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By Ruchi Pardal
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~ 12 minutes read
~ 12 minutes read
I still remember the time when OpenAI threw ChatGPT out to the world in 2022 and everyone who was a tech guy went feral. How? Well, let me just say that we couldn’t stop ourselves from trying to short it. Funny, now that I think about it.
But then, along the same timeline, Anthropic dropped another bombshell. Claude. And now it has become a two-pronged race. How’s that going along now? You must be wondering. Well, these are questions that are worth asking.
Ever since both of them came into the picture, I’ve been using them quite a lot for everyday work. In the time I’ve worked with both, I can tell you that I’ve given them challenges that even broke them at some point. Stuff like long, really long prompts, creative challenges, and even deep research.
I’ve learned enough about the two. Enough that I have this write-up to help people like you figure out which of the two is simply better. But as all things go, it’s not always black and white. So, in this Claude vs ChatGPT piece, we’ll be taking a look at a lot of things together.
Stuff like core performance and real world usability. And other stuff like quirks, pricing, privacy, and even the niche features. So, are you ready to elevate your knowledge about the two? If so, then let’s get into it, shall we?
ChatGPT is OpenAI’s favorite child. There were so many other AIs in the oven, but this set off the whole “AI chatbot” revolution back in 2022. The month it was released, millions of people were already using it. ChatGPT is built on a family of models called GPT. That stands for Generative Pre-trained Transformer.
OpenAI’s big idea? Teach an AI to predict what word comes next in a sentence—and then refine it using human feedback. That’s how ChatGPT got so good at sounding, well, human.
Claude is the product of a slightly newer company than other established ones in the market, Anthropic. They’re not as “out there” as OpenAI, but that doesn’t mean they’re less ambitious. And who’s behind Claude? They’re former OpenAI employee themselves who wanted a different approach to AI.
They wanted their AI to focus more on issues like safety and alignment. Fun fact. They named it so after Claude Shannon, who’s known to be the father of information theory. Bit nerdy I guess, but charming nonetheless.
Also Read: Perplexity AI vs. ChatGPT: A Chatbot Comparison
I’ve been using and testing both of these AI assistants for months now. And what did I find? Well, there are certainly a lot of things that are different. I gave them 100s of prompts to feed on. Some of them were simple. And others were, well, harder.
I did this to figure out how each would tackle the kind of stuff people actually use them for. And yeah. They’re unique from each other.
According to some evaluations, Claude does much better in a few areas. It also solved 64% of problems, which was much better than its predecessor’s performance of 38%.
Their strengths? Really distinct. Their quirks? Funnily enough, even more so. Doesn’t matter if any of these are writing something, trying to make sense of something, or giving you clean code. Both of them have very different approaches.
Claude is really good at something. And that something is that it remembers more. It has a 200,000 token context window. It’s around 150,000 words. And what does that even mean? This means that it can chew through more text without losing track.
ChatGPT is a bit behind on that very topic with 128,000 tokens. But let me tell you something important. It’s just not about memory though. The way Claude gives the answers to your questions just felt more… human. I guess. Like a real human was on the question and thought about it for real.
I gave it tasks that made it tackle creative writing and even long, like really long, instructions. And it flowed better. The tone was smoother, the transitions were really human-like.
Based on what I have seen, Claude writes like how a professional writer. Sometimes too robotic. But ChatGPT is sharp too. But Claude? It just does it better. Sometimes, ChatGPT can be a little too AI, if you know what I mean.
Now, let’s take a look at the reasoning capabilities, shall we? Try throwing simple questions at both of them. And you’ll find that they do really fine. But if you start giving each of them harder logical problems or if there’s math in it, then you’ll notice that ChatGPT does things a lot better. Usually.
Well, with that said, I don’t mean to insinuate that Claude is just bad. It shows its best side when you ask it to work on a bad draft, make sense of a weird scenario that’s from real life, or maybe even look at something in a way that an artist would. Editing? It’s excellent.
Do you want to know what I think about all of these? I think Claude does a better job of keeping track when it comes to the bigger picture. But if you’re looking for something that’s just smarter on average, like for when you need factual or answers to problems in a step-by-step way, then you can’t do better than ChatGPT.
I actually had fun with this one. According to benchmarks like HumanEval, Claude came out on top, albeit just by a little, against ChatGPT (92% vs. 90.2%). And you know what’s the real part? It matched the testing I did personally. Claude was able to give me code that worked better from the get-go. And with fewer tweaks in it.
So, there was one test that made me think, though. I tried to make both of them create an authentication system. Claude was more up-to-date by using the contemporary method. What about ChatGPT? It did, but it used very outdated language.
Now, this one is also somewhat of a surprise. Claude scored better than ChatGPT in a lot of areas that you would want it to score. Stuff like undergrad-level knowledge, grad-level reasoning, and even math that’s really simple. A lot faster, too, I’ve noticed. Like twice as fast. Amazing, right?
But then, you and I both know that performance on paper doesn’t always translate well to real life. It’s the jungle out there. What you’re trying to make is more important.
From the tests I’ve done, I’ve found that Claude was very dependable. This is especially true when it comes to analytical and technical stuff. But the only thing pulling it back? The annoying usage limits they have. Anthropic, do better.
