The Large Language Model (LLM) arena is constantly evolving, with Anthropic’s Claude 3.5 Sonnet and OpenAI’s GPT-4o emerging as leading contenders. Both offer powerful capabilities, but which one comes out on top? This comprehensive guide dissects Claude 3.5 Sonnet and GPT-4o, comparing their strengths and weaknesses across various tasks, including accuracy, speed, pricing, and available service tiers. By the end, you’ll have the information necessary to choose the LLM that best aligns with your needs and budget.
Pricing and Service Tiers
Both ChatGPT and Claude offer tiered access to their respective LLMs. ChatGPT users can access GPT-4o for free, but with limited queries within a three-hour window. Exceeding this limit relegates users to the older GPT-3.5 until the timer resets. For unlimited access to GPT-4o, along with features like DALL-E image generation, users must subscribe to ChatGPT Plus ($20/month), Teams ($30/month), or Enterprise (market rate).
A screenshot of the Claude pricing tiers
Anthropic’s Claude offers a similar tiered structure. The free tier provides access to Claude via web and iOS app, allowing image and document uploads for analysis, along with limited Claude 3.5 Sonnet usage. The Pro account ($20/month) increases usage limits, grants access to Claude 3 Opus and Haiku, prioritizes bandwidth and availability, and enables project creation centered around specific documents or files. The Teams account ($30/month/person, minimum 5 people) further expands usage limits and allows chat sharing among team members.
Advantages of Claude
Despite lower name recognition, Claude offers several advantages over GPT-4o. Its significantly larger context window (200,000 characters vs. 128,000) allows for more nuanced responses, particularly in extended interactions. Claude prioritizes accuracy over creativity, excelling at tasks like summarizing research papers and generating reports from uploaded data. It also boasts a more recent knowledge cutoff date (April 2024 vs. October 2023).
A screenshot of Claude 3.5 sonnet with the Artifacts side screen
Furthermore, Claude’s “Constitutional AI” training emphasizes ethical behavior, minimizing toxic or discriminatory outputs and avoiding advocacy for illegal or unethical activities.
Advantages of GPT-4o
GPT-4o offers a broader range of functions, a larger knowledge base, and more flexible login options. It can generate images (with a subscription) and access the web for up-to-date information, unlike Claude’s reliance on training data. GPT-4o’s signup process doesn’t require phone verification or extensive credentials. Its larger knowledge base makes it more proficient in generating creative content across image, text, and audio formats. Additionally, the ChatGPT website experiences less frequent overload issues compared to Claude’s platform.
Speed and Accuracy Comparison
Both models excel in text generation tasks, including code creation. When prompted to generate Python code for calculating a circle’s area and graphing the function, both provided similar code snippets. Claude’s response included additional code for plotting specific data points on the graph.
In image identification, both models performed comparably, accurately identifying and describing 21 items within a provided image.
An array of 3D generated images made by Meta 3D Gen
GPT-4o’s web access provides an advantage for accessing recent information. Claude, limited by its April 2024 knowledge cutoff, cannot provide real-time updates but offers helpful suggestions for finding such information.
Which is Better?
The optimal choice depends on your individual requirements. Claude is a strong contender for users prioritizing factual accuracy, long document processing, and budget-consciousness. However, if you require broader creative functionalities and are willing to invest in additional features, GPT-4o remains the superior option.
