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Claude Opus 5 vs Claude Opus 4.8
Claude Opus 5 scores higher than Claude Opus 4.8 on both public leaderboards that rate them. On the ArtificialWatch Index, which takes the median of each model's percentile across the boards that score it, Claude Opus 5 is at 74.1 and Claude Opus 4.8 at 30.4 (out of 100). On each maker's API, Claude Opus 5 costs $5 / $25 per 1M tokens (input / output) and Claude Opus 4.8 $5 / $25.
Scores as published by each board; table composed November 7, 2026.
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Leaderboard by leaderboard
| Board | Claude Opus 5 | Claude Opus 4.8 | Higher |
|---|---|---|---|
| LMArena Elo (community votes) | 1,691.3 | 1,555.9 | Claude Opus 5 |
| SimpleBench AVG@5 % (private set) | 80.6 | 64.8 | Claude Opus 5 |
Raw scores are each board's own scale, so compare within a row, not across rows. Full table: the bench index.
For coding
On the ArtificialWatch coding index, Claude Opus 5 is at 86.7 (#6 of 45) and Claude Opus 4.8 at 52.3 (#18). Claude Opus 5 scores higher on both coding boards that rate them.
| Coding board | Claude Opus 5 | Claude Opus 4.8 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena · Coding | 1,532.7 | 1,490.8 |
| Vals Vibe Code Bench | 88.4 | 82.7 |
Claude Opus 5 at a glance
- Developer
- Anthropic
- Status
- Live since July 24, 2026
- API price
- $5 input / $25 output per 1M tokens · Anthropic, claude-opus-5
- Context window
- 1M tokens
Live — detected 16:51 UTC Jul 24, alert fired 61s later · superseded by Opus 5.5 on Sep 22 and moved to Anthropic's legacy list; still served at $5/$25, which is now MORE than its successor.
Claude Opus 5 is live — we detected it at 16:51 UTC and had alerts out 61 seconds later
2026-07-24 · Anthropic's Claude Opus 5 went live on the public API today. Our checkers saw the id appear at 16:51:33 UTC, confirmed it on the next 60-second sweep, and the alert blast went out at 16:52:34 — sixty-one seconds from first sighting to inbox.
Claude Opus 4.8 at a glance
- Developer
- Anthropic
- Status
- Live since May 27, 2026
- API price
- $5 input / $25 output per 1M tokens · Anthropic, claude-opus-4-8
- Context window
- 1M tokens
Live.
Claude Opus 5 vs Claude Opus 4.8: quick answers
Which is better, Claude Opus 5 or Claude Opus 4.8?
It depends on what you measure. Claude Opus 5 scores higher than Claude Opus 4.8 on both public leaderboards that rate them. Claude Opus 5's widest lead is on LMArena. On the ArtificialWatch Index, which takes the median of each model's percentile across the boards that score it, Claude Opus 5 is at 74.1 and Claude Opus 4.8 at 30.4 (out of 100).
Which is newer, Claude Opus 5 or Claude Opus 4.8?
Claude Opus 5. It went live on July 24, 2026, 58 days after Claude Opus 4.8 (May 27, 2026).
Which is cheaper, Claude Opus 5 or Claude Opus 4.8?
They cost the same per token. On each vendor's own API, Claude Opus 5 is $5 input / $25 output per million tokens and Claude Opus 4.8 is $5 input / $25 output per million tokens. Prices as published in the models.dev catalog, as of 2026-11-07.
Which has the bigger context window, Claude Opus 5 or Claude Opus 4.8?
Neither. Both take 1M tokens.
How do Claude Opus 5 and Claude Opus 4.8 compare for coding?
On the ArtificialWatch coding index, Claude Opus 5 is at 86.7 (#6 of 45) and Claude Opus 4.8 at 52.3 (#18). Claude Opus 5 scores higher on both coding boards that rate them.
Who makes Claude Opus 5 and Claude Opus 4.8?
Both are from Anthropic.
Where do these numbers come from?
Each score is the leaderboard's own published figure, read by ArtificialWatch (table composed November 7, 2026). Boards measure different things, so raw scores are only comparable within a row.
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Also: the bench index · API pricing · what a workload costs on each · the wire