Claude Opus 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) vs GPT-5.4 mini (Xhigh)
Which is better for the money: Claude Opus 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) by Anthropic or GPT-5.4 mini (Xhigh) 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 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) scores 33.5 points higher (57.6 vs 24.1) but costs 5.7× as much to run the benchmark ($8708 vs $1524; flagship vs premium cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick Claude Opus 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) when you need intelligence above 24.1, and GPT-5.4 mini (Xhigh) when 24.1 is enough.
| Metric | Claude Opus 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) | GPT-5.4 mini (Xhigh) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 57.6 | 24.1 | −58.2% GPT-5.4 mini (Xhigh) is 58.2% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $8,708.20 | $1,524.02 | −82.5% GPT-5.4 mini (Xhigh) is 82.5% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 626.13s | 115.72s | −81.5% GPT-5.4 mini (Xhigh) is 81.5% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $4.00 / $20.0 | $0.75 / $4.50 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image |
GPT-5.4 mini (Xhigh) vs Claude Opus 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback): 58.2% less intelligence, 82.5% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 81.5% faster end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- Claude Opus 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) is on today's frontier: nothing is both smarter and cheaper.
- GPT-5.4 mini (Xhigh) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Max) scores 51.80 for $1082.
Claude Opus 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback)GPT-5.4 mini (Xhigh)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-5-5/gpt-5-4-mini · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/claude-opus-5-5/gpt-5-4-mini?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill