Claude Opus 4.8 benchmarks, pricing and specs
Claude Opus 4.8 is an Anthropic model released on May 28, 2026 that takes text input and produces text. It costs $5 per 1M input tokens and $25 per 1M output tokens and accepts up to 1,000,000 tokens of context. It scores 1481 Elo on Arena Text, #15 of 39 current models (Arena, measured October 8, 2026).
- Per 1M input tokens
- $5
- Per 1M output tokens
- $25
- Context window
- 1M
- Arena Text
- 1481 Elo · #15/39
Data verified October 12, 2026 · Dataset 2026-10-12
Key facts
- Provider
- Anthropic
- Model family
- Claude Opus
- Release date
- May 28, 2026
- Status
- Current
- Access
- API only
- API model id
- Not reported
- Context window
- 1,000,000 tokens
- Max output
- Not reported
- Input
- text
- Output
- text
- Task families
- text
- Declared capabilities
- reasoning
Claude Opus 4.8 pricing
It is the #5 most expensive of 37 current text models priced per 1M input tokens.
Independent benchmark results
Scores come from independent evaluators that ran the model themselves, pinned to a dated snapshot. Rank is among current models in the same snapshot. Anthropic's own launch figures are listed under strengths with the publisher named, because they are not measured the same way.
| Benchmark | Score | Rank | Measured | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arena Text | 1481 Elo | #15 of 39 | October 8, 2026 | Arena · 2026-10-12 |
| GPQA Diamond | 91% | #20 of 37 | October 12, 2026 | Epoch AI · 2026-10-12 |
| FrontierMath Tiers 1-3 (v2) | 80% | #13 of 37 | October 12, 2026 | Epoch AI · 2026-10-12 |
| SimpleQA Verified | 53% | #17 of 34 | October 12, 2026 | Epoch AI · 2026-10-12 |
| LiveBench Overall | 78.93 points | #2 of 5 | June 25, 2026 | LiveBench · 2026-06-25 |
Strengths, cautions and best uses
Strengths
- Claude Opus 4.8 is positioned for coding, agentic tasks, and professional work with a published 1,000,000-token context window
Cautions
- Maximum output length is not represented because the approved source set does not establish one unambiguously
Best for
- Long-running agentic and professional-work evaluations
Alternatives to Claude Opus 4.8
The closest current textmodels by price. The cheapest model that scores as well or better is listed first; failing that, the cheapest one within 3% of the benchmark's scale.
Cheaper, same or higher score
Gemini 3.8 Flash
- 85% cheaper per 1M input tokens, $0.75 vs $5
- 16 points higher on Arena Text, 1497 vs 1481
- From Google
GPT-5.5
- Same price per 1M input tokens, $5
- 1 points higher on Arena Text, 1482 vs 1481
- From OpenAI
GPT-5.6 Sol
- 20% cheaper per 1M input tokens, $4 vs $5
- 4 points higher on Arena Text, 1485 vs 1481
- From OpenAI
Kimi K3
- 40% cheaper per 1M input tokens, $3 vs $5
- 7 points higher on Arena Text, 1488 vs 1481
- From Moonshot Kimi
Compare Claude Opus 4.8 with
Other Claude Opus models
Claude Opus 4.8 FAQ
How much does Claude Opus 4.8 cost?
Claude Opus 4.8 costs $5 per 1M input tokens and $25 per 1M output tokens at the standard tier. It is the #5 most expensive of 37 current text models priced per 1M input tokens. Source: Anthropic, verified October 11, 2026.
What is the context window of Claude Opus 4.8?
Claude Opus 4.8 accepts up to 1,000,000 tokens of context. That ranks #24 of 44 current text models by context length.
How does Claude Opus 4.8 score on independent benchmarks?
Claude Opus 4.8 scores 1481 Elo on Arena Text, #15 of 39 current models (Arena, measured October 8, 2026), 91% on GPQA Diamond, #20 of 37 current models (Epoch AI, measured October 12, 2026) and 80% on FrontierMath Tiers 1-3 (v2), #13 of 37 current models (Epoch AI, measured October 12, 2026). These are independent evaluations, not Anthropic's own launch figures.
Is Claude Opus 4.8 open source or API only?
Claude Opus 4.8 is available through Anthropic's API only; its weights are not published.
What are the best alternatives to Claude Opus 4.8?
The closest current alternatives by price and measured performance are Gemini 3.8 Flash (85% cheaper per 1M input tokens, $0.75 vs $5), GPT-5.5 (same price per 1M input tokens, $5), GPT-5.6 Sol (20% cheaper per 1M input tokens, $4 vs $5) and Kimi K3 (40% cheaper per 1M input tokens, $3 vs $5).
Sources
- Introducing Claude Opus 4.8 · Anthropic · official · verified August 7, 2026
- Claude API pricing · Anthropic · official · verified October 11, 2026
- LiveBench 2026-06-25 task results · LiveBench · independent · verified August 7, 2026 · Apache-2.0
- Epoch AI Benchmarking Hub data (benchmark_data.zip) · Epoch AI · independent · verified October 12, 2026 · CC-BY-4.0
- Arena leaderboard dataset (lmarena-ai/leaderboard-dataset) · Arena · independent · verified October 12, 2026 · CC-BY-4.0
Cite this page
Van Data Team. "Claude Opus 4.8 Benchmarks, Pricing and Specs." AI Model Benchmark Dataset 2026-10-12. https://vandatateam.com/ai-model-benchmarks/claude-opus-4-8
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Production evaluation
Deciding whether Claude Opus 4.8 fits your workload?
Public benchmarks narrow the shortlist. We test the finalists on your own tasks, data and cost limits, then build the routing and review controls to run the winner in production.
- Evaluation cases and acceptance thresholds tied to real work
- Model routing, fallbacks and cost controls