Claude Sonnet 4 vs GPT-4.5 Preview
Wins 3 of 4 areas
Coding · Reasoning · Following instructions
Wins 0 of 4 areas
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Claude Sonnet 4 is the stronger all-rounder.
Scores updated · 20 tests both models report · How we compare
Where each one wins
Tests won in each of the four 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.
Coding 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 Sonnet 4 pulls ahead
- Fixes real GitHub issues in Python projectsSWE-bench Verified+34.7points ahead
- Keeps track of context across a multi-turn chatMulti-Challenge+13.3points ahead
- Common-sense trick questionsSimpleBench+11points ahead
Where GPT-4.5 Preview pulls ahead
No clear win on a test scored out of 100.
Every test, side by side
All 20 tests both models report. The winning score is in its model's colour; marks a score checked independently.
ReasoningClaude Sonnet 4
- SimpleBenchClaude Sonnet 4 by 1145.534.5+11
- GPQA DiamondClaude Sonnet 4 by 8.277.769.5+8.2
Following instructionsClaude Sonnet 4
- Multi-ChallengeClaude Sonnet 4 by 13.357.143.8+13.3
Other results14 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.
- SimpleQAGPT-4.5 Preview by 46.615.962.5+46.6
- ARC-AGI-1Claude Sonnet 4 by 29.74010.3+29.7
- Aider-PolyglotClaude Sonnet 4 by 25.870.744.9+25.8
- AIR-Bench 2024Claude Sonnet 4 by 14.188.374.2+14.1
- TAU-bench (retail)Claude Sonnet 4 by 12.180.568.4+12.1
- TAU-bench (airline)Claude Sonnet 4 by 106050+10
- AA IntelligenceClaude Sonnet 4 by 9.318.99.6+9.3
- bbqClaude Sonnet 4 by 4.696.692+4.6
- HarmBenchClaude Sonnet 4 by 2.29895.8+2.2
- XSTestClaude Sonnet 4 by 1.596.695.1+1.5
- MMMLUClaude Sonnet 4 by 1.486.585.1+1.4
- IFEvaltie87.688.2tie
- anthropic_red_teamtie99.299.4tie
- simple_safety_teststie100100tie
Questions people ask
Which is better, Claude Sonnet 4 or GPT-4.5 Preview?
Claude Sonnet 4 wins three of the four areas where both have results: coding, reasoning and following instructions. GPT-4.5 Preview wins none. They are level on images and charts.
Which is better for coding?
Claude Sonnet 4. It wins the one coding test both models report.
How do you compare the two?
We use the 20 benchmark tests both models have published scores on. The verdict counts the 6 tests in the eight capability areas, and a gap under one point (ten on rating-style scales) counts as a tie. The other 14 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.