Claude Opus 4.8 vs Claude Opus 4.7
Six weeks apart, same price, same API. Here's what actually changed — and why the upgrade decision is easier than most.
Opus 4.8 vs Opus 4.7: side-by-side
| Claude Opus 4.8 | Claude Opus 4.7 | |
|---|---|---|
| Released | 27 May 2026 | 16 April 2026 |
| Status | Current Opus flagship | Previous generation (still available) |
| Context window | 1M tokens | 1M tokens |
| Max output | 128K tokens | 128K tokens |
| API price (per 1M) | $5 in / $25 out | $5 in / $25 out |
| Fast mode | $10 / $50 · up to 2.5x speed | Available, but 3x more expensive than 4.8's |
| Benchmarks | Improved across the board (per Anthropic) | 87.6% SWE-bench Verified · 64.3% SWE-bench Pro |
| Notable additions | Effort control on claude.ai · dynamic workflows in Claude Code | 'xhigh' effort level · task budgets · high-res vision |
What changed in Opus 4.8
Benchmarks: Anthropic reports improvements across benchmarks over 4.7, positioning 4.8 as a more effective collaborator — clearer writing and stronger long-horizon agentic execution. (Anthropic did not publish a full side-by-side score table at launch; 4.7's 87.6% SWE-bench Verified remains the last fully published Opus number.)
Fast mode repricing: the headline economic change. Fast mode — the same model at up to 2.5x output speed — now costs $10/$50, three times cheaper than fast mode on previous models. Latency-sensitive workloads that couldn't justify fast-mode pricing before should re-run the math.
Dynamic workflows: in Claude Code, 4.8 can plan a large task and run hundreds of parallel subagents in a single session. For big refactors and repo-wide changes this is the feature that changes what one session can do.
Effort control for everyone: claude.ai users now get the effort knob that was previously API-only.
What stayed the same
Pricing ($5/$25, unchanged since Opus 4.5), the 1M context window, the 128K output cap, the tokenizer (same as 4.7 — no token-count surprises), and the API surface. Migrating is a model-string swap.
Should you upgrade?
- On Opus 4.7 today → yes — same cost, better model, drop-in swap.
- Latency-sensitive products → yes, and test fast mode — it just got 3x cheaper.
- Large agentic coding jobs → yes, for dynamic workflows alone.
- Need more than Opus-tier → look at Claude Fable 5 ($10/$50) — see our Fable 5 vs Opus 4.8 comparison.
Full Claude Opus 4.8 overview Full Claude Opus 4.7 overview
Frequently asked questions
Should I upgrade from Opus 4.7 to 4.8?
For most users, yes. Same $5/$25 rate card, same API surface, improved benchmarks — the upgrade is essentially a model-string swap.
What's new in 4.8?
Benchmark improvements, user-controllable effort on claude.ai, dynamic workflows (hundreds of parallel subagents) in Claude Code, and a fast mode that is 3x cheaper ($10/$50 at up to 2.5x speed).
Do they cost the same?
Yes — $5/$25 per million tokens for both, and they share the same tokenizer, so costs are directly comparable.
Is Opus 4.7 still available?
Yes, but with identical pricing and better performance on 4.8, there's little reason to start new projects on 4.7.