Pairwise benchmark snapshot · Aug 16, 2026
In this head-to-head showdown, Claude Haiku 4.5 delivers higher overall intelligence and human-preferred responses (Elo 1,438 vs 1,248), while Claude Haiku 4.5 leads in SWE-bench software engineering benchmarks (58.2%), while Claude Haiku 4.5 is more budget-friendly at $5/1M per 1M output tokens. Review the complete breakdown below to determine which model best fits your performance and budget requirements.
8 direct benchmark disciplines evaluated across capability, speed, and cost
Original Claude 3 flagship. Kept so opus 3 vs later Opus and vs GPT-4o still resolve.
Anthropic cheap/fast Claude SKU. Official Claude Platform list price $1/$5 per 1M tokens (Anthropic Haiku page).
Δ 190 Arena Elo pts
175 tok/s
$5 / 1M output
Relative percentile scores computed across all active models in the benchmark catalog.
Comparing top Western standard models with China's leading frontier rival across 6 skill dimensions. Tap any spoke or dot to inspect.
Category wins across reasoning intelligence, generation speed, and token cost.
Preference Elo, Coding proficiency, SWE-bench & LiveBench accuracy
Generation throughput and time to first token responsiveness
Cost per million tokens and max context window length
| Benchmark | Claude 3 Opus | Claude Haiku 4.5 | Advantage Delta |
|---|---|---|---|
| Preference Elo | +190 | ||
| Coding Elo | — | — | |
| LiveBench | +16.2% | ||
| SWE-bench | +19.8% | ||
| GPQA Diamond | +23.6% | ||
| Time to first token | +325 ms | ||
| Output speed | 48 tok/s | 175 tok/s | +127 tok/s |
| Input price | +$14/1M | ||
| Output price | +$70/1M | ||
| Context window | — |
Simulate monthly production API costs in USD (US Dollar).
Claude Haiku 4.5 is estimated to save $1,540.00/month ($18,480/year).
Higher SWE-bench (58.2%).
Lower output list price ($5/1M).
Lower TTFT (95 ms).
Larger window (200k).
Both accept images. Defaulting to the higher-Elo side (Claude Haiku 4.5).
| Target Workload | Recommended Pick | Evaluation Rationale |
|---|---|---|
| Repo / coding agents | Claude Haiku 4.5 | Higher SWE-bench (58.2%). |
| High-volume chat | Claude Haiku 4.5 | Lower output list price ($5/1M). |
| Voice / low-latency UI | Claude Haiku 4.5 | Lower TTFT (95 ms). |
| Long-document RAG | Claude 3 Opus | Larger window (200k). |
| Screenshots / vision | Claude Haiku 4.5 | Both accept images. Defaulting to the higher-Elo side (Claude Haiku 4.5). |
$1/$5 hosted Claude vs a cheap long-context open sibling. The alternative-to-Sonnet pair that is honest.
Huge window, cheap hosted lists. The Haiku alternative that is actually open-weight.
Official Anthropic list $1/$5. This is the SKU behind “cheapest Claude alternative” that is still Claude.
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Verified Head-to-Head Telemetry
