ModelRefs / Claude 3.5 Sonnet vs GPT-5 Mini
Claude 3.5 Sonnet vs GPT-5 Mini
Claude 3.5 Sonnet vs GPT-5 Mini: side-by-side benchmarks, pricing, context windows, coding ability and deployment. Pick the right model for your stack.
Overview
Claude 3.5 Sonnet: Claude 3.5 Sonnet is Anthropic's mid-2024 balanced model, the release that introduced computer use and anchored Anthropic's agentic-coding positioning for its generation across a 200,000-token context window. It is now retired: Anthropic deprecated both the claude-3-5-sonnet-20240620 and claude-3-5-sonnet-20241022 snapshots on 13 August 2025 and retired them on 28 October 2025 on Anthropic-operated platforms, naming Claude Sonnet 5.5 as the replacement.
GPT-5 Mini: GPT-5 Mini is OpenAI's August 2025 cost-efficient reasoning model for well-defined, latency-sensitive, and high-volume workloads. The API model supports text input and output, image input, configurable reasoning effort, and an immutable gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07 snapshot; OpenAI now classifies it as a previous-generation model.
Context window: Claude 3.5 Sonnet accepts up to 200,000 tokens, GPT-5 Mini up to 400,000. Confirm the limit for your specific deployment channel before relying on it.
Claude 3.5 Sonnet vs GPT-5 Mini at a glance
| Attribute | Claude 3.5 Sonnet | GPT-5 Mini |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Anthropic | OpenAI |
| Released | 2024-06-20 | 2025-08-07 |
| Context window | 200,000 tokens | 400,000 tokens |
| Input price | $3/M tokens | $0.25/M tokens |
| Output price | $15/M tokens | $2/M tokens |
| Licence | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| Self-hostable | No, hosted only | No, hosted only |
| Modalities | text, vision | text, vision |
Benchmarks reported for both
| Benchmark | Claude 3.5 Sonnet | GPT-5 Mini | Reported |
|---|---|---|---|
| SWE-Bench Verified (resolved) | 49 | 71 | 2025-01-06 / 2025-08-07 |
Each row compares the same benchmark, the same reported metric, and the same task set. Scores are as published by their cited sources on the dates shown. Different runs still use different harnesses and prompts, so treat these as directional evidence rather than a head-to-head result.
Where they differ most
- Cost Efficiency: Claude 3.5 Sonnet 37%, GPT-5 Mini 78%. GPT-5 Mini leads on this dimension.
- Agentic: Claude 3.5 Sonnet 49%, GPT-5 Mini 73%. GPT-5 Mini leads on this dimension.
- Coding: Claude 3.5 Sonnet 49%, GPT-5 Mini 71%. GPT-5 Mini leads on this dimension.
Capability scores are ModelRefs' own derived signals, not vendor claims or benchmark results. Validate against your own workload before relying on them.
Continue your research
Use these connected ModelRefs sections to compare alternatives, inspect implementation paths, and review the evidence and governance boundaries relevant to Claude 3.5 Sonnet vs GPT-5 Mini.
Frequently asked questions
Which is better, Claude 3.5 Sonnet or GPT-5 Mini?
Claude 3.5 Sonnet and GPT-5 Mini target different workloads — see the benchmark and pricing tables for a side-by-side answer.
Is Claude 3.5 Sonnet cheaper than GPT-5 Mini?
Compare $0.00300 vs $0.00025 on this page.