text model comparison
Claude Opus 5 vs LongCat-2.5
Claude Opus 5 and LongCat-2.5 are both current text models, from Anthropic and Meituan. LongCat-2.5 is 94% cheaper per 1M input tokens than Claude Opus 5, $0.30 vs $5. Both accept about 1.05M tokens of context (1,048,576 and 1,000,000).
- Lower price per 1M input tokens
- LongCat-2.5$0.30 against $5
- Longer context window
- LongCat-2.51.05M tokens against 1M tokens
- Newer release
- LongCat-2.5Nov 2026 against Jul 2026
Data verified November 3, 2026 · Dataset 2026-11-03
Side by side
Claude Opus 5 and LongCat-2.5, line by line
Prices in effect today, compared at the same tier wherever both list one. The better value in each row is highlighted.
| Fact | Claude Opus 5 | LongCat-2.5 |
|---|---|---|
| Price | ||
| Price per 1M input tokens | $5 | $0.30 (better) |
| Price per 1M output tokens | $25 | $1.20 (better) |
| Independent benchmarks | ||
| Arena Text | 1492 Elo (#8 of 51) | Not measured |
| Arena WebDev | 1691 Elo (#7 of 45) | Not measured |
| FrontierMath Tiers 1-3 (v2) | 85.6% (#12 of 42) | Not measured |
| GPQA Diamond | 93.9% (#11 of 41) | Not measured |
| SimpleQA Verified | 59.9% (#14 of 38) | Not measured |
| Specs | ||
| Provider | Anthropic | Meituan |
| Release date | July 24, 2026 | November 2, 2026 |
| Access | API only | API only |
| Context window | 1,000,000 tokens | 1,048,576 tokens |
| Max output | 128,000 tokens | 262,144 tokens |
| Input | text, image | text, image, video |
| Output | text | text |
No independent benchmark has scored both models yet. Each rank counts the current models scored on that benchmark.
Charts
Against every current text model
Where Claude Opus 5 and LongCat-2.5 land among the current models of their task, on every independent benchmark, on price and on context.
Where each stands
Only Claude Opus 5 has a current Arena Text score: #8 of 51. Each bar is the share of current models it beats.
Independent benchmarks
Arena Text
Claude Opus 5:#8of 51
1,492 Elo · ahead of 86%
LongCat-2.5: Not scored
Arena WebDev
Claude Opus 5:#7of 45
1,691 Elo · ahead of 86%
LongCat-2.5: Not scored
FrontierMath Tiers 1-3 (v2)
Claude Opus 5:#12of 42
85.6% · ahead of 73%
LongCat-2.5: Not scored
GPQA Diamond
Claude Opus 5:#11of 41
93.9% · ahead of 75%
LongCat-2.5: Not scored
SimpleQA Verified
Claude Opus 5:#14of 38
59.9% · ahead of 65%
LongCat-2.5: Not scored
Price and context
Price per 1M input tokens
Claude Opus 5:#46of 52
$5 · cheaper than 8%
LongCat-2.5:#11of 52
$0.30 · cheaper than 75%
Price per 1M output tokens
Claude Opus 5:#46of 52
$25 · cheaper than 10%
LongCat-2.5:#10of 52
$1.20 · cheaper than 76%
Context window
Claude Opus 5:#26of 64
1M tokens · longer than 22%
LongCat-2.5:#11of 64
1.05M tokens · longer than 67%
Quality against price
Claude Opus 5 scores 1,492 at $10 (blended price per 1M tokens). The line joins the current models no other beats on both price and Arena Text score; hover any point to name it.
