Last verified 2025-09-22 (left) · 2025-09-22 (right)

Claude Sonnet 4 vs GPT-4o — Pricing & Capability Comparison

Claude Sonnet 4 charges $3.00 per million input tokens and $15.00 per million output tokens. GPT-4o comes in at $2.50 / $10.00. Context windows span 200K vs 128K tokens respectively.

TL;DR — Quick Comparison

  • GPT-4o is cheaper overall: $12.50 per 1M tokens (in+out) vs $18.00 for Claude Sonnet 4 — saves $5.50 per 1M tokens
  • Input pricing: Claude Sonnet 4 $3.00/1M vs GPT-4o $2.50/1M
  • Output pricing: Claude Sonnet 4 $15.00/1M vs GPT-4o $10.00/1M
  • Context window: Claude Sonnet 4 offers more (200K vs 128K)
  • Use our calculator below to estimate costs for your specific usage pattern

Input price (per 1M)

Claude Sonnet 4

$3.00

GPT-4o

$2.50

GPT-4o leads here

Output price (per 1M)

Claude Sonnet 4

$15.00

GPT-4o

$10.00

GPT-4o leads here

Context window

Claude Sonnet 4

200,000 tokens

GPT-4o

128,000 tokens

Claude Sonnet 4 leads here

Cached input

Claude Sonnet 4

$0.300

GPT-4o

$1.250

Claude Sonnet 4 leads here

Cost comparison for 10K-token workloads

Side-by-side pricing for identical workloads (10,000 total tokens per request) across different distributions.

ScenarioClaude Sonnet 4GPT-4oClaude Sonnet 4 cachedGPT-4o cached
Balanced conversation
50% input · 50% output
$0.0900$0.0625$0.0765$0.0563
Input-heavy workflow
80% input · 20% output
$0.0540$0.0400$0.0324$0.0300
Generation heavy
30% input · 70% output
$0.114$0.0775$0.106$0.0738
Cached system prompt
90% cached input · 10% fresh output
$0.0420$0.0325$0.0177$0.0212

Frequently asked questions

Which is cheaper: Claude Sonnet 4 or GPT-4o?

GPT-4o is cheaper for input tokens at $2.50 per 1M tokens compared to $3.00. For output, GPT-4o costs $10.00 per 1M tokens versus $15.00 for Claude Sonnet 4.

What is the cost per 1M tokens for Claude Sonnet 4?

Claude Sonnet 4 pricing: $3.00 per 1M input tokens and $15.00 per 1M output tokens. Context window: 200,000 tokens.

What is the cost per 1M tokens for GPT-4o?

GPT-4o pricing: $2.50 per 1M input tokens and $10.00 per 1M output tokens. Context window: 128,000 tokens.

How much does it cost per 1K tokens?

Per 1K tokens: Claude Sonnet 4 costs $0.0030 input / $0.0150 output. GPT-4o costs $0.0025 input / $0.0100 output. This is useful for calculating small-scale usage costs.

Which model supports a larger context window?

Claude Sonnet 4 offers 200,000 tokens (200K) versus 128K for GPT-4o.

What is the estimated monthly cost for typical usage?

For a typical workload of 10M input + 2M output tokens per month: Claude Sonnet 4 would cost approximately $60.00, while GPT-4o would cost $45.00. GPT-4o is more economical for this usage pattern.

Do these models support prompt caching?

Claude Sonnet 4 supports prompt caching at $0.300 per 1M cached tokens, reducing costs for repeated context by up to 90%. GPT-4o supports caching at $1.250 per 1M tokens, saving up to 50%.

Which model is best for my use case?

Choose GPT-4o for cost-sensitive applications with high input volume. Choose Claude Sonnet 4 if you need 200K context for long documents or conversations. Consider prompt caching if you have repeated context. Use our token calculator to model your specific usage pattern.

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