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Claude 4.5 Opus vs Claude 4.1 Opus

Compare pricing, context windows, and strengths for Claude 4.5 Opus by Anthropic and Claude 4.1 Opus by Anthropic - and see how to put either to work in Appaca.

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Claude 4.5 Opus

Anthropic's November 2025 flagship model, combining maximum capability with practical performance for coding, agents, computer use, and enterprise workflows.

View Claude 4.5 Opus
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Claude 4.1 Opus

A refined flagship model with improved coding, reasoning, research depth, and agentic task performance over Opus 4.

View Claude 4.1 Opus

Claude 4.5 Opus vs Claude 4.1 Opus at a glance

Specs and pricing side by side, from the Appaca AI models directory.

Spec Claude 4.5 Opus Claude 4.1 Opus
Provider Anthropic Anthropic
Model type Text Text
Context window 200K tokens 1M tokens
Input price $5 / 1M tokens $15 / 1M tokens
Output price $25 / 1M tokens $75 / 1M tokens
Status Superseded by Claude 4.6 Opus Superseded by Claude 4.5 Opus
Key differences

How Claude 4.5 Opus and Claude 4.1 Opus differ

What the numbers mean in practice when choosing between Claude 4.5 Opus and Claude 4.1 Opus.

  • Claude 4.5 Opus is 67% cheaper on input tokens ($5 vs $15 per million), which adds up quickly in document-heavy workloads.

  • Claude 4.5 Opus is 67% cheaper on output tokens ($25 vs $75 per million) - the bigger factor for tools that generate long documents.

  • Claude 4.1 Opus's 1M tokens context window is roughly 5x larger than Claude 4.5 Opus's 200K tokens, so it can work across bigger codebases, contracts, or archives in one pass.

  • Claude 4.5 Opus has been superseded by Claude 4.6 Opus - for new builds, consider the newer model first.

  • Claude 4.1 Opus has been superseded by Claude 4.5 Opus - for new builds, consider the newer model first.

Strengths side by side

Where each model shines, according to benchmarks and provider positioning.

Claude 4.5 Opus

1. Maximum capability with more practical pricing

  • Anthropic introduced Opus 4.5 as its most intelligent model, combining maximum capability with practical performance.
  • It was positioned as the best model in the world for coding, agents, and computer use at launch, with pricing reduced to $5/M input and $25/M output.

2. Step-change gains for coding and advanced agent work

  • Anthropic describes Opus 4.5 as state-of-the-art on real-world software engineering tests.
  • It also improved everyday knowledge-work tasks like deep research, slides, and spreadsheets while staying strong on long-horizon agent workflows.

3. Better control over reasoning depth

  • Opus 4.5 introduced the effort parameter, letting developers trade off response thoroughness against token efficiency.
  • This made it easier to use one flagship model across both high-depth analysis and more cost-sensitive production workloads.

4. Stronger computer use and continuity

  • Added enhanced computer use with a zoom action for inspecting detailed screen regions.
  • Preserves prior thinking blocks across turns, helping the model maintain reasoning continuity in extended multi-step tasks.

Claude 4.1 Opus

1. Advanced Coding Performance

  • Achieves 74.5% on SWE-bench Verified, improving the Claude family's state-of-the-art coding abilities.

  • Stronger at:

    • Multi-file code refactoring
    • Large codebase debugging
    • Pinpointing exact corrections without unnecessary edits
  • Outperforms Opus 4 and shows gains comparable to jumps seen in past major releases.

2. Improved Agentic & Research Capabilities

  • Better at maintaining detail accuracy in long research tasks.
  • Enhanced agentic search and step-by-step problem solving.
  • Performs reliably across complex multi-turn reasoning tasks.

3. Validated by Real-World Users

  • GitHub: Better multi-file refactoring and code adjustments.
  • Rakuten Group: High precision debugging with minimal collateral changes.
  • Windsurf: One standard deviation improvement on their junior dev benchmark - similar magnitude to Sonnet 3.7 → Sonnet 4.

4. Hybrid-Reasoning Benchmark Improvements

  • Improvements across TAU-bench, GPQA Diamond, MMMLU, MMMU, AIME (with extended thinking).
  • Stronger robustness in long-context reasoning tasks.
Appaca

Use Claude 4.5 Opus or Claude 4.1 Opus - or both

Appaca is the AI workspace for operators. Build internal tools and AI co-workers powered by Claude 4.5 Opus or Claude 4.1 Opus - connected to your real data and ready for your whole team. No code, no deployment.

Describe it, and it's built

Tell the Appaca agent the internal tool you need and it builds a working app powered by Claude 4.5 Opus or Claude 4.1 Opus. No code, no API keys, no deployment.

Switch models without rebuilding

Start on Claude 4.5 Opus, test the same tool on Claude 4.1 Opus, and keep whichever performs better - the rest of your app stays exactly as it is.

Automated for the whole team

Schedule tools to run on autopilot - daily digests, weekly reports, real-time triggers - and share them with your whole team from one workspace.

Describe it, and it's built

Tell the Appaca agent what your team needs and it builds a working app powered by Claude 4.5 Opus or Claude 4.1 Opus - connected to the tools you already use.

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FAQs

Is Claude 4.5 Opus cheaper than Claude 4.1 Opus?

Claude 4.5 Opus is generally cheaper: $5 input / $25 output per million tokens, versus $15 / $75 for Claude 4.1 Opus. Actual cost depends on how many tokens your workload reads and writes.

Which has the larger context window, Claude 4.5 Opus or Claude 4.1 Opus?

Claude 4.1 Opus has the larger context window at 1M tokens, compared to 200K tokens for Claude 4.5 Opus. A larger window means the model can consider more text at once - useful for long contracts, codebases, or months of records.

Should I use Claude 4.5 Opus or Claude 4.1 Opus?

It depends on the job. Compare the pricing, context window, and strengths above against your workload - and remember the choice isn't permanent. In Appaca you can build a tool on Claude 4.5 Opus, test the same tool on Claude 4.1 Opus, and switch at any time without rebuilding anything.

Can I use Claude 4.5 Opus and Claude 4.1 Opus without writing code?

Yes. Appaca is a no-code AI workspace: describe the internal tool your team needs and the Appaca agent builds it as a working app powered by Claude 4.5 Opus, Claude 4.1 Opus, or any other model in the directory - with a built-in database, team access, and integrations. No API keys to wire up and nothing to deploy.

Build AI tools with Claude 4.5 Opus or Claude 4.1 Opus

Describe the tool your team needs and get a working app powered by the model you choose - with a built-in database, team access, and integrations. No code, no deployment.