Claude Opus 4.5 vs Magistral Small 1
Wins 5 of 5 areas
Coding · Reasoning · Facts · Long documents · Following instructions
Wins 0 of 5 areas
—
Claude Opus 4.5 is the stronger all-rounder.
Scores updated · 13 tests both models report · How we compare
Where each one wins
Tests won in each of the five areas where both have results. Each piece is one test, so a longer bar means more evidence; grey means the two scored within a point of each other.
- ReasoningHard problems that need careful thinking30Claude Opus 4.53 of 3 tests
- CodingWriting and fixing software20Claude Opus 4.52 of 2 tests
- FactsGetting facts right instead of making them up20Claude Opus 4.52 of 2 tests
- Long documentsFinding answers in very long texts10Claude Opus 4.51 of 1 test
- Following instructionsDoing exactly what it is asked10Claude Opus 4.51 of 1 test
Long documents and following instructions rest on a single test each.
What it costs
Prices per million tokens, roughly 750,000 words. The bars show the cost of a million tokens read plus a million written.
The biggest differences
The tests each model wins by the widest margin, up to three each. Scores are out of 100.
Where Claude Opus 4.5 pulls ahead
- Hard command-line tasks in a real terminalTerminal-Bench Hard+42.5points ahead
- Follows unfamiliar, precisely checkable instructionsIFBench+33.2points ahead
- Answers hard knowledge questions correctlyAA-Omniscience · Accuracy+28.6points ahead
Where Magistral Small 1 pulls ahead
No clear win on a test scored out of 100.
Every test, side by side
All 13 tests both models report. The winning score is in its model's colour; marks a score checked independently.
CodingClaude Opus 4.5
- Terminal-Bench HardClaude Opus 4.5 by 42.5474.5+42.5
- SciCodeClaude Opus 4.5 by 25.449.524.1+25.4
ReasoningClaude Opus 4.5
- GPQA DiamondClaude Opus 4.5 by 22.586.664.1+22.5
- Humanity's Last ExamClaude Opus 4.5 by 22.530.17.6+22.5
- CritPtClaude Opus 4.5 by 4.64.60+4.6
FactsClaude Opus 4.5
- AA-Omniscience · AccuracyClaude Opus 4.5 by 28.646.618+28.6
- AA-Omniscience · Non-hallucinationClaude Opus 4.5 by 15.13923.9+15.1
Following instructionsClaude Opus 4.5
- IFBenchClaude Opus 4.5 by 33.25824.8+33.2
Other results4 tests, not counted
Tests outside the eight areas. They are not counted above: several are summary scores built from other tests, or the same test under another name.
- τ²-Bench Telecom (AA run)Claude Opus 4.5 by 62.989.526.6+62.9
- AA-OmniscienceClaude Opus 4.5 by 58.414-44.4+58.4
- Artificial Analysis Coding IndexClaude Opus 4.5 by 36.747.811.1+36.7
- AA IntelligenceClaude Opus 4.5 by 20.929.18.2+20.9
Questions people ask
Which is better, Claude Opus 4.5 or Magistral Small 1?
Claude Opus 4.5 wins all five areas where both have results: coding, reasoning, facts, long documents and following instructions. Magistral Small 1 wins none.
Which is better for coding?
Claude Opus 4.5. It wins 2 of the 2 coding tests both models report; Magistral Small 1 wins none.
How do you compare the two?
We use the 13 benchmark tests both models have published scores on. The verdict counts the 9 tests in the eight capability areas, and a gap under one point (ten on rating-style scales) counts as a tie. The other 4 are listed but not counted, because several are summary scores or repeat a test. Each score is the one shown on the model's own page.