Quality against price: the data
| Model | Provider | Blended price per 1M tokens | Arena Text (Elo) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gemini 4 Argon | $4 | 1,520 | |
| Claude Opus 5.5 | Anthropic | $8 | 1,509 |
| Muse Wonder | Meta | $8 | 1,507 |
| Claude Fable 5 | Anthropic | $20 | 1,504 |
| Claude Fable 5.1 | Anthropic | $20 | 1,504 |
| Gemini 3.8 Flash | $1.50 | 1,496 | |
| Muse Spark 1.3 | Meta | $2 | 1,495 |
| Claude Opus 5 | Anthropic | $10 | 1,492 |
| Kimi K3 | Moonshot Kimi | $6 | 1,488 |
| GPT-5.6 Sol | OpenAI | $8 | 1,485 |
| Gemini 3.6 Flash | $3 | 1,483 | |
| GPT-5.5 | OpenAI | $11 | 1,482 |
| Claude Opus 4.8 | Anthropic | $10 | 1,482 |
| Qwen3.8-Max | Alibaba Qwen | $3 | 1,482 |
| GPT-6.1 Sol | OpenAI | $4 | 1,481 |
| GLM-5.3 | Z.ai | $2.15 | 1,481 |
| MiMo-V2.6-Pro | Xiaomi MiMo | $0.54 | 1,480 |
| Claude Sonnet 5.5 | Anthropic | $4 | 1,477 |
| GLM-5.3-Flash | Z.ai | $0.24 | 1,477 |
| GPT-6 Astra | OpenAI | $20 | 1,476 |
| DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash | DeepSeek | $0.52 | 1,476 |
| GPT-5.4 | OpenAI | $5.63 | 1,475 |
| Gemini 3 Flash Preview | $1.13 | 1,473 | |
| Grok 4.20 | xAI | $1.56 | 1,472 |
| GPT-5.6 Terra | OpenAI | $4.50 | 1,467 |
| Grok 4.5 | xAI | $3 | 1,465 |
| DeepSeek-V4-Pro | DeepSeek | $1.98 | 1,465 |
| Claude Sonnet 5 | Anthropic | $4 | 1,462 |
| GPT-6 Sol | OpenAI | $4 | 1,458 |
| Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite | $0.85 | 1,456 | |
| Grok 4.6 | xAI | $3 | 1,455 |
| GPT-5.6 Luna | OpenAI | $0.45 | 1,453 |
| MiMo-V2.6-Flash | Xiaomi MiMo | $0.18 | 1,448 |
| Step 5 Preview | StepFun | $1.43 | 1,448 |
| Grok 4.3 | xAI | $1.56 | 1,442 |
| GPT-6 Luna | OpenAI | $0.20 | 1,441 |
| Grok 4.7 | xAI | $3 | 1,441 |
| Mistral Large 4 | Mistral AI | $1.05 | 1,432 |
| Claude Haiku 5.5 | Anthropic | $0.20 | 1,425 |
| GPT-4.1 | OpenAI | $3.50 | 1,415 |
| Solar Pro 4 | Upstage | $0.52 | 1,388 |
| GPT-4.1 mini | OpenAI | $0.70 | 1,383 |
| GPT-4.1 nano | OpenAI | $0.18 | 1,322 |
Cost
What each costs
Example workloads at each provider's listed rates, then every other rate either one lists. The cheaper figure in each row is highlighted.
The same work, priced
For 10M input and 2M output tokens, Claude Opus 5 costs 19 times as much as LongCat-2.5, at each provider's listed rates.
10M input and 2M output tokens
Claude Opus 5 costs 19× as much
- Claude Opus 5
- $100
- LongCat-2.5
- $5.40
The same, with 9M of the input tokens cached
Claude Opus 5 costs 22× as much
- Claude Opus 5
- $59.50
- LongCat-2.5
- $2.75
| Workload or rate | Claude Opus 5 | LongCat-2.5 |
|---|---|---|
| Example workloads | ||
| 10M input and 2M output tokens | $100 | $5.40 (better) |
| The same, with 9M of the input tokens cached | $59.50 | $2.75 (better) |
| The same, through the batch API | $50 | Not listed |
| Other listed rates | ||
| 1M input tokens, cached | $0.50 | $0.006 (better) |
| 1M input tokens, batch | $2.50 | Not listed |
| 1M output tokens, batch | $12.50 | Not listed |
Your own bill will differ. These figures use list prices and example workloads. The AI Model Cost Audit reviews your real usage, shortlists models that score as well for each task for less, and estimates the savings.