Also Read: Battle of the AI: Chatgpt vs Gemini vs Copilot
So, like I said before, I spent a few months with the two. And as time went by, the user experience became very important. This is actually the only part where it gets personal. Want to know my opinions? Let’s go then!
Claude has a very minimalistic and sleek but functional thing going on. Good for them. The Artifacts feature is also really great, actually. I mean, game-changing even.
With it, you can take a look at code or a preview, which is actually great if you’re writing apps for trying to debug.
Here’s what I loved about Claude for dev tasks:
Ah, yes. ChatGPT. It sticks to a way simpler layout. It’s definitely user friendly that’s for sure. But I got so used to the live preview feature on Claude that I just couldn’t give ChatGPT a win here. It just doesn’t give you the same workflow flexibility.
Both of these two AIs run on every mobile platform. And both of them do just a well of a job as their web versions. Uploading stuff, asking them to take a look at images. Nothing’s wrong there.
Honestly, reviewing documents or doing quick checks on mobile felt smoother with Claude.
But! There is a but! Reviewing documents or doing some light editing like doing some checks on mobile, was better on Claude. Like really better.
The last thing I’ll say about the user experience of both of these AIs is that they’re strong in areas of their own.
ChatGPT Plus? You can do a whole lot. There’s nothing as caps. Well, there is, but the cap is higher. Claude? Doesn’t matter even if you have the paid plan. You’re going to keep one eye on the usage.
Claude is more of a better thinker though. It has the ability to tackle longer, and more thoughtful conversations. ChatGPT does really great too actually. But it’s admittedly faster, snappy, and great for brainstorming ideas when you’re struggling.
Both of the companies have been hard at work when it came to improving their respective AIs. They’ve been throwing out updates left and right. And let me tell you something, some of these updates really change the whole thing.
Finally. Something I can give a verdict on without much thought. ChatGPT has DALL E. So it can make images with prompts. But Claude? Sadly, nothing of the sort.
But then that means Claude gets to focus on other aspects. Like analysis. It does it so, so much better. Let’s say you give it a complicated infographic or something. Claude’s smart enough to give you an accurate report.
Quick comparison:
I said in the earlier part of this article that Claude’s Artifacts feature is a blessing, right? It really is great. This feature brings up a dedicated workspace for really long outputs. Doesn’t matter if it’s code, diagrams, or even dense explanations.
One other thing I should mention is the “Projects” feature too. What does it do? Well, it lets you organize files and tailor Claude’s behaviour according to each workspace it’s in. Really convenient. This was perfect for collaborative research and ongoing content work that needed a lot of hands.
ChatGPT launched a little something in the ending part of 2023. They called it Custom GPTs. What it does is it lets you create tailored assistants without you having to know code at all.
It’s really great. A lot of people use it for a lot of stuff. Here’s some of them:
They then launched a store for it and called it the GPT store in Jan 2024. This made it easier for people to share and use each other’s GPTs. To add to that, Bing’s integration added more real-time info getting.
Now here’s where Claude falls behind. It can’t browse the web. But! It has a bigger memory base. Like really big. Just try uploading a full report and you’ll see that it gets a coherent, in-depth reply.
Also Read: Key Features of Chatgpt 4.0
After all the months, I’ve also looked into APIs and integrations. This is what I found. Some of them are actually interesting.
Claude’s rates are easier on the wallet—especially at scale:
By contrast, OpenAI’s prices climb faster:
When it comes to integrations with other tools. ChatGPT is friends with literally everything. Amazing right? You can think of plugins, DALL E, Bing, Sora, and more. Unfortunately for Claude, it’s really lagging behind on that front.
Biggest downside? Claude’s free tier only gives you about 100 messages every 8 hours. If you’re trying to move fast, that limit hits hard.
Now, this is the most important part for some people. The part where you find out if they can be trusted with the data you give them. Can you?
Claude is really big on privacy. The inputs you give this AI stay private. Well, that is until you decide to opt in to training or make a safety review.
ChatGPT gives you the ability to get out, too. But there’s an asterisk with that. Especially when it comes to custom GPTs. They have some vague policies that don’t explain much on top of that.
Quick overview:
| Feature | Claude | ChatGPT |
| Data Usage | Opt-in only | Opt-out possible |
| Retention Policy | Limited | Up to 18 months |
| Training Exceptions | Safety reviews only | Broader exceptions apply |
Now, let me give you some perspective. There’s no AI in the world that does things or anything at 100%. There’s always going to be something or the other that’ll be a drawback.
But most people are so obsessed with the hype that they all jump on the bandwagon and make it sound like every AI is like the future. It’s half true only. It’s the future but we’re not there yet.
So, since you’re here at the end, I’ll just give it to you straight on which is better or good for you. If you’re looking for an AI that can code and also has third-party support. Take ChatGPT. But if you want to feel like you have a real human assistant crammed into a machine and giving you advice and pointers and all that stuff. Then, Claude.
Statistical Resource:
https://www.anthropic.com/news/claude-3-5-sonnet
FAQ’s:
Claude’s better for long-form and tone-sensitive content. ChatGPT is faster for quick edits, summaries, and structured tasks.
Yep—and many do. Use ChatGPT for fast tasks and Claude when you need deeper context or consistency.
Claude has cheaper API rates. But ChatGPT Plus offers more features and fewer limits for casual users.
Claude. It only uses your data if you opt in. ChatGPT has opt-out settings, but they’re not always clear.
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