Claude Opus 4.5 vs o4-mini
Wins 4 of 8 areas
Coding · Reasoning · Facts · Long documents
Wins 2 of 8 areas
Images and charts · Math
Claude Opus 4.5 wins more areas, narrowly.o4-mini is cheaper and better at images and charts.
Scores updated · 34 tests both models report · How we compare
Where each one wins
Tests won in each of the eight areas we test. 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 thinking40Claude Opus 4.54 of 4 tests
- FactsGetting facts right instead of making them up40Claude Opus 4.54 of 4 tests
- CodingWriting and fixing software30Claude Opus 4.53 of 3 tests
- Long documentsFinding answers in very long texts10Claude Opus 4.51 of 1 test
- Images and chartsUnderstanding pictures, charts and video12o4-mini2 of 4 tests · 1 tie
- MathCompetition and research-level math01o4-mini1 of 2 tests · 1 tie
- AgentsCarrying out multi-step tasks on its own11Even1 each
- Following instructionsDoing exactly what it is asked11Even1 each
Long documents rests on a single test.
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.
o4-mini costs 82% less for the same work.
The biggest differences
The three tests each model wins by the widest margin. Scores are out of 100.
Where Claude Opus 4.5 pulls ahead
- Hard command-line tasks in a real terminalTerminal-Bench Hard+31.8points ahead
- Abstract visual puzzles that people can solveARC-AGI-2+31.5points ahead
- Short factual questions, answered correctlySimpleQA Verified+26.9points ahead
Where o4-mini pulls ahead
- Finds hard-to-locate facts by browsing the webBrowseComp+14.5points ahead
- Follows unfamiliar, precisely checkable instructionsIFBench+10.7points ahead
- Reasoning about charts from research papersCharXiv (RQ)+4.8points ahead
Every test, side by side
All 34 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 31.84715.2+31.8
- SWE-bench VerifiedClaude Opus 4.5 by 12.880.968.1+12.8
- SciCodeClaude Opus 4.5 by 349.546.5+3
AgentsEven
- GDPValClaude Opus 4.5 by 21.947.325.4+21.9
- BrowseCompo4-mini by 14.53751.5+14.5
ReasoningClaude Opus 4.5
- ARC-AGI-2Claude Opus 4.5 by 31.537.66.1+31.5
- Humanity's Last ExamClaude Opus 4.5 by 13.630.116.5+13.6
- GPQA DiamondClaude Opus 4.5 by 8.286.678.4+8.2
- CritPtClaude Opus 4.5 by 44.60.6+4
FactsClaude Opus 4.5
- SimpleQA VerifiedClaude Opus 4.5 by 26.945.718.8+26.9
- AA-Omniscience · AccuracyClaude Opus 4.5 by 21.846.624.8+21.8
- AA-Omniscience · Non-hallucinationClaude Opus 4.5 by 19.53919.5+19.5
- Vectara HHEM hallucination ratelower is betterClaude Opus 4.5 by 7.710.918.6+7.7
Images and chartso4-mini
- CharXiv (RQ)o4-mini by 4.867.272+4.8
- MMMU-ProClaude Opus 4.5 by 4.87469.2+4.8
- MathVistao4-mini by 4.180.284.3+4.1
- MMMUtie80.781.6tie
Matho4-mini
- FrontierMath Tiers 1-3 (v2)o4-mini by 1.734.436.1+1.7
- FrontierMath Tier 4tie4.94.9tie
Following instructionsEven
- Multi-ChallengeClaude Opus 4.5 by 165943+16
- IFBencho4-mini by 10.75868.7+10.7
Other results12 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.
- AA-OmniscienceClaude Opus 4.5 by 49.714-35.7+49.7
- τ²-Bench Telecom (AA run)Claude Opus 4.5 by 33.989.555.6+33.9
- AA Agentic IndexClaude Opus 4.5 by 23.559.636.1+23.5
- ARC-AGI-1Claude Opus 4.5 by 23.38258.7+23.3
- Artificial Analysis Coding IndexClaude Opus 4.5 by 22.247.825.6+22.2
- AA IntelligenceClaude Opus 4.5 by 12.429.116.7+12.4
- LiveCodeBenchClaude Opus 4.5 by 9.68777.4+9.6
- vectara_factual_consistencyClaude Opus 4.5 by 7.789.181.4+7.7
- frontiermath_tier_4_v1o4-mini by 2.14.26.3+2.1
- vectara_avg_summary_lengtho4-mini by 13.2 rating points114.5127.7+13.2 rating
- vectara_answer_ratetie98.799.2tie
- AIME 2025tie92.892.7tie
Questions people ask
Which is better, Claude Opus 4.5 or o4-mini?
Claude Opus 4.5 wins four of the eight areas we test: coding, reasoning, facts and long documents. o4-mini wins images and charts and math, and costs 82% less. They are level on agents and following instructions.
Which is better for coding?
Claude Opus 4.5. It wins 3 of the 3 coding tests both models report; o4-mini wins none.
Which is cheaper?
Claude Opus 4.5 costs $5.00 per million input tokens and $25.00 per million output tokens; o4-mini costs $1.10 and $4.40. That makes o4-mini about 82% cheaper for the same work.
How do you compare the two?
We use the 34 benchmark tests both models have published scores on. The verdict counts the 22 tests in the eight capability areas, and a gap under one point (ten on rating-style scales) counts as a tie. The other 12 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.