Launch price $100, regular price $150
Verdict
When to choose each
Claude Opus 5
Where it leads
- Batch pricing, $2.50 input and $12.50 output per 1M tokens
Best for
- Complex agentic coding and enterprise work as the general-purpose default before reaching for Fable 5.1
- Latency-sensitive work that can justify Fast mode pricing
Watch out for
- Fast mode pricing applies to the whole request, including above 200K input tokens, so it doubles the effective rate rather than adding a surcharge
- Cache reads are $0.50 per million (the standard 0.1x), five times Fable 5.1’s $0.25, even though Opus 5 is the cheaper model on base tokens. A cache-heavy agent loop can invert the expected cost ordering between the two.
LongCat-2.5
Where it leads
- Lower input and output prices, $0.30 and $1.20 vs $5 and $25 per 1M tokens
- Longer responses, up to 262,144 vs 128,000 output tokens
- Accepts video input
- Cheaper cached input, $0.006 vs $0.50 per 1M tokens
Best for
- Coding agents working through whole projects in Claude Code, Codex or similar harnesses
- Visual coding and design work that mixes screenshots or screen recordings with code
Watch out for
- The recorded rates are a limited-time discount: Meituan publishes no list price and no end date
- API only: no weights had been published when this record was made
- Released on 2 November 2026, so no independent benchmark score is recorded here yet
From benchmark to production
Building on Claude Opus 5 or LongCat-2.5?
Public scores rarely hold on your own data. We test both models on your real tasks, then build the agent or pipeline around the one that wins.
AI Model Cost AuditLaunch price $100, regular price $150What the audit includes
FAQ
Claude Opus 5 vs LongCat-2.5 FAQ
Which is cheaper, Claude Opus 5 or LongCat-2.5?
LongCat-2.5 is 94% cheaper per 1M input tokens than Claude Opus 5, $0.30 vs $5. For 10M input and 2M output tokens, Claude Opus 5 costs $100 and LongCat-2.5 $5.40 at standard rates.
Which is cheaper with prompt caching, Claude Opus 5 or LongCat-2.5?
Claude Opus 5 charges $0.50 per 1M cached input tokens, 90% below its standard input rate, and LongCat-2.5 $0.006, 98% below. With 9M of 10M input tokens cached and 2M output tokens, Claude Opus 5 costs $59.50 and LongCat-2.5 $2.75.
Which has the larger context window, Claude Opus 5 or LongCat-2.5?
Both accept about 1.05M tokens of context (1,048,576 and 1,000,000). LongCat-2.5 returns up to 262,144 tokens per response, Claude Opus 5 128,000.
How do Claude Opus 5 and LongCat-2.5 differ in features?
Claude Opus 5 takes text and image input; LongCat-2.5 takes text, image and video.
Further reading
More on Claude Opus 5 and LongCat-2.5
Articles on Claude Opus 5 and LongCat-2.5
- LongCat-2.5 vs Claude Opus 5: Read the Benchmarks FirstNovember 4, 2026 · compares both
- Fable 5.1 vs Opus 5 vs GPT-5.6: Which to UseSeptember 1, 2026
- Kimi K3 vs Opus 5 vs GPT-5.6 Sol: which model should you use?July 31, 2026
- Gemini 3.6 Flash vs Claude Opus 5: Route by TierJuly 26, 2026
- Claude Opus 5: What Anthropic's New Flagship Means for AI AgentsJuly 26, 2026
Related comparisons
- Claude Opus 5 vs Mistral Large 4
- DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash vs LongCat-2.5
- Claude Opus 5 vs Claude Sonnet 5.5
- Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite vs LongCat-2.5
- Claude Opus 5 vs Claude Opus 5.5
- Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite vs LongCat-2.5
- Claude Opus 5 vs Grok 4.7
- GLM-5.3-Flash vs LongCat-2.5
- Claude Opus 5 vs GPT-6 Astra
- GLM-5.3 vs LongCat-2.5
- Claude Opus 5 vs Gemini 3.8 Flash
- LongCat-2.5 vs MiMo-V2.6-Flash
Production evaluation
Choosing between Claude Opus 5 and LongCat-2.5?
Public benchmarks narrow the shortlist. We run both on your own tasks, data and cost limits, then build the routing and review controls to run the winner in production.
- A head-to-head evaluation on your real workload
- Routing between models by cost and difficulty