Claude 4 Opus vs GPT-5.5 Pro — Premium AI Comparison 2026

Requests per Day

Days per Month

Anthropic

Claude 4 Opus (Retired)

$0.00

per month

Input cost

Output cost

Cost per request

Requests/month

OpenAI

GPT-5.5 Pro

$0.00

per month

Input cost

Output cost

Cost per request

Requests/month

Which Model for Which Use Case?

Massive Context Workloads

GPT-5.5 Pro's 1.05M context window is 5.25x larger than Claude 4 Opus's 200K. Ideal for analyzing entire codebases, long documents, or multi-turn conversations that need to retain extensive history.

Best for large context: GPT-5.5 Pro (1.05M tokens)

Cost-Conscious Premium

Claude 4 Opus is 50% cheaper than GPT-5.5 Pro on both input and output. For workloads that don't need 1M+ context, Claude 4 Opus delivers premium quality at a lower price point — until June 15.

Budget premium: Claude 4 Opus ($15/$75)

After June 15 Migration

When Claude 4 Opus deprecates, GPT-5.5 Pro ($30/$180) is the ultra-premium upgrade with 5x more context. For a cheaper path, Claude Opus 4.8 ($5/$25) is 67% cheaper with 1M context.

Ultra-premium: GPT-5.5 Pro ($30/$180) | Budget successor: Opus 4.8 ($5/$25)

Maximum Savings

For the deepest savings, skip both premium models. GPT-5 ($1.25/$10) is 92% cheaper than Claude 4 Opus. Llama 4 Maverick ($0.27/$0.85) is 98% cheaper with 1M context.

Premium savings: GPT-5 (92% cheaper) | Budget: Llama 4 Maverick (98% cheaper)

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Frequently Asked Questions

Is GPT-5.5 Pro more expensive than Claude 4 Opus?

Yes, GPT-5.5 Pro is 2x more expensive on both input and output. Claude 4 Opus costs $15.00/M input and $75.00/M output. GPT-5.5 Pro costs $30.00/M input and $180.00/M output. However, GPT-5.5 Pro offers 5.25x more context (1.05M vs 200K tokens). For a typical workload of 1M input + 500K output tokens/month, GPT-5.5 Pro costs $120.00 vs Claude 4 Opus's $52.50.

Why would I choose GPT-5.5 Pro over Claude 4 Opus?

GPT-5.5 Pro's key advantage is its 1.05M token context window — 5.25x larger than Claude 4 Opus's 200K. This makes it ideal for analyzing massive codebases, entire books, or long multi-turn conversations without losing context. GPT-5.5 Pro also represents OpenAI's most capable model for complex reasoning, code generation, and multimodal tasks. If you need the absolute best quality and can absorb the higher cost, GPT-5.5 Pro is the premium choice.

What happened when Claude 4 Opus was retired on June 15?

Since June 15, 2026, Claude 4 Opus API calls return 410 Gone errors. Migration options: (1) GPT-5.5 Pro ($30/$180) — most powerful model, 1.05M context, 2x price. (2) Claude Opus 4.8 ($5/$25) — direct Anthropic successor, 67% cheaper, 1M context. (3) GPT-5 ($1.25/$10) — 92% cheaper, 272K context. (4) Llama 4 Maverick ($0.27/$0.85) — 98% cheaper, open source, 1M context.

What is the cheapest alternative to Claude 4 Opus with 1M+ context?

For 1M+ context at the lowest cost, Llama 4 Maverick ($0.27/$0.85) is 98% cheaper than Claude 4 Opus with 1M context. DeepSeek V4 Pro ($0.44/$0.87) is 97% cheaper with 1M context. Claude Opus 4.8 ($5/$25) is 67% cheaper with 1M context and is the direct Anthropic successor. GPT-5.5 Pro ($30/$180) has 1.05M context but is 2x more expensive.