SDK list was not checked for this page.
Clouds. OpenAI models are sold through Microsoft Azure and Amazon Bedrock, billed by those clouds (OpenAI pricing). Claude runs on Anthropic's own API, Claude Platform on AWS, Google Cloud, Microsoft Foundry and Amazon Bedrock (Claude pricing).
Rate limit tiers. OpenAI has Free, Build, Launch and Grow, reached at $5, $100 and $500 of total purchases (OpenAI rate limits); see API Rate Limits. Anthropic lists Start, Build and Scale tiers (Claude pricing).
Churn. OpenAI retired the Assistants API (Aug 26, 2026), the Sora video API (Sep 24, 2026), and is closing Agent Builder, Evals and reusable prompts on Nov 30, 2026 (deprecations). Teams that value a stable surface should weigh that.
When Claude's API is the better pick
- Coding agents and web app generation, where Claude Opus 5.5 leads the dated WebDev and agent leaderboards.
- Prompts longer than 272K tokens, which cost more on OpenAI.
- Products that need models to stay available until at least Sep 2027.
- Heavy reuse of a large cached prompt on the top model, where Fable 5.1's cache hits cost a quarter of Astra's.
When the OpenAI API is the better pick
- Anything with images, transcription or live voice, which the Claude API does not offer.
- Cost-sensitive work at good quality: GPT-6.1 Sol and Terra are cheaper per measured index point than Opus 5.5.
- Flexible speed and price: Flex at half price for slow calls, or Ultrafast when latency matters most.
- A hosted agent harness (the Agents API) or a ready chat UI (ChatKit).
What testers found
In an Aug 27, 2026 video comparing OpenAI's and Anthropic's coding tools, Tim Ruscica of Tech With Tim warned that each company's launch charts show its own model winning, since each picks the benchmarks it leads ("marking their own homework"). On the independent coding benchmark he trusted, refreshed in late July 2026 with a score for code quality, he read Claude Fable 5, Claude Opus 5 and GPT-5.6 in "a dead three way tie" at 34.7%.
On API prices at the time he found the flagships "basically neck and neck", GPT-5.6 Sol at $5 input and $30 output per 1M tokens against Claude Opus 5 at $5 and $25, and singled out GPT-5.6 Luna at $0.20 and $1.20, with nothing in Anthropic's lineup near it. Those were the GPT-5.6 and Claude 5 prices; today's are in the tables above.
In his own timed tasks, OpenAI's models did the same work at the same correctness "much faster", while Opus 5 went deeper, with more tests and its own verification tool. That is one tester's run, beside the measured leaderboards above.
Learn more: Claude API vs OpenAI API on claude.vi.ki
Frequently asked questions
Is the Claude API cheaper than the OpenAI API? At the top and bottom they cost the same as of Nov 6, 2026: GPT-6 Astra and Claude Fable 5.1 are $10 and $50 per 1M tokens, GPT-6 Luna and Claude Haiku 5.5 $0.10 and $0.50. In the middle OpenAI is cheaper, with GPT-6.1 Sol at $2 and $10 against Claude Opus 5.5 at $4 and $20, but Claude charges no premium for prompts over 272K tokens.
Which is better for coding, the OpenAI API or the Claude API? On LMArena's WebDev leaderboard of Oct 27, 2026, Claude Opus 5.5 ranks first and GPT-6 Astra second, so Claude leads on that measured test; GPT-6 Astra leads Terminal-Bench-Science in Anthropic's own table.
Does the Claude API generate images like the OpenAI API? No. Anthropic says Claude does not generate photos or illustrations the way image tools do; it makes diagrams, charts and SVG. OpenAI's API has the GPT Image models for that.
Do both APIs have a batch discount? Yes. Both the OpenAI Batch API and Anthropic's Batch API take 50% off input and output tokens; OpenAI also offers Flex processing at the same discount for single calls.
Which has the bigger context window, GPT-6 or Claude? They are about the same: OpenAI's GPT-6 models take 1,050,000 tokens and current Claude models 1M, both with 128K of output. Claude bills the whole window at the standard rate, while OpenAI charges more above 272K input tokens.
