AI Models · Compare
GPT-5.5 mini vs Claude 3.5 Haiku
Which AI model is better in 2026? Compare GPT-5.5 mini and Claude 3.5 Haiku on benchmarks, pricing, speed, context window, and real-world fit.
Quick summary
GPT-5.5 mini is currently the stronger overall pick for reasoning, math, context, speed, and price. Claude 3.5 Haiku wins on coding. GPT-5.5 mini is also cheaper on blended API price ($0.44 vs $1.60 / 1M).
Overall winner
GPT-5.5 mini
GPT-5.5 mini wins
- Reasoning
- Math
- Context
- Speed
- Price
Claude 3.5 Haiku wins
- Coding
Want to compare different models?
Pick any two modelsGPT-5.5 mini
Production workhorse — GPT-5.5 quality reasoning at fast-tier prices.
Claude 3.5 Haiku
Fast + cheap with a huge context — great for RAG and classification.
GPT-5.5 mini vs Claude 3.5 Haiku: overview
GPT-5.5 mini (OpenAI) and Claude 3.5 Haiku (Anthropic) are frequently compared by teams choosing an AI stack in 2026. GPT-5.5 mini: Production workhorse — GPT-5.5 quality reasoning at fast-tier prices. Claude 3.5 Haiku: Fast + cheap with a huge context — great for RAG and classification. This GPT-5.5 mini vs Claude 3.5 Haiku comparison covers benchmarks, pricing, context window, speed, modalities, strengths, weaknesses, and who should pick which model.
GPT-5.5 mini is proprietary with a 400k-token context window and a blended API price near $0.44 / 1M tokens (intelligence index 68/100). Claude 3.5 Haiku is proprietary with 200k context at about $1.60 blended / 1M (intelligence 58/100). Those gaps drive most “GPT-5.5 mini vs Claude 3.5 Haiku” searches — quality versus cost, closed versus open, cloud versus self-host.
Where they differ most: GPT-5.5 mini tends to lead on reasoning, math, context, speed, and price, while Claude 3.5 Haiku leads on coding. Choose GPT-5.5 mini when you want the stronger overall profile on our scorecard; validate with your own evals before migrating production traffic.
GPT-5.5 mini is often shortlisted for high-volume apis, chatbots, and classification & extraction. Claude 3.5 Haiku fits rag, classification, and form filling. Scroll to pricing, real-world tasks, and the who-should-choose section for decision support.
People search “GPT-5.5 mini vs Claude 3.5 Haiku”, “which is better”, and “GPT-5.5 mini vs Claude 3.5 Haiku pricing” for the same reason: switching models is expensive if quality drops, and staying put is expensive if you overpay. Use the winner card for a fast answer, the head-to-head table for receipts, and the editorial verdict for a human recommendation. GPT-5.5 mini currently ranks among competitive options from OpenAI; Claude 3.5 Haiku is a hosted alternative from Anthropic. If API pricing is your main concern, start with the pricing section; for multimodal workloads, check vision/audio rows in technical differences; for agents and long documents, prioritize context and reasoning wins.
Head to head
Pricing comparison
API cost is often the deciding factor in GPT-5.5 mini vs Claude 3.5 Haiku for high-volume apps. Figures below use catalog list prices with a 3:1 input:output blend for monthly estimates. Cached input, batch, and realtime surcharges vary by provider — confirm on official docs.
| API cost | GPT-5.5 mini | Claude 3.5 Haiku |
|---|---|---|
| Input / 1M tokens | $0.25 | $0.80 |
| Output / 1M tokens | $1.00 | $4.00 |
| Blended (3:1) / 1M | $0.44 | $1.60 |
| Est. cost @ 1M blended tokens | $0.44 | $1.60 |
| Est. cost @ 10M blended tokens | $4.40 | $16.00 |
| Est. cost @ 100M blended tokens | $44.00 | $160.00 |
Cached input, batch API, and realtime surcharges are provider-specific and not always published in our catalog — verify on official pricing pages.
Benchmark showdown
GPT-5.5 mini leads on MMLU, GPQA, and MATH, indicating stronger reasoning-oriented scores. Claude 3.5 Haiku leads on HumanEval. GPT-5.5 mini also undercuts on blended API price. Raw benchmarks shortlist models — run task-specific evals before you switch.
Real-world performance
Beyond academic scores, here is how GPT-5.5 mini vs Claude 3.5 Haiku tends to split common product tasks based on catalog strengths, price, and modalities.
| Task | Winner |
|---|---|
| Coding | Claude 3.5 Haiku |
| Blog writing | GPT-5.5 mini |
| Research | GPT-5.5 mini |
| Customer support | GPT-5.5 mini |
| Cheap API / high volume | GPT-5.5 mini |
| AI agents | GPT-5.5 mini |
| Summarization | GPT-5.5 mini |
| Translation | GPT-5.5 mini |
| Vision / multimodal | GPT-5.5 mini |
| Self-hosting / open weights | GPT-5.5 mini |
Technical differences
| Feature | GPT-5.5 mini | Claude 3.5 Haiku |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | OpenAI | Anthropic |
| License | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| Pricing model | tokens | tokens |
| Context window | 400k tokens | 200k tokens |
| Max output | 16k tokens | 8k tokens |
| Vision input | Yes | No |
| Audio input | No | No |
| Text output | Yes | Yes |
| Image output | No | No |
| Video output | No | No |
| Audio output | No | No |
| Self-host friendly | No | No |
| Docs | Available | Available |
Strengths, weaknesses and best-for
- Best $/token in OpenAI lineup
- Very fast
- 400k context
- Weaker on hard reasoning vs full GPT-5.5
- High-volume APIs
- Chatbots
- Classification & extraction
- 200k context cheap
- Fast
- Reliable on extraction
- Weaker reasoning than Sonnet
- RAG
- Classification
- Form filling
Who should choose which
Choose GPT-5.5 mini if
- You need stronger reasoning, coding, or math quality
- You need a larger context window
- You care about faster token throughput
- API budget is the top constraint
- High-volume APIs
Choose Claude 3.5 Haiku if
- You need stronger reasoning, coding, or math quality
- RAG
- Classification
Pros & cons
GPT-5.5 mini
Pros
- Best $/token in OpenAI lineup
- Very fast
- 400k context
Cons
- Weaker on hard reasoning vs full GPT-5.5
Claude 3.5 Haiku
Pros
- 200k context cheap
- Fast
- Reliable on extraction
Cons
- Weaker reasoning than Sonnet
Editorial verdict
GPT-5.5 mini edges this matchup — with caveats
GPT-5.5 mini is the better choice when you prioritize reasoning, math, context, speed, and price. Claude 3.5 Haiku stands out for coding, making it a strong option when those dimensions matter more than raw leaderboard rank. If maximum measured performance matters, GPT-5.5 mini wins this matchup. If your niche constraints matter more, Claude 3.5 Haiku is difficult to beat. Always confirm with a bake-off on your real prompts before cutting over.
Still deciding? Read the full GPT-5.5 mini review and Claude 3.5 Haiku review, or open the full AI models table.
GPT-5.5 mini vs Claude 3.5 Haiku — frequently asked questions
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