Claude Opus 4.6 vs GPT-5 mini
Benchmarks, API pricing and specs, head to head. Data updated 2026-06-10.
Claude Opus 4.6
Anthropic · Jan 2026
The first Opus with a 1M-token context window at standard pricing, kicking off Anthropic's rapid 2026 release cadence.
GPT-5 mini
OpenAI · Aug 2025
A fast, cheap distillation of GPT-5 for high-volume workloads — one fifth of the flagship's price with most of its everyday capability.
The verdict
Claude Opus 4.6 wins 1 of the 1 benchmarks these models share, against 0 for GPT-5 mini. On price the gap is dramatic: GPT-5 mini works out roughly 15x cheaper per blended million tokens. Claude Opus 4.6 also takes 1M of context versus 400K for GPT-5 mini.
Benchmark head-to-head 1–0
Specs & pricing
| Claude Opus 4.6 | GPT-5 mini | |
|---|---|---|
| modhub Index | — | — |
| Input price / 1M | $5 | $0.25 |
| Output price / 1M | $25 | $2 |
| Context window | 1M | 400K |
| Max output | 64K | 128K |
| Open weights | no | no |
| Reasoning model | yes | yes |
| Multimodal input | text, image | text, image |
| Knowledge cutoff | Aug 2025 | May 2024 |
| Released | Jan 2026 | Aug 2025 |
| Example monthly cost* | $87.50 | $5.50 |
* 10M input + 1.5M output tokens per month at list prices, no caching. Green = better value on that row.
Frequently asked questions
- Which is better, Claude Opus 4.6 or GPT-5 mini?
- Claude Opus 4.6 wins 1 of the 1 benchmarks these models share, against 0 for GPT-5 mini. On price the gap is dramatic: GPT-5 mini works out roughly 15x cheaper per blended million tokens. Claude Opus 4.6 also takes 1M of context versus 400K for GPT-5 mini.
- Which is cheaper, Claude Opus 4.6 or GPT-5 mini?
- Claude Opus 4.6 costs $5/$25 per million input/output tokens, while GPT-5 mini costs $0.25/$2. For a typical workload of 10M input and 1.5M output tokens per month, that's $87.50 versus $5.50.
- Which model is better for coding, Claude Opus 4.6 or GPT-5 mini?
- On SWE-bench Verified — the standard agentic-coding benchmark — Claude Opus 4.6 scores ~81.4% versus ~71% for GPT-5 mini, making Claude Opus 4.6 the stronger pick for coding agents.