Claude 3.5 Sonnet June Version vs GPT-4o

Whether you're a developer, researcher, or business leader, understanding how these models compare across key dimensions, like reasoning, speed, code generation, and multimodal capabilities, can help you choose the best tool for your needs.

Reasoning & Knowledge Performance

Claude 3.5 Sonnet shows a consistent edge in complex reasoning tasks. On the GPQA Diamond benchmark, which evaluates multi-step scientific reasoning, Claude scores 59.4% accuracy versus GPT-4o's 53.6%. Similarly, in DROP (a reading comprehension test), Claude achieves 87.1% F1, outperforming GPT-4o's 83.4%.

However, both models tie on the MMLU benchmark with 88.7%, demonstrating equal strength in broad, undergraduate-level knowledge.

GPT-4o outperforms Claude on niche reasoning tasks like trick questions and riddles (69% vs. 44%). This shows GPT-4o's edge in clever, puzzle-based logic, while Claude shines in methodical, technical reasoning.

Claude is better for scientific and deep analytical tasks, while GPT-4o thrives in creative or lateral-thinking challenges.

Coding Capabilities

Both models are outstanding for programming, but Claude takes a slight lead in benchmarks. On HumanEval, Claude hits 92.0% zero-shot pass accuracy versus GPT-4o's 90.2%. Claude is praised for giving detailed explanations and producing correct results on the first try.

It also performs strongly in live coding environments. One Anthropic evaluation found Claude could independently implement or fix code 64% of the time when paired with tools.

GPT-4o, meanwhile, is a favorite for production-grade coding. It often writes more optimized, polished, and efficient code. Developers note its strong algorithmic understanding and tendency to suggest performance improvements.

Claude is ideal for explanation-rich, one-shot coding; GPT-4o is great for fast, efficient, and optimized code production.

Speed & Latency

GPT-4o clearly wins on performance. Its average latency is 7.5 seconds, versus Claude's 9.3 seconds, and its time-to-first-token is a swift 0.56 seconds, more than twice as fast as Claude's 1.23 seconds. When generating responses, GPT-4o writes at 56 tokens/second, double Claude's 28 tokens/second.

For use cases like live chat, customer service bots, or coding assistants, this speed advantage is significant. GPT-4o's faster responses and smoother interaction make it better suited for real-time applications.

When speed is critical, go with GPT-4o.

Context Handling

Claude 3.5 Sonnet boasts a massive 200,000-token context window, far surpassing GPT-4o's 128,000 tokens. That means Claude can handle the equivalent of 150–200 pages in a single session, making it ideal for analyzing entire books, codebases, or long documents.

Internal tests show Claude's accuracy stays high even with massive inputs (up to 126K tokens), which is valuable for complex document retrieval or deep conversations.

Neither model currently supports persistent memory across sessions, though both companies are developing this feature.

Claude wins for handling long-form content and maintaining context across large inputs.

Multimodality, Tools & Integrations

GPT-4o is the clear leader in multimodal features. As its name suggests ("o" for "omni"), GPT-4o supports:

• Image input/output
• Voice interaction
• Web browsing
• Function calling (API tools)

Users can upload screenshots, search the web, or interact via voice, all in a unified experience.

Claude 3.5 Sonnet doesn't yet support live browsing or APIs but does offer a unique "Artifacts" panel, which helps preview generated content like code or documents. On the vision front, Claude shines in visual reasoning tasks, outperforming GPT-4o in chart interpretation and OCR-heavy tasks.

GPT-4o wins for voice, web, and integrated tools; Claude leads in visual comprehension and static document analysis.

Safety & Hallucination Control

Both models have undergone rigorous alignment and safety testing. Claude 3.5 maintains Anthropic's ASL-2 (Anthropic Safety Level 2) rating, showing it can handle higher capabilities without increasing risk. Its responses are contextually faithful, conservative in tone, and precise.

GPT-4o's safety stack includes improved jailbreak resistance and a strong "instruction hierarchy" that reduces misuse. Over 70 external red-teamers tested its safeguards.

In terms of factual accuracy, GPT-4o performs slightly better on TruthfulQA (69% vs. Claude's 44%), likely due to its newer training data (Oct 2023 cutoff vs. Claude's mid-2023).

Claude is better at sticking to source material and avoiding hallucination in document-based tasks. GPT-4o is better for real-world accuracy and current facts.

Which Should You Choose?

Opt for Claude 3.5 Sonnet if:

• Your work involves long documents or multi-file codebases
• You need detailed reasoning, especially in scientific or technical domains
• Visual analysis of charts, documents, and data is a priority
• You prefer one-shot code generation with full explanations

Choose GPT-4o if:

• You want fast response time and snappy interaction
• Your project requires tool use, like browsing, voice input, or function calling
• You're working with multimodal content, images, voice, or real-time data
• You need updated information from recent events or databases

Use Either Model for:

• General-purpose tasks (search, summarization, question answering)
• Multilingual conversations
• Enterprise-scale deployments (APIs, integrations)
• Code generation across major programming languages

Final Thoughts

Claude excels at deep, structured reasoning and managing long, complex contexts, making it a great choice for analytical and research-heavy workflows. GPT-4o, on the other hand, is the best-in-class for real-time performance, multimodal flexibility, and modern tool integration.

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