Claude Opus 4.8 vs Muse Spark
Wins 3 of 7 areas
Coding · Agents · Reasoning
Wins 1 of 7 areas
Following instructions
Claude Opus 4.8 wins more areas, narrowly.Muse Spark is better at following instructions.
Scores updated · 31 tests both models report · How we compare
Where each one wins
Tests won in each of the seven 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.
- CodingWriting and fixing software60Claude Opus 4.86 of 6 tests
- ReasoningHard problems that need careful thinking40Claude Opus 4.84 of 4 tests
- AgentsCarrying out multi-step tasks on its own20Claude Opus 4.82 of 2 tests
- Following instructionsDoing exactly what it is asked01Muse Spark1 of 1 test
- FactsGetting facts right instead of making them up11Even1 each · 1 tie
- Images and chartsUnderstanding pictures, charts and video11Even1 each
- Long documentsFinding answers in very long texts00Even0 each · 1 tie
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 4.8 pulls ahead
- Avoids making up answers it doesn't knowAA-Omniscience · Non-hallucination+44.9points ahead
- Abstract visual puzzles that people can solveARC-AGI-2+29.6points ahead
- Real work tasks from 44 professionsGDPVal+22.7points ahead
Where Muse Spark pulls ahead
- Follows unfamiliar, precisely checkable instructionsIFBench+13.7points ahead
- Short factual questions, answered correctlySimpleQA Verified+13.3points ahead
Every test, side by side
All 31 tests both models report. The winning score is in its model's colour; marks a score checked independently.
CodingClaude Opus 4.8
- Terminal-Bench 2.1Claude Opus 4.8 by 22.484.662.2+22.4
- SWE-bench ProClaude Opus 4.8 by 16.869.252.4+16.8
- Terminal-Bench HardClaude Opus 4.8 by 12.858.345.5+12.8
- SWE-bench VerifiedClaude Opus 4.8 by 11.288.677.4+11.2
- SciCodeClaude Opus 4.8 by 2.954.451.5+2.9
- LMArena · WebDevClaude Opus 4.8 by 16 rating points15561540+16 rating
AgentsClaude Opus 4.8
- GDPValClaude Opus 4.8 by 22.747.825.1+22.7
- τ-Bench V3 · BankingClaude Opus 4.8 by 14.634.219.6+14.6
ReasoningClaude Opus 4.8
- ARC-AGI-2Claude Opus 4.8 by 29.672.142.5+29.6
- CritPtClaude Opus 4.8 by 9.620.911.3+9.6
- Humanity's Last ExamClaude Opus 4.8 by 848.740.7+8
- GPQA DiamondClaude Opus 4.8 by 3.69288.4+3.6
FactsEven
- AA-Omniscience · Non-hallucinationClaude Opus 4.8 by 44.960.715.8+44.9
- SimpleQA VerifiedMuse Spark by 13.35366.3+13.3
- AA-Omniscience · Accuracytie48.849.6tie
Images and chartsEven
- CharXiv (RQ)Claude Opus 4.8 by 3.589.986.4+3.5
- LMArena · VisionMuse Spark by 10 rating points12951305+10 rating
Following instructionsMuse Spark
- IFBenchMuse Spark by 13.762.275.9+13.7
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.
- CyberGymClaude Opus 4.8 by 35.378.843.5+35.3
- HLE CalibrationMuse Spark by 23.826.550.3+23.8
- AA-OmniscienceClaude Opus 4.8 by 21.628.87.2+21.6
- DeepSearchQA (F1)Claude Opus 4.8 by 18.393.174.8+18.3
- frontiermath_tier_4_v1Claude Opus 4.8 by 16.731.314.6+16.7
- Artificial Analysis Coding IndexClaude Opus 4.8 by 15.774.358.6+15.7
- Terminal-Bench 2.0Claude Opus 4.8 by 15.674.659+15.6
- AA Agentic IndexClaude Opus 4.8 by 13.942.628.7+13.9
- AA IntelligenceClaude Opus 4.8 by 10.541.831.3+10.5
- OR-Bench (FRR)Muse Spark by 4.73.38+4.7
- ScreenSpot-Pro (No tools)Claude Opus 4.8 by 3.887.984.1+3.8
- τ²-Bench Telecom (AA run)Claude Opus 4.8 by 2.994.491.5+2.9
Questions people ask
Which is better, Claude Opus 4.8 or Muse Spark?
Claude Opus 4.8 wins three of the seven areas where both have results: coding, agents and reasoning. Muse Spark wins following instructions. They are level on facts, images and charts and long documents.
Which is better for coding?
Claude Opus 4.8. It wins 6 of the 6 coding tests both models report; Muse Spark wins none.
How do you compare the two?
We use the 31 benchmark tests both models have published scores on. The verdict counts the 19 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.