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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

GPT-4.1 vs Claude Sonnet 4

Too close to call on our weighted score (GPT-4.1 53, Claude Sonnet 4 51). The right pick depends on what you value most.

  1. OpenAI

    GPT-4.1

    Released Apr 14, 2025

    53/100
    • ECI136.8
    • Price$2.00 / $8.00
    • Context1.05M
    Full specs Remove GPT-4.1

  2. Anthropic

    Claude Sonnet 4

    Released May 22, 2025

    51/100
    • ECI141.7
    • Price$3.00 / $15.00
    • Context200K
    Full specs Remove Claude Sonnet 4

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01 — Verdict

Too close to call

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 3 points (GPT-4.1 53/100, Claude Sonnet 4 51/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Claude Sonnet 4 for raw capability, GPT-4.1 on price and GPT-4.1 for long inputs. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityClaude Sonnet 4Capabilities Index (ECI): Claude Sonnet 4 141.7 · GPT-4.1 136.8
  • Lowest priceGPT-4.1GPT-4.1 $3.50 · Claude Sonnet 4 $6.00 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextGPT-4.1GPT-4.1 1,047,576 · Claude Sonnet 4 200,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsSame inputsGPT-4.1: Text, Images, PDFs · Claude Sonnet 4: Text, Images, PDFs
  • Self-hostingNo open weightsBoth are available only through APIs
How the score is built
MeasureWeightGPT-4.1Claude Sonnet 4
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%6168
Price25%2413
Inputs & features15%7070
Context window10%6132
Overall100%53/10051/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.

GPT-4.1 vs Claude Sonnet 4 specifications side by side
SpecificationGPT-4.1OpenAIClaude Sonnet 4Anthropic
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)136.8141.7 (best)
ECI rank#111 of 148#94 of 148 (best)
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions66.9%79.2% (best)
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics6.0%—
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics38.3%71.1% (best)
SWE-bench VerifiedFixing real GitHub issues48.5%—
SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions31.1%—
Price per million tokens
Input$2.00 (best)$3.00
Output$8.00 (best)$15.00
Cached input$0.50—
Blended (3:1)$3.50 (best)$6.00
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial OpenAI APIMedian of 9 providers
Limits
Context window1,047,576 tokens (best)200,000 tokens
Max output32,768 tokens64,000 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesYesYes
PDFsYesYes
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningNoYes
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputYesNo
Availability
WeightsProprietaryProprietary
API model IDgpt-4.1—
API providers25 (best)9
ReleasedApr 14, 2025May 22, 2025
Knowledge cutoffApr 2024Mar 31, 2025
03 — Cost

What would a month cost?

Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.

  • GPT-4.1$36.00
  • Claude Sonnet 4$60.00
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: GPT-4.1 or Claude Sonnet 4?

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 3 points (GPT-4.1 53/100, Claude Sonnet 4 51/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Claude Sonnet 4 for raw capability, GPT-4.1 on price and GPT-4.1 for long inputs. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, GPT-4.1 or Claude Sonnet 4?

GPT-4.1 is cheaper at $2.00 input / $8.00 output per million tokens (official OpenAI API price). Claude Sonnet 4 costs $3.00 input / $15.00 output per million tokens (median across 9 API providers). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $3.50 per million tokens for GPT-4.1 versus $6.00 for Claude Sonnet 4 (1.7× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

Claude Sonnet 4 scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Claude Sonnet 4 141.7 (#94 of 148) and GPT-4.1 136.8 (#111 of 148). Their confidence ranges do not overlap (139.2–142.9 vs 133.6–138.4), so the gap is a real one. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Claude Sonnet 4 79.2%, GPT-4.1 66.9%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Claude Sonnet 4 71.1%, GPT-4.1 38.3%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Claude Sonnet 4 yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Claude Sonnet 4 leads, which tends to carry over to coding, but test on your own codebase. Both support tool calling for agent workflows.

Which has the bigger context window?

GPT-4.1 has the largest context window at 1,047,576 tokens, against 200,000 for Claude Sonnet 4. Maximum output per response: GPT-4.1 up to 32,768, Claude Sonnet 4 up to 64,000 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

GPT-4.1 accepts text, images and PDFs; Claude Sonnet 4 accepts text, images and PDFs. They handle the same number of input types.

Are any of these open source?

No. GPT-4.1 and Claude Sonnet 4 are proprietary and only available through APIs and apps.

Which is newer?

Claude Sonnet 4 is the newest, released May 22, 2025. GPT-4.1 came out Apr 14, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: GPT-4.1 Apr 2024, Claude Sonnet 4 Mar 31, 2025.

How do you decide the winner?

Each model gets a 0–100 score on capability (50%, independent benchmark results); price (25%, blended price per million tokens (3 input : 1 output), log scale); inputs & features (15%, image, PDF, audio and video input, tool calling, structured output and reasoning); context window (10%, maximum tokens per request, log scale). Dimensions missing for any model are dropped and the remaining weights rescaled, so every model is judged on the same evidence. Specs and prices come from public model listings and the labs’ own API pages; capability scores come from independent benchmark runs. Data updated Oct 4, 2026.

05 — Keep comparing

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