Model comparison
Claude Sonnet 4.5 vs GPT-5.4
Head-to-head evidence from 8 shared benchmark results across 4 categories. Overall scores shown here use the public BenchAlign v5 ranking lane.
Public leaderboard positions: Claude Sonnet 4.5 #96 (Estimated); GPT-5.4 #8 (Supported). Intervals and evidence labels describe ranking uncertainty, not a guarantee for a specific workload.
Evidence parity. Claude Sonnet 4.5 and GPT-5.4 share 8 comparable benchmark results. 4 of 8 categories are comparable. 4 results are unique to Claude Sonnet 4.5; 44 to GPT-5.4.
Updated July 20, 2026- Shared results
- 8
- Claude Sonnet 4.5 only
- 4
- GPT-5.4 only
- 44
- Comparable categories
- 4 / 8
Pick GPT-5.4 if you want the stronger benchmark profile. Claude Sonnet 4.5 only becomes the better choice if knowledge is the priority or you would rather avoid the extra latency and token burn of a reasoning model.
Confidence note. This is a partial-evidence comparison with 8 shared benchmark results across 4 evidence categories; 4 of 8 categories currently have scoreable aggregates for both models. Treat the verdict as directional until coverage is more balanced.
Why this result
GPT-5.4 is clearly ahead on the BenchAlign aggregate, 74.24 to 53.61. The gap is large enough that you do not need to squint at the spreadsheet to see the difference.
GPT-5.4's sharpest advantage is in mathematics, where it averages 42.5 against 11.2. The single biggest benchmark swing on the page is FrontierMath v2 (Tiers 1-3), 13.495% to 47.600%. Claude Sonnet 4.5 does hit back in knowledge, so the answer changes if that is the part of the workload you care about most.
GPT-5.4 is the reasoning model in the pair, while Claude Sonnet 4.5 is not. That usually helps on harder chain-of-thought-heavy tests, but it can also mean more latency and more token spend in real use. GPT-5.4 gives you the larger context window at 1.05M, compared with 200K for Claude Sonnet 4.5.
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 Sonnet 4.5 | Δ | GPT-5.4 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Math | Claude Sonnet 4.511.2 | Margin→ 31.3 | GPT-5.442.5 |
| Knowledge | Claude Sonnet 4.583.4 | Margin← 25.8 | GPT-5.457.6 |
| Agentic | Claude Sonnet 4.555.4 | Margin→ 21.8 | GPT-5.477.2 |
| Coding | Claude Sonnet 4.577.2 | Margin← 19.5 | GPT-5.457.7 |
| Reasoning | Claude Sonnet 4.513.6 | MarginNo overlap | GPT-5.4Not measured |
| Multimodal | Claude Sonnet 4.5Not measured | MarginNo overlap | GPT-5.473.2 |
Decisive benchmark drivers
The largest measured benchmark gaps in this matchup, with exact reported values.
More
- Source ↗
FrontierMath v2 (Tiers 1-3)
MathA 13.495%B 47.600%Winner: GPT-5.4Δ 34.1FrontierMath v2 (Tiers 1-3): Claude Sonnet 4.5 scored 13.495%; GPT-5.4 scored 47.600%. GPT-5.4 wins this benchmark. - Source ↗
Terminal-Bench 2.0
AgenticA 50%B 75.1%Winner: GPT-5.4Δ 25.1Terminal-Bench 2.0: Claude Sonnet 4.5 scored 50%; GPT-5.4 scored 75.1%. GPT-5.4 wins this benchmark. - Source ↗
FrontierMath v2 (Tier 4)
MathA 4.167%B 27.100%Winner: GPT-5.4Δ 22.9FrontierMath v2 (Tier 4): Claude Sonnet 4.5 scored 4.167%; GPT-5.4 scored 27.100%. GPT-5.4 wins this benchmark. - Source ↗
OSWorld-Verified
AgenticA 61.4%B 75%Winner: GPT-5.4Δ 13.6OSWorld-Verified: Claude Sonnet 4.5 scored 61.4%; GPT-5.4 scored 75%. GPT-5.4 wins this benchmark. - Source ↗
GPQA
KnowledgeA 83.4%B 92.8%Winner: GPT-5.4Δ 9.4GPQA: Claude Sonnet 4.5 scored 83.4%; GPT-5.4 scored 92.8%. GPT-5.4 wins this benchmark.
Operational comparison
Runtime and commercial metrics are compared only when both models have a complete sourced value.
