Claude 3 Opus vs Claude Opus 4.5
Side-by-side benchmark comparison across coding, math, reasoning, speed, and pricing.
Claude Opus 4.5 by Anthropic wins on 13 of 15 benchmarks against Claude 3 Opus by Anthropic, which leads on 1. This head-to-head comparison covers coding, math, reasoning, speed, and pricing metrics from our benchmark data.
Category-by-Category Breakdown
General Intelligence: In general intelligence, Claude Opus 4.5 scores 1468 on Chatbot Arena ELO compared to Claude 3 Opus's 1240, while Claude Opus 4.5 scores 89.5% on MMLU-Pro compared to Claude 3 Opus's 68.0%, while Claude Opus 4.5 scores 90.0% on IFEval compared to Claude 3 Opus's 82.0%.
Coding: In coding, Claude Opus 4.5 scores 92.0% on HumanEval+ compared to Claude 3 Opus's 78.0%, while Claude Opus 4.5 scores 80.9% on SWE-bench Verified compared to Claude 3 Opus's 22.0%, while Claude Opus 4.5 scores 70.0% on LiveCodeBench compared to Claude 3 Opus's 32.0%.
Math: In math, Claude Opus 4.5 scores 90.0% on MATH compared to Claude 3 Opus's 68.0%, while Claude Opus 4.5 scores 96.5% on GSM8K compared to Claude 3 Opus's 88.0%.
Reasoning: In reasoning, Claude Opus 4.5 scores 87.0% on GPQA Diamond compared to Claude 3 Opus's 59.4%, while Claude Opus 4.5 scores 57.0% on ARC-AGI compared to Claude 3 Opus's 8.0%.
Context: In context, both score 200K on Context Length.
Pricing Comparison
Claude 3 Opus costs $15.0/1M input tokens and $75.0/1M output tokens, while Claude Opus 4.5 costs $5.0/1M input and $25.0/1M output. Claude Opus 4.5 is the more affordable option for API usage.
Speed Comparison
Claude 3 Opus generates output at 25 tok/s compared to Claude Opus 4.5's 50 tok/s, and the time to first token is 800 ms for Claude 3 Opus versus 1700 ms for Claude Opus 4.5. Claude Opus 4.5 delivers faster throughput.
Verdict
Claude Opus 4.5 leads across the board in coding, general intelligence, math, affordability, speed, making it the stronger overall choice in this comparison.
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Claude 3 Opus vs Claude Opus 4.5 — FAQ
Which is better, Claude 3 Opus or Claude Opus 4.5?
Claude Opus 4.5 wins on more benchmarks overall (13 vs 1). However, the best choice depends on your specific needs — each model excels in different areas.
How does Claude 3 Opus compare to Claude Opus 4.5 for coding?
Claude Opus 4.5 is better for coding, scoring 80.9% on SWE-bench Verified compared to 22.0%. SWE-bench tests real-world software engineering by resolving actual GitHub issues.
Is Claude 3 Opus cheaper than Claude Opus 4.5?
Yes, Claude Opus 4.5 is cheaper. Claude 3 Opus costs $15.0/1M input and $75.0/1M output tokens. Claude Opus 4.5 costs $5.0/1M input and $25.0/1M output tokens.
Which is faster, Claude 3 Opus or Claude Opus 4.5?
Claude Opus 4.5 is faster, generating output at 50 tok/s compared to 25 tok/s. Faster output speed means shorter wait times for API responses.
What benchmarks does the Claude 3 Opus vs Claude Opus 4.5 comparison cover?
This comparison covers 15 benchmarks including Chatbot Arena ELO, MMLU-Pro, HumanEval+, IFEval, MATH, GPQA Diamond, SWE-bench Verified, Output Speed, and more. Metrics span general intelligence, coding, math, reasoning, speed, and cost categories.