Claude 4.8 Opus vs GPT-5.5: pricing & cost comparison
Both models charge $5 per million input tokens. On output, Claude 4.8 Opus is 17% cheaper ($25 vs $30) — and since output is usually the dominant cost driver, that gap matters more than it looks.
Side by side
| Claude 4.8 Opus | GPT-5.5 | |
|---|---|---|
| Input / 1M tokens | $5 | $5 |
| Output / 1M tokens | $25 | $30 |
| Context window | 1,000,000 | 1,050,000 |
| Token-count accuracy | ±2% | exact |
| Cost — 10,000 input + 2,000 output tokens | $0.1 | $0.11 |
What a real request costs
Take a representative turn — 10,000 input + 2,000 output tokens. Claude 4.8 Opus comes to $0.1, GPT-5.5 to $0.11. Across 100,000 requests that's a $1000 swing in favour of Claude 4.8 Opus. To run the numbers on your actual prompt, paste it into the calculator and toggle Compare across all models.
Close call — decide on output cost
Claude 4.8 Opus and GPT-5.5 are close enough on price that the tie-breakers matter more than the headline rate. Output tokens are usually the dominant cost driver, so weigh $25 vs $30 per 1M output first, then context window — GPT-5.5 carries the larger one at 1,050,000 tokens. They're different vendors, so factor in a small tokenizer calibration buffer on whichever side isn't exact.
See the full breakdown on the dedicated pages for Claude 4.8 Opus and GPT-5.5.
FAQ
- Is Claude 4.8 Opus or GPT-5.5 cheaper?
- For a typical request (10,000 input + 2,000 output tokens), Claude 4.8 Opus is cheaper — about 9% less, or roughly $1000 saved per 100,000 requests. Claude 4.8 Opus runs $5/$25 per 1M input/output tokens; GPT-5.5 runs $5/$30.
- Which has the larger context window?
- GPT-5.5, at 1,050,000 tokens versus 1,000,000.
- How accurate are these token counts?
- Claude 4.8 Opus: Approximated with cl100k_base — drift typically <2% on English and code. GPT-5.5: Exact tokenization via the canonical OpenAI vocab (o200k_base). The dollar math itself is exact once the token count is known.
Both prices are computed from tokenmath's verified pricing table. Rates sourced from platform.claude.com and developers.openai.com, verified 2026-07-06. Vendor pricing changes often — confirm before you commit.