Claude Opus 4.8 vs Claude Opus 5
Price, context and benchmark scores side by side — every number from the live model catalogue.
| Claude Opus 4.8anthropic | Claude Opus 5anthropic | |
|---|---|---|
| Input / 1M tokens | $5.00 | $5.00 |
| Output / 1M tokens | $25.00 | $25.00 |
| 1M in + 300K out | $12.50 | $12.50 |
| Context window | 1M | 1M |
| Intelligence index | 55.7 | 60.7 |
| Coding index | 74.3 | 78.0 |
| Agentic index | 47.2 | 55.3 |
| Cheapest provider | Azure | Claude Platform on AWS |
| Providers serving it | 4 | 5 |
| Weights | Closed | Closed |
| Image input | Yes | Yes |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes |
| Reasoning mode | Yes | Yes |
| Released | May 27, 2026 | Jul 24, 2026 |
Which one to pick
Pick Claude Opus 4.8 if…
Pick Claude Opus 5 if…
- You want the higher general-intelligence score (60.7).
- Code quality is the priority — it leads on the coding index (78.0).
- You are running agent loops — higher agentic index (55.3).
- Token cost matters: $25.00 per 1M output vs $25.00.
- You need the bigger context window (1M).
- You want provider redundancy: 5 providers serve it.
FAQ
Is Claude Opus 4.8 better than Claude Opus 5?
Claude Opus 5 scores higher on general intelligence (55.7 vs 60.7), while Claude Opus 5 is 1.0× cheaper per output token ($25.00 vs $25.00). For code, Claude Opus 5 leads (78.0 coding index). Claude Opus 5 takes the larger context at 1M.
Which is cheaper, Claude Opus 4.8 or Claude Opus 5?
Claude Opus 5, at $25.00 per 1M output tokens versus $25.00. On a 1M input + 300K output workload that is $12.50 against $12.50.
Can I self-host Claude Opus 4.8 or Claude Opus 5?
Claude Opus 4.8: closed weights, API only. Claude Opus 5: closed weights, API only.