Head-to-head · 2026
Claude Opus 4.6 vs GPT-5.2 Pro
Verdict. Opus 4.6 for reasoning and long-context depth; GPT-5.2 Pro for native voice and the broadest multimodal footprint. Note: both are superseded — Opus 4.8 and GPT-5.5 are the current flagships; see Opus 4.8 vs GPT-5.5.
| Claude Opus 4.6 | GPT-5.2 Pro | |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Anthropic | OpenAI |
| Released | 2026-02-05 | 2026-01-01 |
| Context | 1M | 196K |
| Max output | 128K | — |
| Input /1M | $5.00 | $21.00 |
| Output /1M | $25.00 | $168.00 |
| Modalities | text, vision, code | text, vision, audio |
The analysis
Claude Opus 4.6 led the reasoning benchmarks that matter for hard agentic work — 68.8% ARC-AGI-2 (vs 54.2%), 72.7% OSWorld, 90.2% BigLaw Bench — plus a 1M-token beta context and the Compaction API for effectively unbounded sessions.
GPT-5.2 Pro answered with breadth: native audio modality, strong general multimodal performance, the first 90% ARC-AGI-1, and the widest enterprise integration ecosystem. For voice-native products there was no close runner-up.
Currency note: this matchup is preserved for reference. Opus 4.6 has been superseded by Opus 4.8 (May 2026) and GPT-5.2 Pro by GPT-5.5 (April 2026). For a current decision, see Claude Opus 4.8 vs GPT-5.5.
Pick Claude Opus 4.6 if…
- Hard reasoning, computer-use, or legal/technical depth
- Long-context research synthesis (1M beta)
- Parallel agent orchestration
Pick GPT-5.2 Pro if…
- Native voice / audio is core to your product
- You need the broadest multimodal coverage
- You are standardized on the OpenAI ecosystem
Claude Opus 4.6
Previous reasoning + long-context flagship — superseded by Opus 4.8.
GPT-5.2 Pro
Previous OpenAI flagship — superseded by GPT-5.5.