Sources
- Pricing, OpenAI, read Nov 6, 2026
- Prompt caching, OpenAI, read Nov 6, 2026
- Batch API, OpenAI, read Nov 6, 2026
- GPT-6 Astra model page, OpenAI, read Nov 6, 2026
- Models, OpenAI, read Nov 6, 2026
- Developer quickstart, OpenAI, read Nov 6, 2026
- Rate limits, OpenAI, read Nov 6, 2026
- Deprecations, OpenAI, read Nov 6, 2026
- Introducing GPT-6 Astra, OpenAI, Sep 3, 2026
- Pricing, Anthropic, read Nov 6, 2026
- Models overview, Anthropic, read Nov 6, 2026
- Claude Opus 5.5, Anthropic, Sep 22, 2026
- Can Claude produce images?, Anthropic Help Center, read Nov 6, 2026
- Claude Code overview, Anthropic, read Nov 6, 2026
- Text Arena leaderboard, LMArena, updated Oct 27, 2026
- WebDev leaderboard, LMArena, updated Oct 27, 2026
- Vision leaderboard, LMArena, updated Oct 19, 2026
- Leaderboard overview, LMArena, read Nov 6, 2026
- Leaderboards: models, Artificial Analysis, read Nov 6, 2026
- Codex vs Claude - an Honest Comparison, Tech With Tim, Aug 27, 2026 (video)
Moments
Codex vs Claude - an Honest Comparison
Tech With Tim
- In an Aug 27, 2026 video comparing OpenAI's and Anthropic's coding tools, Tim Ruscica of Tech With Tim warned that…
- On API prices at the time he found the flagships "basically neck and neck", GPT-5.6 Sol at $5 input and $30 output per…
- In his own timed tasks, OpenAI's models did the same work at the same correctness "much faster", while Opus 5 went…
Related
-
ChatGPT Atlas vs Other AI BrowsersChatGPT Atlas, OpenAI's AI browser, stopped working on Aug 9, 2026; ChatGPT's browsing now lives in the desktop app's built-in browser and the ChatGPT browser extension, and the AI browsers still sold are Perplexity's Comet (free), Gemini in Chrome, Edge with Copilot, Dia and Claude in Chrome.
-
-
ChatGPT vs CopilotMicrosoft Copilot is the better buy if you want Word, Excel and PowerPoint themselves, since Microsoft 365 Premium bundles the Office apps, 2 TB of storage for up to six people and Copilot for $19.99 a month. ChatGPT Plus costs $20 a month and is the stronger AI on its own: Microsoft does not say which models consumer Copilot uses, while ChatGPT's models rank on public leaderboards.
- ChatGPT vs DeepSeekDeepSeek publishes its current models as open weights under the MIT license and sells a cheap API, but it stores data in China; ChatGPT's top models score higher on independent tests as of Nov 6, 2026 and offer images, voice and a training opt-out setting. For the cheapest capable API model the two are close, and OpenAI's GPT-6 Luna even undercuts DeepSeek's peak-hour price.
-
ChatGPT vs GeminiGoogle's Gemini ranks above ChatGPT on the public chat leaderboards as of Nov 6, 2026, costs about the same at $19.99 a month for Google AI Pro, makes video and comes with storage and Google app features. ChatGPT is ahead on coding agents and gives more on its free plan, and the two are close on most everyday tasks.
-
ChatGPT vs GrokChatGPT scores well above Grok on independent reasoning and coding leaderboards as of Nov 6, 2026, and lets you opt out of training. Grok, sold in The X Subscription from $8 a month with Cursor and X Premium included, makes video, which ChatGPT no longer does, and won a Tom's Guide test of everyday questions.
-
ChatGPT vs PerplexityPerplexity is a search-first answer engine with a free AI browser, Comet, while ChatGPT is a general assistant that also searches, makes images and writes code. ChatGPT's free plan is more generous as of Nov 6, 2026, and no independent test has measured which one answers search questions better.
-
Codex vs AntigravityOpenAI Codex and Google Antigravity are both agentic coding tools with an app, an IDE side and a command line; as of Nov 6, 2026 Antigravity is free for individuals and its Google AI Pro tier runs Gemini 4 Argon and Claude Opus 5.5, while Codex runs OpenAI's GPT-6 models and adds cloud tasks and GitHub reviews; Gemini CLI moved individual users to the Antigravity CLI on Jun 18, 2026.
See also
-
OpenAI APIThe OpenAI API lets programs call OpenAI's models (GPT-6 Astra, GPT-6.1 Sol, GPT-6.1 Terra, GPT-6 Luna, image, voice and transcription models) with an API key, billed per token. New projects use the Responses API through the official SDKs, with documentation at developers.openai.com.
-
ChatGPT vs ClaudeChatGPT and Claude cost the same $20 a month at their main paid tier, but they win at different tasks. Claude leads the public leaderboards for writing and coding as of Nov 6, 2026, while ChatGPT makes images, has the more generous free plan and offers cheaper and pricier plans that Claude lacks.
-
OpenAI BenchmarksAs of Nov 6, 2026, no OpenAI model leads the main independent leaderboards: GPT-6 Astra scores 57 on Artificial Analysis's index behind Gemini 4 Carbon (60) and Claude Opus 5.5 (59), ranks 2nd on LMArena WebDev and 37th on LMArena Text, while OpenAI's own tables show it ahead on many agent, math and cyber tests.
-
-
- API Rate LimitsOpenAI API rate limits depend on your usage tier (Free, Build, Launch or Grow), which rises automatically as total credit purchases reach $5, $100 and $500. On the Build tier GPT-6 Astra allows 5,000 requests and 1,000,000 tokens a minute, and going over returns HTTP 429.