API cost decision in 10 seconds

GPT-5.3-Codex vs Claude Opus 4.5

Pick GPT-5.3-Codex when budget and context both matter.

Pricing data updated:  Prices normalized to USD per 1M tokens Sample workload: 1M input + 500K output

Budget verdict

Pick GPT-5.3-Codex when budget and context both matter.

On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, GPT-5.3-Codex is estimated at $8.75 vs $17.5 for Claude Opus 4.5, saving $8.75 (50% lower).

Cost-first pickGPT-5.3-Codex
Context-first pickGPT-5.3-Codex
Sample savings$8.7550%
10x traffic gap$87.5

GPT-5.3-Codex is cheaper on the standard workload and also has the larger context window. At 10x that traffic, the same price gap is about $87.5. Use the calculator below to replace the sample workload with your own token volume.

Cost sensitivity

Workload Sensitivity

Same prices, different token mixes.

GPT-5.3-Codex stays cheaper across input-heavy, balanced, and output-heavy sample workloads.

Workload shapeToken mixBetter pickGPT-5.3-CodexClaude Opus 4.5
Input-heavy / RAG5M input + 500K outputGPT-5.3-Codex$15.75$37.5
Balanced workload1M input + 1M outputGPT-5.3-Codex$15.75$30
Output-heavy chatbot1M input + 5M outputGPT-5.3-Codex$71.75$130
Cheaper input GPT-5.3-Codex $1.75 vs $5 / 1M

GPT-5.3-Codex is $3.25 cheaper per 1M input tokens (65% lower; 2.86x difference).

Cheaper output GPT-5.3-Codex $14 vs $25 / 1M

GPT-5.3-Codex is $11 cheaper per 1M output tokens (44% lower; 1.79x difference).

Larger context GPT-5.3-Codex 400K vs 200K

GPT-5.3-Codex has 200K more context (2x larger).

Sample workload GPT-5.3-Codex $8.75 vs $17.5

GPT-5.3-Codex is $8.75 cheaper on the standard workload (50% lower).

Estimate your workload cost

Your Workload Cost

Prices are normalized to USD per 1M tokens.
GPT-5.3-Codex Calculating… Estimated API cost
Claude Opus 4.5 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-5.3-Codex has the lower input price; GPT-5.3-Codex has the lower output price; GPT-5.3-Codex offers the larger context window. For the 1M input plus 500K output sample, GPT-5.3-Codex is cheaper for the standard workload.

For a 1M input token plus 500K output token workload, the estimated API cost is $8.75 for GPT-5.3-Codex and $17.5 for Claude Opus 4.5.

Best Fit

Choose GPT-5.3-Codex when you care most about lower input-token price, lower output-token price, and larger context window.

Choose Claude Opus 4.5 when its provider, model quality, latency, or availability is more important than the numeric price/context winner.

Decision Notes
  • On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, GPT-5.3-Codex is estimated at $8.75 vs $17.5 for Claude Opus 4.5, saving $8.75 (50% lower).
  • GPT-5.3-Codex is $8.75 cheaper on the standard workload (50% lower).
  • GPT-5.3-Codex is $3.25 cheaper per 1M input tokens (65% lower; 2.86x difference).
  • GPT-5.3-Codex is $11 cheaper per 1M output tokens (44% lower; 1.79x difference).
  • GPT-5.3-Codex has 200K more context (2x larger).
Head-to-Head Specs
FeatureGPT-5.3-Codex
(OpenAI)
Claude Opus 4.5
(Anthropic)
Input Price
prompt tokens per 1M
$1.75$5
Completion Price
per 1M tokens
$14$25
Sample Workload Cost
1M input + 500K output
$8.75$17.5
Context Window400K200K
Release Date

Use-Case Decision Matrix

Use caseBetter pickWhy
Budget-constrained productionGPT-5.3-CodexOn the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, GPT-5.3-Codex is estimated at $8.75 vs $17.5 for Claude Opus 4.5, saving $8.75 (50% lower).
High-volume input processingGPT-5.3-CodexLower prompt-token price matters most when prompts, retrieved passages, or documents dominate the bill.
Long responses and chatbotsGPT-5.3-CodexLower output-token price matters most when assistants generate many completion tokens.
RAG or long-document workGPT-5.3-CodexA larger context window leaves more room for retrieved passages, conversation history, or source files.

Related Alternatives

Same-provider lower-cost swaps
  • gpt-oss-120b (free) can replace GPT-5.3-Codex when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.
  • gpt-oss-20b (free) can replace GPT-5.3-Codex when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.
  • gpt-oss-20b can replace GPT-5.3-Codex when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.1.
  • gpt-oss-120b can replace GPT-5.3-Codex when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.13.
Popular competitors
  • No popular competitor is currently available.

Cheaper alternatives

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Larger context alternatives

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Provider catalogs

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OpenAI catalog

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Anthropic catalog

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GPT-5.3-Codex

GPT-5.3-Codex is OpenAI’s most advanced agentic coding model, combining the frontier software engineering performance of GPT-5.2-Codex with the broader reasoning and professional knowledge capabilities of GPT-5.2. It achieves state-of-the-art results...

Claude Opus 4.5

Claude Opus 4.5 is Anthropic’s frontier reasoning model optimized for complex software engineering, agentic workflows, and long-horizon computer use. It offers strong multimodal capabilities, competitive performance across real-world coding and...