Published 2026-04-29 · reference prices, verify before budgeting
Both are excellent. The honest answer to "which one?" is: it depends on the task — and you can mix them. Here's how to decide.
On the small models, OpenAI's GPT-4o mini ($0.15/$0.60 per 1M) is cheaper than Claude Haiku ($0.80/$4). On the mid tier, GPT-4o ($2.50/$10) undercuts Claude Sonnet ($3/$15) slightly. Claude Opus ($15/$75) is the priciest mainstream model anywhere — reserve it for genuinely hard work.
Claude is widely liked for long-context tasks, careful instruction-following and writing tone. OpenAI has the broadest ecosystem, vision, the o-series for reasoning, and the cheapest small model. For most CRUD-style AI features (classify, extract, summarise), GPT-4o mini wins on cost; for nuanced long-document work, Claude often feels better.
Don't agonise. Write an eval of 20–50 real examples, run it on the cheapest model from each, and pick the one that passes at the lowest price. Many teams route: cheap model by default, escalate to a frontier model only when confidence is low. Run your token numbers through the cost calculator first — the bill difference between tiers is far bigger than between vendors.
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