Model comparison
Claude 3.5 Sonnet vs GPT-4o
Head-to-head evidence from 1 shared benchmark result across 1 category. Overall scores shown here use the public BenchAlign v5 ranking lane.
Public leaderboard positions: Claude 3.5 Sonnet #132 (Estimated); GPT-4o #165 (Supported). Intervals and evidence labels describe ranking uncertainty, not a guarantee for a specific workload.
Evidence parity. Claude 3.5 Sonnet and GPT-4o share 1 comparable benchmark result. 1 of 8 categories are comparable. 3 results are unique to Claude 3.5 Sonnet; 12 to GPT-4o.
Updated July 20, 2026- Shared results
- 1
- Claude 3.5 Sonnet only
- 3
- GPT-4o only
- 12
- Comparable categories
- 1 / 8
Pick Claude 3.5 Sonnet if you want the stronger benchmark profile. GPT-4o only becomes the better choice if you want the cheaper token bill.
Confidence note. This is a partial-evidence comparison with 1 shared benchmark result across 1 evidence category; 1 of 8 categories currently have scoreable aggregates for both models. Treat the verdict as directional until coverage is more balanced.
Why this result
Claude 3.5 Sonnet is clearly ahead on the BenchAlign aggregate, 47.74 to 41.49. The gap is large enough that you do not need to squint at the spreadsheet to see the difference.
Claude 3.5 Sonnet's sharpest advantage is in mathematics, where it averages 1.6 against 0.3. The single biggest benchmark swing on the page is FrontierMath v2 (Tiers 1-3), 2.069% to 0.345%.
Claude 3.5 Sonnet is also the more expensive model on tokens at $3.00 input / $15.00 output per 1M tokens, versus $2.50 input / $10.00 output per 1M tokens for GPT-4o. Claude 3.5 Sonnet gives you the larger context window at 200K, compared with 128K for GPT-4o.
Category breakdown
Exact category averages are shown below. Not measured means BenchLM does not have enough sourced public coverage for that model and category.
| Category | Claude 3.5 Sonnet | Δ | GPT-4o |
|---|---|---|---|
| Math | Claude 3.5 Sonnet1.6 | Margin← 1.3 | GPT-4o0.3 |
| Coding | Claude 3.5 Sonnet49.0 | MarginNo overlap | GPT-4oNot measured |
| Knowledge | Claude 3.5 Sonnet59.4 | MarginNo overlap | GPT-4oNot measured |
Decisive benchmark drivers
The largest measured benchmark gaps in this matchup, with exact reported values.
More
- Source ↗
FrontierMath v2 (Tiers 1-3)
MathA 2.069%B 0.345%Winner: Claude 3.5 SonnetΔ 1.7FrontierMath v2 (Tiers 1-3): Claude 3.5 Sonnet scored 2.069%; GPT-4o scored 0.345%. Claude 3.5 Sonnet wins this benchmark.
Operational comparison
Runtime and commercial metrics are compared only when both models have a complete sourced value.
| Metric | Claude 3.5 Sonnet | GPT-4o | Comparison |
|---|---|---|---|
| Input / output priceUSD per 1M tokens | Claude 3.5 Sonnet$3 input / $15 output | GPT-4o$2.5 input / $10 output | GPT-4o has the lower combined listed price. |
| Generation speedtokens per second | Claude 3.5 SonnetNot available | GPT-4o131 tok/s | A complete speed comparison is not available. |
| First-answer latencyseconds to first token | Claude 3.5 SonnetNot available | GPT-4o0.81 s | A complete latency comparison is not available. |
| Context windowmaximum listed tokens | Claude 3.5 Sonnet200K | GPT-4o128K | Claude 3.5 Sonnet lists the larger context window. |
Benchmark Deep Dive
Agentic1 benchmarks
| Benchmark | Claude 3.5 Sonnet | GPT-4o | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| τ²-bench resultsSource | — | 25.1% | Not comparable |
Coding2 benchmarks
Reasoning2 benchmarks
Knowledge7 benchmarks
| Benchmark | Claude 3.5 Sonnet | GPT-4o | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPQASource | 59.4% | — | Not comparable |
| Artificial Analysis Intelligence IndexSource | — | 11.2% | Not comparable |
| AA-GPQA DiamondSource | — | 54.3% | Not comparable |
| AA-HLESource | — | 3.3% | Not comparable |
| AA-Omniscience IndexSource | — | -10.7% | Not comparable |
| AA-Omniscience AccuracySource | — | 19.7% | Not comparable |
| AA-Omniscience Hallucination RateSource | — | 37.9% | Not comparable |
MathClaude 3.5 Sonnet wins2 benchmarks
Multimodal1 benchmarks
| Benchmark | Claude 3.5 Sonnet | GPT-4o | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Design Arena WebsiteSource | — | 864 | Not comparable |
Inst. Following1 benchmarks
| Benchmark | Claude 3.5 Sonnet | GPT-4o | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA-IFBenchSource | — | 34.3% | Not comparable |
Frequently Asked Questions (2)
Which is better, Claude 3.5 Sonnet or GPT-4o?
Claude 3.5 Sonnet is ahead on BenchLM's BenchAlign leaderboard, 47.74 to 41.49. The biggest single separator in this matchup is FrontierMath v2 (Tiers 1-3), where the scores are 2.069% and 0.345%.
Which is better for math, Claude 3.5 Sonnet or GPT-4o?
Claude 3.5 Sonnet has the edge for math in this comparison, averaging 1.6 versus 0.3. Inside this category, FrontierMath v2 (Tiers 1-3) is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.
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