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Claude vs GPT-4

Both are flagship LLMs. Different strengths on reasoning, coding, and tool use.

Claude (Anthropic) and GPT-4 (OpenAI) are the two dominant frontier LLMs. They're close in capability; most practical advantages come down to specific workloads and ecosystem fit.

At a glance

ClaudeGPT-4
OriginAnthropicOpenAI
Pricing$3/$15 per M tokens (Sonnet)$5/$15 per M tokens (GPT-4o)
Context window200K+128K (GPT-4o)
CodingStrong, especially Claude CodeVery strong
Tool useNative, well-designed APINative, widely used
Safety postureMore cautious, refuses moreLess cautious
Best known forLong context, coding, writingReasoning, breadth of integrations

When to pick Claude

You prefer long context windows, better writing quality, or you're building with the Claude Agent SDK or Claude Code.

When to pick GPT-4

You want the broadest ecosystem (plugins, Assistants API, ChatGPT), or you've standardized on the OpenAI SDK.

My verdict

For most production agent work in 2026, I reach for Claude first for coding and writing, GPT-4o for reasoning-heavy tasks, and route by task type.

Further reading