Claude Opus 4.6 vs GPT 5.4 Mini

Direct comparison between anthropic and openai for chat models. Specs, prices, strengths, weaknesses — decide on facts.

At a glance

  • · Cheaper: GPT 5.4 Mini
  • · Longer context window: GPT 5.4 Mini at 400,000 tokens
  • · Claude Opus 4.6: Highest hit rate on SWE-bench among closed-source models
  • · GPT 5.4 Mini: Fraction of GPT-5.4 cost with very similar tool-use quality

Spec comparison

SpecClaude Opus 4.6GPT 5.4 Mini
Provideranthropicopenai
Input per 1M tokens$5.00 / 1M$0.75 / 1M
Output per 1M tokens$25.00 / 1M$4.50 / 1M
Context window200,000 tok400,000 tok
Max output32,000 tok16,384 tok
Knowledge cutoff2025-072026-01
Vision
Tool calling
JSON mode
Structured output
Reasoning

Claude Opus 4.6 — strengths

  • +Highest hit rate on SWE-bench among closed-source models
  • +Excellent at multi-day agentic tasks without drift
  • +Top performance on multi-repo code analysis

GPT 5.4 Mini — strengths

  • +Fraction of GPT-5.4 cost with very similar tool-use quality
  • +Low latency — good for realtime chat and inline completion
  • +Same 400k context window as the full-size model

Claude Opus 4.6 — weaknesses

  • Substantially pricier per token than Sonnet — rarely worth the markup
  • Higher latency, especially with extended thinking enabled

GPT 5.4 Mini — weaknesses

  • No dedicated reasoning mode — complex math degrades
  • On very long tool-call chains, drift detection is weaker
Details: Claude Opus 4.6Details: GPT 5.4 Mini