API cost decision in 10 seconds

🔥Claude Opus 4.6 vs 🔥GPT-5.4

Pick GPT-5.4 when budget and context both matter.

Page updated: 2026-05-26T12:03:47Z Data confirmed: 2026-05-26T14:08:03Z Prices normalized to USD per 1M tokens Sample workload: 1M input + 500K output

Budget verdict

Pick GPT-5.4 when budget and context both matter.

On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, GPT-5.4 is estimated at $10 vs $17.5 for Claude Opus 4.6, saving $7.5 (42.9% lower).

Cost-first pickGPT-5.4

Context-first pickGPT-5.4

Sample savings$7.542.9%

10x traffic gap$75

GPT-5.4 is cheaper on the standard workload and also has the larger context window. At 10x that traffic, the same price gap is about $75. Use the calculator below to replace the sample workload with your own token volume.

Cost sensitivity

Workload Sensitivity

Same prices, different token mixes.

GPT-5.4 stays cheaper across input-heavy, balanced, and output-heavy sample workloads.

Workload shape	Token mix	Better pick	Claude Opus 4.6	GPT-5.4
Input-heavy / RAG	5M input + 500K output	GPT-5.4	$37.5	$20
Balanced workload	1M input + 1M output	GPT-5.4	$30	$17.5
Output-heavy chatbot	1M input + 5M output	GPT-5.4	$130	$77.5

Cheaper input GPT-5.4 $5 vs $2.5 / 1M

GPT-5.4 is $2.5 cheaper per 1M input tokens (50% lower; 2x difference).

Cheaper output GPT-5.4 $25 vs $15 / 1M

GPT-5.4 is $10 cheaper per 1M output tokens (40% lower; 1.67x difference).

Larger context GPT-5.4 1M vs 1.05M

GPT-5.4 has 50K more context (1.05x larger).

Sample workload GPT-5.4 $17.5 vs $10

GPT-5.4 is $7.5 cheaper on the standard workload (42.9% lower).

Estimate your workload cost

Your Workload Cost

Prices are normalized to USD per 1M tokens.

Monthly input tokens Monthly output tokens

Claude Opus 4.6 Calculating… Estimated API cost

GPT-5.4 Calculating… Estimated API cost

Cheaper for this workload Calculating… Difference: calculating…

This estimate uses normalized public API pricing per 1M tokens. It is a planning aid, not a billing quote. Verify provider pricing, limits, and terms before production use.

Quick Decision

Verdict

GPT-5.4 has the lower input price; GPT-5.4 has the lower output price; GPT-5.4 offers the larger context window. For the 1M input plus 500K output sample, GPT-5.4 is cheaper for the standard workload.

For a 1M input token plus 500K output token workload, the estimated API cost is $17.5 for Claude Opus 4.6 and $10 for GPT-5.4.

Best Fit

Choose Claude Opus 4.6 when its provider, model quality, latency, or availability is more important than the numeric price/context winner.

Choose GPT-5.4 when you care most about lower input-token price, lower output-token price, and larger context window.

Decision Notes

On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, GPT-5.4 is estimated at $10 vs $17.5 for Claude Opus 4.6, saving $7.5 (42.9% lower).
GPT-5.4 is $7.5 cheaper on the standard workload (42.9% lower).
GPT-5.4 is $2.5 cheaper per 1M input tokens (50% lower; 2x difference).
GPT-5.4 is $10 cheaper per 1M output tokens (40% lower; 1.67x difference).
GPT-5.4 has 50K more context (1.05x larger).

Head-to-Head Specs

Feature	🔥Claude Opus 4.6 (Anthropic)	🔥GPT-5.4 (OpenAI)
Input Price prompt tokens per 1M	$5	$2.5
Completion Price per 1M tokens	$25	$15
Sample Workload Cost 1M input + 500K output	$17.5	$10
Context Window	1M	1.05M
Release Date	2026-02-04	2026-03-05
Popularity	#18	#19

Use-Case Decision Matrix

Use case	Better pick	Why
Budget-constrained production	GPT-5.4	On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, GPT-5.4 is estimated at $10 vs $17.5 for Claude Opus 4.6, saving $7.5 (42.9% lower).
High-volume input processing	GPT-5.4	Lower prompt-token price matters most when prompts, retrieved passages, or documents dominate the bill.
Long responses and chatbots	GPT-5.4	Lower output-token price matters most when assistants generate many completion tokens.
RAG or long-document work	GPT-5.4	A larger context window leaves more room for retrieved passages, conversation history, or source files.

Related Alternatives

Same-provider lower-cost swaps

Claude 3 Haiku can replace Claude Opus 4.6 when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.88.
Claude 3.5 Haiku can replace Claude Opus 4.6 when lower sample workload cost matters most: $2.8.
Anthropic Claude Haiku Latest can replace Claude Opus 4.6 when lower sample workload cost matters most: $3.5.
Claude Haiku 4.5 can replace Claude Opus 4.6 when lower sample workload cost matters most: $3.5.

Larger context near this budget

Llama 4 Scout offers 10M context with $0.23 sample workload cost.
Grok 4.20 Multi-Agent offers 2M context with $5 sample workload cost.
Grok 4.20 offers 2M context with $2.5 sample workload cost.

Popular competitors

DeepSeek V4 Flash · DeepSeek · #1
Hy3 preview · Tencent · #2
Claude Opus 4.7 · Anthropic · #3
Claude Sonnet 4.6 · Anthropic · #4

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Provider catalogs

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Anthropic catalog

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OpenAI catalog

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