GPT-4o vs Claude Opus vs Gemini Ultra vs Llama: AI Models Compared

Understanding the Model Landscape

Behind every AI tool is a model. Understanding the models helps you choose the right tools — and in some cases, build with the APIs directly. Here's how the leading models compare in 2026.

The Contenders

• GPT-4o (OpenAI) — The most widely used model, powering ChatGPT and thousands of apps
• Claude Opus (Anthropic) — Known for nuance, safety, and handling complex tasks
• Gemini Ultra (Google) — Natively multimodal with deep Google integration
• Llama (Meta) — Open-source, self-hostable, rapidly improving
• Mistral Large (Mistral AI) — European-built, strong performance at lower cost

Reasoning & Complex Tasks

Winner: Claude Opus. On complex multi-step tasks — legal analysis, code architecture, nuanced writing — Claude consistently outperforms. Its extended thinking feature explicitly shows chain-of-thought reasoning.

Speed & Cost

Winner: GPT-4o / Groq (for Llama). GPT-4o offers the best balance of quality and speed. For raw inference speed, running Llama on Groq's hardware is unmatched — ideal for latency-sensitive applications.

Multimodal

Winner: Gemini Ultra. Native vision, audio, and video understanding. Gemini processes multiple modalities simultaneously rather than converting everything to text first.

Open Source / Self-Hosting

Winner: Llama. Run it on your own hardware with no usage limits and full data privacy. The open-source community has built fine-tuned variants for every niche.

API Pricing (per 1M tokens, approximate)

• GPT-4o: $2.50 input / $10 output
• Claude Opus: $15 input / $75 output
• Gemini Ultra: $3.50 input / $10.50 output
• Llama (via Together AI): $0.90 input / $0.90 output
• Mistral Large: $2 input / $6 output

How to Choose

• Best all-round: GPT-4o
• Complex reasoning: Claude Opus
• Budget-friendly: Llama via Together AI or Groq
• Multimodal: Gemini Ultra
• European data residency: Mistral

Explore model APIs and providers on our AI Models & APIs page.