Quick Verdict — Which Wins?
Cheapest per token (fast tier)
GPT-4.1 nano ($0.10/$0.40/M) and GPT-4o mini ($0.15/$0.60/M) significantly undercut Claude Haiku 4.5 ($0.80/$4/M) for simple, high-volume tasks.
Long-context workloads with caching
Claude's cache reads at ~10% of input price vs OpenAI's 50%. For workloads with large repeated system prompts, Claude Sonnet 4.6 is often cheaper overall despite higher per-token rates.
Mid-tier smart models
Claude Sonnet 4.6 ($3/$15/M) vs GPT-4.1 ($2/$8/M) vs GPT-4o ($2.50/$10/M) are all within 2× of each other. Quality differences often matter more than price at this tier.
Top-tier reasoning models
Claude Opus 4.7 ($15/$75/M) and OpenAI o1 ($15/$60/M) are priced similarly but serve different use cases — Opus for long-form reasoning, o1 for step-by-step problem solving.
Full Pricing Table — Claude vs GPT-4 (per million tokens)
| Model | Provider | Input /M | Output /M | Cache Read /M | Cache Discount | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Haiku 4.5fast | Anthropic | $0.80 | $4.00 | $0.08 | 90% off | Classification, extraction, sub-tasks |
| GPT-4o minifast | OpenAI | $0.15 | $0.60 | $0.075 | 50% off | Simple tasks, high-volume cheaply |
| GPT-4.1 minifast | OpenAI | $0.40 | $1.60 | $0.20 | 50% off | More capable than 4o mini, still cheap |
| GPT-4.1 nanofast | OpenAI | $0.10 | $0.40 | $0.05 | 50% off | Absolute lowest cost API tokens |
| Sonnet 4.6smart | Anthropic | $3.00 | $15.00 | $0.30 | 90% off | Coding, analysis, Claude Code default |
| GPT-4osmart | OpenAI | $2.50 | $10.00 | $1.25 | 50% off | General tasks, multimodal |
| GPT-4.1smart | OpenAI | $2.00 | $8.00 | $1.00 | 50% off | Instruction following, agents |
| Opus 4.7best | Anthropic | $15.00 | $75.00 | $1.50 | 90% off | Complex reasoning, research, writing |
| o1best | OpenAI | $15.00 | $60.00 | $7.50 | 50% off | Step-by-step problem solving, STEM |
The Caching Advantage — Where Claude Often Wins
Raw per-token prices don't tell the whole story. Prompt caching is where Claude can flip a seemingly unfavorable pricing position into a real-world advantage.
Both Anthropic and OpenAI offer prompt caching — but the discounts differ sharply:
| Provider | Cache Read Price | Discount vs Standard | Breakeven vs OpenAI |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anthropic (Claude) | ~10% of input price | 90% off | After ~1 cache hit, Sonnet 4.6 beats GPT-4.1 |
| OpenAI | ~50% of input price | 50% off | — |
Example: You have a 50,000-token system prompt sent on every API call (common in agentic coding tools).
- GPT-4.1 cached: 50,000 × $1.00/M = $0.050 per call
- Claude Sonnet 4.6 cached: 50,000 × $0.30/M = $0.015 per call
- Over 10,000 calls: Claude saves $350 on the input alone
Cost Calculator — Compare Claude vs GPT-4 for Your Usage
Compare API costs for your workload
When to Choose Claude Over GPT-4
Choose Claude Sonnet 4.6 when:
- You're building agentic coding tools (Claude Code, Claude-powered IDEs)
- Your prompts include large repeated context — system prompts, document chunks, conversation history
- You need long output generation — Claude's 200K context window and fast generation help here
- You want strong instruction following for multi-step tasks
Choose GPT-4.1 / GPT-4o when:
- You need the cheapest possible cost per token (GPT-4.1 nano at $0.10/M input)
- You're building image/vision tasks — GPT-4o has strong multimodal support
- Your prompts are short and varied (caching doesn't help, raw price wins)
- You want a single API for text, image, audio, and code
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Claude cheaper than GPT-4?
It depends on the tier and your usage pattern. At the fast/cheap tier, GPT-4o mini ($0.15/$0.60/M) and GPT-4.1 nano ($0.10/$0.40/M) are significantly cheaper than Claude Haiku 4.5 ($0.80/$4/M). At the mid-tier (Sonnet vs GPT-4.1/4o), prices are within 2× of each other. For workloads with long cached context, Claude often comes out cheaper despite higher list prices, due to its 90% cache discount vs OpenAI's 50%.
How does Claude Sonnet 4.6 compare to GPT-4o in price?
Claude Sonnet 4.6 costs $3/M input and $15/M output. GPT-4o costs $2.50/M input and $10/M output. At raw rates, GPT-4o is about 20% cheaper on input and 33% cheaper on output. However, Claude's cache reads are $0.30/M vs GPT-4o's $1.25/M — so for any workload where more than ~40% of input tokens are cached, Claude's effective cost is lower.
What is GPT-4.1 pricing vs Claude Sonnet 4.6?
GPT-4.1 costs $2/M input and $8/M output. Claude Sonnet 4.6 costs $3/M input and $15/M output. GPT-4.1 is cheaper per token on both input and output. But Claude Sonnet 4.6 with cache hits ($0.30/M) is 3× cheaper than GPT-4.1 cached ($1.00/M) on repeated context. If your workload has a large system prompt sent every call, Claude's total cost is often lower.
Does GPT-4 support prompt caching like Claude?
Yes, but with a smaller discount. OpenAI's automatic prompt caching (introduced late 2024) bills cached input tokens at 50% of standard price. Anthropic's prompt caching is more aggressive at ~10% of standard input price. For very long repeated contexts, Claude's cache discount is 5× larger, which meaningfully changes total cost comparisons for production workloads.
Which is the cheapest LLM API overall?
For absolute lowest cost: GPT-4.1 nano ($0.10/$0.40/M) or GPT-4o mini ($0.15/$0.60/M). Both are significantly cheaper than any Claude model at list rates. However, for tasks with heavy caching, Claude Haiku 4.5 cache reads ($0.08/M) can match or beat them. See our cheapest LLM API comparison for a full breakdown including Gemini, Mistral, and others.
How much does Claude Code cost per month compared to using Cursor/GPT-4?
Claude Code ($100/month Max plan) gives unlimited use of Claude Sonnet 4.6 with no per-token charges. Cursor Pro ($20/month) gives ~500 fast requests/month then throttles. On raw API usage, a typical Claude Code session might cost $0.05–0.20 in API tokens (thanks to caching) — so at 100+ sessions/month the subscription plan wins. For light use, Cursor's $20/month may be cheaper. Use the Claude Code Cost Calculator to estimate from your actual session logs.
Calculate Your Actual Claude Code API Cost
Paste your Claude Code session log to get a precise cost breakdown — by model, by tool, by hour. See your cache savings and compare to GPT-4 costs.
Open Cost Calculator →