| Metric | Claude Sonnet 4.5 | GPT-5.4 | Comparison |
|---|---|---|---|
| Input / output priceUSD per 1M tokens | Claude Sonnet 4.5$3 input / $15 output | GPT-5.4$2.5 input / $15 output | GPT-5.4 has the lower combined listed price. |
| Generation speedtokens per second | Claude Sonnet 4.5Not available | GPT-5.474 tok/s | A complete speed comparison is not available. |
| First-answer latencyseconds to first token | Claude Sonnet 4.5Not available | GPT-5.4151.79 s | A complete latency comparison is not available. |
| Context windowmaximum listed tokens | Claude Sonnet 4.5200K | GPT-5.41.05M | GPT-5.4 lists the larger context window. |
Benchmark Deep Dive
AgenticGPT-5.4 wins18 benchmarks
| Benchmark | Claude Sonnet 4.5 | GPT-5.4 | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Terminal-Bench 2.0Source | 50% | 75.1% | GPT-5.4 leads |
| OSWorld-VerifiedSource | 61.4% | 75% | GPT-5.4 leads |
| VITA-BenchSource | 17.0% | — | Not comparable |
| Gert LabsSource | 48.51% | 64.89% | GPT-5.4 leads |
| JobBenchSource | 27.7% | 38.9% | GPT-5.4 leads |
| CyberGymSource | — | 79.0% | Not comparable |
| BrowseCompSource | — | 82.7% | Not comparable |
| MCP AtlasSource | — | 70.6% | Not comparable |
| ToolathlonSource | — | 54.6% | Not comparable |
| τ²-bench resultsSource | — | 87.1% | Not comparable |
| Claw-EvalSource | — | 60.3% | Not comparable |
| DeepSearchQASource | — | 73.6% | Not comparable |
| AA Agentic IndexSource | — | 41.1% | Not comparable |
| APEX-Agents-AASource | — | 33.3% | Not comparable |
| GDPval-AASource | — | 44.7% | Not comparable |
| GDPval-AASource | — | 1395 | Not comparable |
| ResearchClawBenchSource | — | 15.3% | Not comparable |
| ExploitGymSource | — | 6.0% | Not comparable |
CodingClaude Sonnet 4.5 wins7 benchmarks
| Benchmark | Claude Sonnet 4.5 | GPT-5.4 | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| SWE-bench VerifiedSource | 77.2% | — | Not comparable |
| LiveCodeBench ProSource | — | 87.5% | Not comparable |
| SWE-bench ProSource | — | 57.7% | Not comparable |
| React Native EvalsSource | — | 85.3% | Not comparable |
| Vibe Code BenchSource | — | 67.42% | Not comparable |
| AA Coding IndexSource | — | 71.0% | Not comparable |
| AA-SciCodeSource | — | 56.6% | Not comparable |
Reasoning3 benchmarks
KnowledgeClaude Sonnet 4.5 wins13 benchmarks
| Benchmark | Claude Sonnet 4.5 | GPT-5.4 | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPQASource | 83.4% | 92.8% | GPT-5.4 leads |
| HLESource | — | 52.1% | Not comparable |
| HLE w/o toolsSource | — | 39.8% | Not comparable |
| GPQA-DSource | — | 92.8% | Not comparable |
| HealthBench HardSource | — | 40.1% | Not comparable |
| MedXpertQA (Text)Source | — | 59.6% | Not comparable |
| Artificial Analysis Intelligence IndexSource | — | 51.4% | Not comparable |
| AA-GPQA DiamondSource | — | 92.0% | Not comparable |
| AA-HLESource | — | 41.6% | Not comparable |
| AA-Omniscience IndexSource | — | 5.7% | Not comparable |
| AA-Omniscience AccuracySource | — | 50.0% | Not comparable |
| AA-Omniscience Hallucination RateSource | — | 88.6% | Not comparable |
| HealthBench ProfessionalSource | — | 48.1% | Not comparable |
MathGPT-5.4 wins3 benchmarks
Multimodal11 benchmarks
| Benchmark | Claude Sonnet 4.5 | GPT-5.4 | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Design Arena WebsiteSource | 1222 | 1252 | GPT-5.4 leads |
| MMMU-ProSource | — | 81.2% | Not comparable |
| OfficeQA ProSource | — | 53.2% | Not comparable |
| MMMU-Pro w/ PythonSource | — | 82.1% | Not comparable |
| CharXivSource | — | 82.8% | Not comparable |
| ERQASource | — | 65.4% | Not comparable |
| SimpleVQASource | — | 61.1% | Not comparable |
| ScreenSpot ProSource | — | 85.4% | Not comparable |
| ZeroBenchSource | — | 41.0% | Not comparable |
| MedXpertQA (MM)Source | — | 77.1% | Not comparable |
| AA-MMMU-ProSource | — | 78.4% | Not comparable |
Inst. Following1 benchmarks
| Benchmark | Claude Sonnet 4.5 | GPT-5.4 | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA-IFBenchSource | — | 73.9% | Not comparable |
Frequently Asked Questions (5)
Which is better, Claude Sonnet 4.5 or GPT-5.4?
GPT-5.4 is ahead on BenchLM's BenchAlign leaderboard, 74.24 to 53.61. The biggest single separator in this matchup is FrontierMath v2 (Tiers 1-3), where the scores are 13.495% and 47.600%.
Which is better for knowledge tasks, Claude Sonnet 4.5 or GPT-5.4?
Claude Sonnet 4.5 has the edge for knowledge tasks in this comparison, averaging 83.4 versus 57.6. Inside this category, GPQA is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.
Which is better for coding, Claude Sonnet 4.5 or GPT-5.4?
Claude Sonnet 4.5 has the edge for coding in this comparison, averaging 77.2 versus 57.7. GPT-5.4 stays close enough that the answer can still flip depending on your workload.
Which is better for math, Claude Sonnet 4.5 or GPT-5.4?
GPT-5.4 has the edge for math in this comparison, averaging 42.5 versus 11.2. Inside this category, FrontierMath v2 (Tiers 1-3) is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.
Which is better for agentic tasks, Claude Sonnet 4.5 or GPT-5.4?
GPT-5.4 has the edge for agentic tasks in this comparison, averaging 77.2 versus 55.4. Inside this category, Terminal-Bench 2.0 is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.
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