Claude Opus 4.8 (Max) vs GPT-6 Luna (Max)
Which is better for the money: Claude Opus 4.8 (Max) by Anthropic or GPT-6 Luna (Max) by OpenAI? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-10-24.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
Claude Opus 4.8 (Max) scores 3.7 points higher (41.8 vs 38.1) but costs 56× as much to run the benchmark ($6874 vs $122; flagship vs mid-range cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick Claude Opus 4.8 (Max) when you need intelligence above 38.1, and GPT-6 Luna (Max) when 38.1 is enough.
| Metric | Claude Opus 4.8 (Max) | GPT-6 Luna (Max) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 41.8 | 38.1 | −8.9% GPT-6 Luna (Max) is 8.9% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $6,873.86 | $122.05 | −98.2% GPT-6 Luna (Max) is 98.2% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 36.92s | 82.02s | +122.2% GPT-6 Luna (Max) is 122.2% slower |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $5.00 / $25.0 | $0.10 / $0.50 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image |
GPT-6 Luna (Max) vs Claude Opus 4.8 (Max): 8.9% less intelligence, 98.2% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 122.2% slower end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- Claude Opus 4.8 (Max) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, Claude Opus 5.5 (Xhigh, Default Fallback) scores 56.00 for $4057.
- GPT-6 Luna (Max) is on today's frontier: nothing is both smarter and cheaper.
Claude Opus 4.8 (Max)GPT-6 Luna (Max)Today's Pareto frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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Accept: text/markdown or ?format=md returns this page as Markdown. JSON: /api/v1/compare/claude-opus-4-8/gpt-6-luna · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/claude-opus-4-8/gpt-6-luna?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill