Versus comparison
Chatgpt vs Claude
General-purpose writing, research, analysis, and multimodal help · Long-form writing, careful analysis, document review, and coding assistance
| Decision point | ChatGPT | Claude |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | General-purpose writing, research, analysis, and multimodal help | Long-form writing, careful analysis, document review, and coding assistance |
| Category | General AI Assistant | General AI Assistant |
| Price | Free + paid plans | Free + paid plans |
| AIToolsEssentials score | 4.8/5 | 4.7/5 |
Evidence status
OpenAI officially lists ChatGPT Free, Go, Plus, Pro, Business, and Enterprise. Free is $0; paid self-service plans are billed per user per month, while Enterprise pricing is sales-assisted. Exact localized prices were not consistently exposed by the official pricing page during verification, so no unverified amounts are reported.
Official sources checked 2026-08-25Open verification questions
- Exact US-dollar prices for Go, Plus, Pro, and Business were not reliably retrievable from the official dynamic pricing page during this check.
- Enterprise pricing requires contacting OpenAI sales.
- Astra ChatGPT/API availability timing, any Astra-specific API token prices, and a public system-card URL were not confirmed as a published SKU on the official pricing page during the 2026-09-03 watch.
Official OpenAI sources confirm consumer and business plan availability. OpenAI's terms state that, as between the user and OpenAI and to the extent permitted by applicable law, users retain Input ownership and own Output. OpenAI's data controls documentation should be consulted for consumer training controls; business products and the API are covered by separate business-data commitments. 2026-09-03 watch: OpenAI released GPT-6 Astra. Official Path to Astra post (https://openai.com/index/path-to-astra/, 2026-09-01) designates Astra as the first model at Critical cybersecurity capability; advanced cyber workflows are limited at launch to trusted testers / Daybreak Blue. Axios reports limited Daybreak Access first, then ChatGPT Plus / Pro / Business / Enterprise and API developers in the coming days. This is not a new ChatGPT SKU. Plus/Pro plan prices were not confirmed as changed on 2026-09-03 and were not re-verified as dollar amounts on this date.
Claude Free is $0. Pro is $17 per month with a $200 annual prepayment or $20 month-to-month. Max starts at $100 per month. Team supports 2–150 users and lists Standard seats at $20 per seat per month and Premium seats at $100 per seat per month. Enterprise is billed annually at a seat price plus usage at API rates.
Official sources checked 2026-08-25Open verification questions
- The official pricing page does not provide a single all-in Enterprise total because usage is billed separately at API rates.
- Sales-assisted Enterprise arrangements may have tailored pricing or contractual terms.
Anthropic's official pricing page states that Team content is not used for model training by default. Its March 16, 2026 consumer-training article says consumer chats and coding sessions may be used when the user allows such use. Consumer and commercial offerings are governed by different terms; the applicable terms should be checked for the account type.
External benchmark context
- claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929 — rank #62, 1455±3 (79,668 votes; snapshot 2026-09-02).
- chatgpt-4o-latest-20250326 — rank #78, 1443±3 (80,696 votes; snapshot 2026-09-02).
Benchmark records apply only to the exact model/configuration shown—not the whole product. Independent same-task hands-on comparison: not yet published. See the testing protocol.
Current model lineup
Version names and prices move fast. This panel tracks what each product actually ships today, with checked dates — so the comparison stays about real models, not marketing names.
| Model | Role | Context | Pricing |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPT-5.4 | Flagship reasoning + everyday assistant | ~400K | Included in Plus $20/mo; API per-token |
| GPT-5.4 Pro | Maximum-effort reasoning | ~400K | Pro $200/mo |
| GPT-5 mini / nano | Fast, cheap high-volume tasks | ~200K | API from ~$0.20/1M input |
- Verify current names at openai.com — OpenAI iterates point releases frequently.
- 2026-09-03: OpenAI released GPT-6 Astra. Official Path to Astra post designates it at Critical cybersecurity capability, with advanced cyber access gated to trusted testers / Daybreak Blue. Axios: limited Daybreak Access first, then ChatGPT Plus / Pro / Business / Enterprise and API in the coming days. It is not a new ChatGPT SKU and is tracked as a separate research watch. Plus/Pro plan prices were not confirmed as changed on this check.
| Model | Role | Context | Pricing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Opus 4.x | Deepest reasoning, long documents | 1M (beta) | API premium tier; included in Max plans |
| Claude Sonnet 4.6 | Daily driver: writing, code, agents | 200K-1M | Pro $20/mo; API ~$3/$15 per 1M |
| Claude Haiku | Fast lightweight responses | 200K | API budget tier |
- Sonnet 4.6 is the default for most paid users; check anthropic.com for current versions.
Lineups verified from official vendor pages; confirm before purchase.
How to decide
Match each platform to your actual workflow constraints. Run one real workflow in each finalist before paying.
Quick recommendation
Use the trial checklist on each review page and the free scorecard to record time-to-result, corrections needed, and monthly cost at your expected volume before committing to a plan.