GPT-5.5 vs Claude 4.8
The two leading AI models of 2026 — OpenAI GPT-5.5 and Anthropic Claude 4.8 compared side by side (official docs checked 2026-10-21). Official prices: GPT-5.5 costs $5.00 input, $0.50 cached and $30.00 output per 1M tokens, with a 1,050,000 token context window; Claude Opus 4.8 costs $5 / MTok input and $25 / MTok output, with a 1M token context window, and Anthropic now lists it as legacy and suggests moving to Opus 5.5. Reasoning, coding, long context, multimodal, pricing — every dimension benchmarked so you can choose well.
One-Sentence Positioning
As of 2026-10-21, the official OpenAI model page lists GPT-5.5 at $5.00 input, $0.50 cached and $30.00 output per 1M tokens, with a 1,050,000 token context window, 128,000 max output tokens and a Dec 01, 2025 knowledge cutoff; reasoning.effort supports none, low, medium (default), high and xhigh, and requests above 272K input tokens are priced at 2x input and 1.5x output for the whole request (standard, batch and flex). GPT-5.5 was OpenAI's flagship when this page shipped (2026-05-29): reasoning, autonomous agent execution, desktop super-app, native multimodal. The 2026-09-20 pricing archive leads with gpt-6-astra.
As of 2026-10-21, Anthropic's official docs list Claude Opus 4.8 (claude-opus-4-8) as a legacy model that is still available, with official pricing of $5 / MTok input and $25 / MTok output, a 1M token context window, 128K max output tokens and a Jan 2026 knowledge cutoff. Anthropic recommends migrating to Claude Opus 5.5, and the current lineup is Opus 5.5, Fable 5.1, Sonnet 5.5 and Haiku 5.5. In Anthropic's deprecation table claude-opus-4-8 is still Active, retiring no sooner than 2027-05-28, and claude-opus-4-1-20250805 was retired on 2026-08-05 with claude-opus-4-8 as its replacement. Claude 4.8 (Opus 4.8) was Anthropic's flagship at release on 2026-05-28 — sharper agentic judgement, 4x fewer code flaws than the previous generation, native 1M context. Claude Opus 5.5 is officially priced at $4 / $20, cache reads $0.20 (released 2026-09-22).
Spec Comparison Table
Side-by-side core specification metrics (context and max output per the official model pages checked on 2026-10-21: GPT-5.5 1,050,000 / 128,000 tokens, Claude Opus 4.8 1M / 128K tokens)
| Spec | GPT-5.5 | Claude 4.8 |
|---|---|---|
| Context Window | 1.05M | 1M |
| Multimodal | Image + Text + UI | Image + Text |
| Agent Mode | Native (super-app) | Native (CLI) |
| Tool Calling | Aggressive | Stable |
| HumanEval | 90+ | 90+ |
| SWE-bench Verified | Strong | Leading |
| Form Factor | Desktop super-app + CLI | CLI + IDE plugins |
Coding Benchmark (HumanEval / SWE-bench)
Both score 90+ on HumanEval single-turn code generation. On real-repo agentic coding the story is reliability: Anthropic hasn't published a full SWE-bench Pro figure for the newest Opus, so the headline for Claude 4.8 is agentic reliability and 4x fewer code flaws than 4.7 — fewer defects reaching production. GPT-5.5 is more aggressive on autonomous exploration and tool-call agent mode. Production advice: try both.
Reasoning & Long Context
Claude 4.8 offers native 1M context (128K max output tokens) with strong long-context stability, suitable for large-repo whole-codebase analysis and long multi-document tasks. GPT-5.5 has an official 1,050,000 token context window and 128,000 max output tokens (OpenAI model page, checked 2026-10-21), with reasoning.effort supporting none, low, medium, high and xhigh. Long-doc summarization / repo-wide refactoring → Claude 4.8. Multi-step agent decisions → GPT-5.5. Both models now sit in the 1M class of context.
Multimodal Capabilities
GPT-5.5 natively supports image + text input, with the desktop super-app integrating screenshots and UI operations. Claude 4.8 also has strong multimodal understanding (84% on Online-Mind2Web computer-use) but is more focused on code and document scenarios. UI/vision-heavy super-app workflows feel smoother on GPT-5.5.
Latency & Pricing
Official pricing of both is in the same magnitude (single-digit USD per million input tokens; Claude 4.8 is $5 input / $25 output). Checked against the official pricing page and model pages on 2026-10-21: GPT-5.5 official price is $5.00 input, $0.50 cached, $30.00 output; Claude Opus 4.8 official price is $5 / MTok input and $25 / MTok output; requests above 272K GPT-5.5 input tokens are priced at 2x input and 1.5x output. On stability, Claude 4.8 holds steady on long contexts, while GPT-5.5 responds faster on short contexts plus agent mode.
