OpenAI vs Anthropic Pricing
OpenAI is cheaper than Anthropic at the entry level: gpt-oss-20b costs $0.140 per 1M output tokens against $0.500 for Claude Haiku 5.5 — 3.6× the price. On current flagships, OpenAI's Daybreak Red costs $75.00/1M output against $50.00/1M for Anthropic's Claude Fable 5.1. Prices are USD, current as of October 12, 2026.
Per-million-token pricing for OpenAI and Anthropic, with side-by-side flagship models, cheapest tiers, and context windows. Pricing data syncs weekly from a continuously-updated model catalog — last updated October 12, 2026.
Who wins on what
Cheapest input tokens
$0.03/1MOpenAI
gpt-oss-20b — $0.03/1M input
Cheapest output tokens
$0.14/1MOpenAI
gpt-oss-20b — $0.14/1M output
Longest context window
2.0MOpenAI
gpt-5.4 (>272K context length) — 2.0M input tokens
Lowest average output cost
$23.55/1MAnthropic
Provider-wide average across 35 models
Largest model catalog
135 modelsOpenAI
More options to match cost vs capability
Cheapest cached input
$0.01/1MOpenAI
GPT-6 Luna — $0.01/1M cached read
Most reasoning models
18 modelsOpenAI
Models with dedicated reasoning / thinking support
Most vision models
19 modelsOpenAI
Models that accept image input
Side-by-side
OpenAI
Full OpenAI pricing →Cheapest input
$0.030
gpt-oss-20b
Cheapest output
$0.140
gpt-oss-20b
Longest context
2.0M
gpt-5.4 (>272K context length)
Avg output / 1M
$30.78
Across catalog
Cheapest cached input
$0.010
GPT-6 Luna
Batch discount
17–50% off output
59 models with published batch rates
| Model | In/1M | Out/1M | Ctx |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPT-6.1 Sol VisionReasoningToolsCache Batch −50% | $2.00 | $10.00 | 1.1M |
| GPT-6 Sol VisionReasoningToolsCache Batch −50% | $2.00 | $10.00 | 1.1M |
| GPT-6 Luna VisionReasoningToolsCache Batch −50% | $0.100 | $0.500 | 1.1M |
| GPT-6 Astra VisionReasoningToolsCache Batch −50% | $10.00 | $50.00 | 1.1M |
| Daybreak Red VisionReasoningToolsCache | $12.50 | $75.00 | 400K |
| gpt-oss-20b | $0.030 | $0.140 | 131K |
Anthropic
Full Anthropic pricing →Cheapest input
$0.100
Claude Haiku 5.5
Cheapest output
$0.500
Claude Haiku 5.5
Longest context
1.0M
Claude Fable 5
Avg output / 1M
$23.55
Across catalog
Cheapest cached input
$0.010
Claude Haiku 5.5
Batch discount
50% off output
21 models with published batch rates
| Model | In/1M | Out/1M | Ctx |
|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Haiku 5.5 VisionReasoningToolsCache Batch −50% | $0.100 | $0.500 | 1.0M |
| Claude Sonnet 5.5 VisionReasoningToolsCache Batch −50% | $2.00 | $10.00 | 1.0M |
| Claude Opus 5.5 VisionReasoningToolsCache Batch −50% | $4.00 | $20.00 | 1.0M |
| Claude Fable 5.1 VisionReasoningToolsCache Batch −50% | $10.00 | $50.00 | 1.0M |
| Claude Opus 5 VisionReasoningToolsCache Batch −50% | $5.00 | $25.00 | 1.0M |
All prices in USD per 1 million tokens. Showing top 6 models per provider, sorted by output cost.
Batch badges mark models with a published asynchronous batch rate. A model without one is billed at its standard rate — our catalog does not carry batch rates for every model, so an absent badge is not evidence that no batch tier exists.
Frequently asked questions
Is OpenAI or Anthropic cheaper?
OpenAI has the cheaper entry point at $0.14/1M output (gpt-oss-20b — $0.14/1M output). Provider-wide, OpenAI averages $30.78/1M output against $23.55/1M for Anthropic. Which is cheaper for you depends on which model tier your workload actually needs.
How much do OpenAI and Anthropic cost per 1M tokens?
OpenAI starts at $0.140 per 1M output tokens (gpt-oss-20b), with its current flagship Daybreak Red at $75.00. Anthropic starts at $0.500 (Claude Haiku 5.5), with Claude Fable 5.1 at $50.00. Input tokens cost less than output on both.
Which has the larger context window, OpenAI or Anthropic?
OpenAI — gpt-5.4 (>272K context length) — 2.0M input tokens. For comparison, OpenAI's largest is 2.0M tokens (gpt-5.4 (>272K context length)) and Anthropic's is 1.0M tokens (Claude Fable 5).
Which has more reasoning models, OpenAI or Anthropic?
OpenAI lists 18 reasoning models and Anthropic lists 8. Reasoning models bill their internal thinking as output tokens, so a reasoning call costs several times a standard completion of the same visible length — compare them on total tokens billed, not headline rate.
Do OpenAI and Anthropic offer batch discounts?
Both publish discounted rates for asynchronous batch jobs: OpenAI on 59 models in this catalog and Anthropic on 21, at 17–50% and 50% off output tokens respectively. Batch trades real-time responses for a lower rate, so it fits backfills, evaluations and bulk enrichment rather than anything user-facing.
Should I switch from OpenAI to Anthropic to save money?
Only if the cheaper model still meets your quality bar. Token price is one input; the ones that decide your bill are prompt size, response length, retries and how much conversation history you resend each turn. Model the switch against your real traffic before committing. Prices here are current as of October 12, 2026.
Related comparisons
Run the numbers for your workload.
Calcaas multiplies per-token costs by your real usage patterns — inputs, outputs, retries, and conversation history — across both providers in one model.