Claude Haiku vs GPT-4o: cost & margin
Claude Haiku (Anthropic) and GPT-4o (OpenAI) sit at different price points. At a typical 500k/150k token mix per customer, Claude Haiku is cheaper ($1.00 vs $2.75 per customer), and Claude Haiku has the lower output-token price — the part that usually drives an AI SaaS bill.
| Claude Haiku | GPT-4o | |
|---|---|---|
| Input $/Mtok | $0.8 | $2.5 |
| Output $/Mtok | $4 | $10 |
| Cost / customer (typical) | $1.00 | $2.75 |
| Margin at $49/mo | 98% | 94.4% |
Cost per customer as usage grows
Monthly LLM cost per customer at four usage levels — the gap widens the more your customers use.
| Usage / mo | Claude Haiku | GPT-4o |
|---|---|---|
| Light | $0.20 | $0.55 |
| Typical | $1.00 | $2.75 |
| Heavy | $4.00 | $11.00 |
| Power user | $16.40 | $45.00 |
Which should you pick?
Claude Haiku
Best when cost is the priority: cheaper on both input and output, so it keeps more customers profitable at any plan price.
GPT-4o
Worth it when its quality justifies the higher token cost — price your plans to cover the difference.
Verdict: at a typical token mix, Claude Haiku is the cheaper choice per customer. Heavier or output-heavy workloads can change the picture — check yours below.
FAQ
- Which is cheaper, Claude Haiku or GPT-4o?
- At a typical 500k / 150k token mix, Claude Haiku is cheaper — $1.00 vs $2.75 per customer per month, a $1.75 gap that widens as usage grows.
- Does GPT-4o ever make more sense than Claude Haiku?
- Yes — token price isn't everything. If GPT-4o needs fewer retries or shorter outputs to finish the job, or its quality lifts conversion, it can be the better margin call despite the higher per-token price. Model it on your own usage.
Per-model details
Other comparisons