Use-Case Matrix
Code generation / refactoring / long-repo understanding → Claude 4.8 (mature CLI, fewer code flaws). Autonomous agents / desktop apps / multimodal fusion → GPT-5.5 (super-app experience). Daily Q&A and single-file edits — either works. Mixed development: connect both Claude and GPT models and switch by scenario.
Connect Both via QCode
One QCode plan = one API Key, driving Claude Code (Claude 4.8 / claude-opus-4-8, claude-fable-5-1 and the other Claude models sold on /models) and OpenAI Codex CLI (gpt-6.1-sol, gpt-6-sol and the other GPT models sold on /models) at the same time. Billing is per token, with each model's unit price listed on /models. The quota (dailyCostLimit) is shared across multiple CLIs and resets daily. Setup details on docs.qcode.cc.
export ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL="https://api.qcode.cc/api"
export ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN="$QCODE_KEY"
claudenpm install -g @openai/codex
# add QCode profile in ~/.codex/config.toml
codex --profile qcodeWhen to Pick Which — Decision Checklist
Official status (checked 2026-10-21): Anthropic now lists Claude Opus 4.8 as legacy and suggests moving new work to Claude Opus 5.5; Opus 4.8 is still sold and retires no sooner than 2027-05-28. Official prices: Opus 4.8 is $5 / MTok input and $25 / MTok output; GPT-5.5 is $5.00 input and $30.00 output per 1M tokens. If you already work in the OpenAI ecosystem (ChatGPT Plus / Codex CLI / Desktop-Super-App), keep using GPT-5.5; if you value CLI tool-chain stability, fewer code flaws and long-context work (1M), choose Claude 4.8. If in doubt, connect both the Claude and GPT families, switch by task, and decide on a default afterwards.
QCode also powers OpenAI Codex / GPT-5.6
Your QCode quota works across Claude Code and OpenAI Codex CLI — one shared balance, zero duplicate spend.
FAQ
Is GPT-5.5 stronger than Claude 4.8?
No simple answer, and the official pages do not rank one above the other. OpenAI calls GPT-5.5 a flagship model for the most complex professional work: official price $5.00 input, $0.50 cached, $30.00 output per 1M tokens, context 1,050,000 tokens. Anthropic lists Claude Opus 4.8 as legacy but still available: official price $5 / MTok input, $25 / MTok output, context 1M tokens, and it recommends moving to Opus 5.5. Try both in production and choose by task type.
Can a QCode plan use Claude and GPT models simultaneously?
Yes. The quota of one plan (dailyCostLimit) is shared across several CLIs — Claude Code (with Claude 4.8 / claude-opus-4-8) and OpenAI Codex CLI (with GPT models such as gpt-6.1-sol sold on /models). One API Key, no double purchase; billing is per token, with each model's unit price listed on /models. Official docs checked 2026-10-21: Anthropic says Claude Opus 4.8 is still available, but it is listed as legacy and Anthropic recommends moving to Claude Opus 5.5; in the deprecation table claude-opus-4-8 is still marked Active, retiring no sooner than 2027-05-28; the older snapshot claude-opus-4-1-20250805 was retired on 2026-08-05, and the official replacement is claude-opus-4-8.
Can users in China stably access GPT models?
Yes. QCode deploys API proxies in Asia-Pacific (Hong Kong / Japan) for stable access from China. Configure Codex CLI with the QCode endpoint to use the GPT models QCode offers (such as gpt-6.1-sol; full list on /models).
Which is recommended for long-context (1M) tasks?
Both models are in the 1M class on official context numbers: Claude Opus 4.8 has a 1M token context window and 128K max output tokens (Anthropic model page, checked 2026-10-21); GPT-5.5 has a 1,050,000 token context window and 128,000 max output tokens (OpenAI model page). Plan whole-repo analysis and multi-file refactoring against each model's official limits; requests above 272K GPT-5.5 input tokens are priced at 2x input and 1.5x output. If you want the newer generation, Anthropic's current lineup is Opus 5.5, Fable 5.1, Sonnet 5.5 and Haiku 5.5.
Try Claude and GPT Models Now
One QCode plan covers multiple CLIs; billing is per token, with each model's unit price on /models. Not ready for a monthly plan? Pay-as-you-go Packs start at $4 for a one-time quota you use within 7 days. Personal Plans users buy a booster pack; without a plan, buy a Pay-as-you-go Pack.