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Claude Opus 4.8

Frontier

The output-quality benchmark for agentic coding — the model most coding agents reach for on hard tasks.

Anthropic
Maker
94/100
Overall
41
Value score
$11
Blended /1M
1M
Context
Proprietary
Weights
Pricing: $5.00 in · $25 out / 1M tokens · synced from OpenRouter · updated 2026-06-22

Scorecard

Output Quality9.6/10 · 80% community
Agentic Ability9.6/10 · 80% community
Speed7.2/10 · 69% community
Value for $7.5/10 · 70% community
Reliability9.5/10 · 80% community

Claude Opus 4.8 is Anthropic's flagship and the model most widely cited as the quality leader for agentic coding in 2026. It plans multi-step work, follows long tool chains without losing the thread, and produces production-grade diffs. The 1M-token context lets it hold large codebases at once. It is the most expensive mainstream option, so many teams reserve it for the hardest tasks and drop to Sonnet for routine work.

Strengths
  • Best-in-class output quality and agentic planning
  • Holds long tool-call chains without drifting
  • 1M-token context for whole-codebase work
Trade-offs
  • Among the most expensive models per token
  • Slower than lighter models on simple tasks

Agents that run Opus 4.8 well

Hard, high-stakes coding and reasoning where quality matters more than cost.

Best model for Claude CodeBest model for ClineBest model for AiderBest model for OpenCodeBest model for OpenClawBest model for Kilo Code

Claude Opus 4.8 FAQ

Is Claude Opus 4.8 good for AI agents?
Hard, high-stakes coding and reasoning where quality matters more than cost. On our editorial scoring it rates 9.6/10 for agentic ability and 9.6/10 for output quality. Best-in-class output quality and agentic planning.
How much does Claude Opus 4.8 cost?
Via OpenRouter, Claude Opus 4.8 is priced at $5.00 in · $25 out / 1M tokens — a blended rate of about $11 per 1M tokens for typical input-heavy agent use.
What is Claude Opus 4.8's context window?
Claude Opus 4.8 has a 1M-token context window — large enough to hold sizeable codebases or document sets in a single run. Anthropic is the maker.
Can I self-host Claude Opus 4.8?
No — Claude Opus 4.8 is a proprietary, hosted-only model from Anthropic. You access it through an API (e.g. OpenRouter) rather than running the weights yourself.
What are the downsides of Claude Opus 4.8?
The main trade-offs: among the most expensive models per token; slower than lighter models on simple tasks. It's strongest for hard, high-stakes coding and reasoning where quality matters more than cost.

Opus 4.8 compared

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The model is half the story — the agent is the other half

The model picks the moves; the agent runs the loop, the tools, and the guardrails. Once you've chosen a model, see which agent gets the most out of it.

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