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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

GPT-5.4 mini vs Claude Sonnet 4.6

Too close to call on our weighted score (GPT-5.4 mini 63, Claude Sonnet 4.6 62). The right pick depends on what you value most.

  1. OpenAI

    GPT-5.4 mini

    Released Mar 17, 2026

    63/100
    • ECI148.8
    • Price$0.75 / $4.50
    • Context400K
    Full specs Remove GPT-5.4 mini

  2. Anthropic

    Claude Sonnet 4.6

    Released Feb 17, 2026

    62/100
    • ECI152.3
    • Price$3.00 / $15.00
    • Context1M
    Full specs Remove Claude Sonnet 4.6

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01 — Verdict

Too close to call

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 1 points (GPT-5.4 mini 63/100, Claude Sonnet 4.6 62/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Claude Sonnet 4.6 for raw capability and GPT-5.4 mini on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityClaude Sonnet 4.6Capabilities Index (ECI): Claude Sonnet 4.6 152.3 · GPT-5.4 mini 148.8
  • Lowest priceGPT-5.4 miniGPT-5.4 mini $1.69 · Claude Sonnet 4.6 $6.00 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextClaude Sonnet 4.6Claude Sonnet 4.6 1,000,000 · GPT-5.4 mini 400,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsClaude Sonnet 4.6GPT-5.4 mini: Text, Images · Claude Sonnet 4.6: Text, Images, PDFs
  • Self-hostingNo open weightsBoth are available only through APIs
How the score is built
MeasureWeightGPT-5.4 miniClaude Sonnet 4.6
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%7781
Price25%3913
Inputs & features15%7080
Context window10%4460
Overall100%63/10062/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

GPT-5.4 mini vs Claude Sonnet 4.6 specifications side by side
SpecificationGPT-5.4 miniOpenAIClaude Sonnet 4.6Anthropic
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)148.8152.3 (best)
ECI rank#56 of 148#40 of 148 (best)
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions86.9%87.4% (best)
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics51.2%—
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics88.9% (best)85.8%
SWE-bench VerifiedFixing real GitHub issues—75.2%
SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions29.4%35.5% (best)
Price per million tokens
Input$0.75 (best)$3.00
Output$4.50 (best)$15.00
Cached input$0.075 (best)$0.30
Blended (3:1)$1.69 (best)$6.00
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial OpenAI APIOfficial Anthropic API
Limits
Context window400,000 tokens1,000,000 tokens (best)
Max output128,000 tokens (best)64,000 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesYesYes
PDFsNoYes
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningYeslow · medium · high · xhighYeslow · medium · high · max
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputYesYes
Availability
WeightsProprietaryProprietary
API model IDgpt-5.4-miniclaude-sonnet-4-6
API providers2941 (best)
ReleasedMar 17, 2026Feb 17, 2026
Knowledge cutoffAug 31, 2025Aug 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-5.4 mini$16.50
  • Claude Sonnet 4.6$60.00
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: GPT-5.4 mini or Claude Sonnet 4.6?

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 1 points (GPT-5.4 mini 63/100, Claude Sonnet 4.6 62/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Claude Sonnet 4.6 for raw capability and GPT-5.4 mini on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, GPT-5.4 mini or Claude Sonnet 4.6?

GPT-5.4 mini is cheaper at $0.75 input / $4.50 output per million tokens (official OpenAI API price). Claude Sonnet 4.6 costs $3.00 input / $15.00 output per million tokens (official Anthropic API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $1.69 per million tokens for GPT-5.4 mini versus $6.00 for Claude Sonnet 4.6 (3.6× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

Claude Sonnet 4.6 scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Claude Sonnet 4.6 152.3 (#40 of 148) and GPT-5.4 mini 148.8 (#56 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (149.6–154.7 vs 147.1–150.5), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Claude Sonnet 4.6 87.4%, GPT-5.4 mini 86.9%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — GPT-5.4 mini 88.9%, Claude Sonnet 4.6 85.8%; SimpleQA Verified — Claude Sonnet 4.6 35.5%, GPT-5.4 mini 29.4%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for GPT-5.4 mini yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Claude Sonnet 4.6 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?

Claude Sonnet 4.6 has the largest context window at 1,000,000 tokens, against 400,000 for GPT-5.4 mini. Maximum output per response: GPT-5.4 mini up to 128,000, Claude Sonnet 4.6 up to 64,000 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

GPT-5.4 mini accepts text and images; Claude Sonnet 4.6 accepts text, images and PDFs. Claude Sonnet 4.6 handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

No. GPT-5.4 mini and Claude Sonnet 4.6 are proprietary and only available through APIs and apps.

Which is newer?

GPT-5.4 mini is the newest, released Mar 17, 2026. Claude Sonnet 4.6 came out Feb 17, 2026. Knowledge cutoff: GPT-5.4 mini Aug 31, 2025, Claude Sonnet 4.6 Aug 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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