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Model comparison

Claude Fable 5 vs GPT-4.1

Data verified

Head-to-head evidence from 13 shared benchmark results across 6 categories. Overall scores shown here use the public BenchAlign v5 ranking lane.

83.68/100
Margin
32.6pts
← winning
OpenAI
51.11/100
1 category wins0 category wins

Public leaderboard positions: Claude Fable 5 #2 (Supported); GPT-4.1 #108 (Supported). Intervals and evidence labels describe ranking uncertainty, not a guarantee for a specific workload.

Evidence parity. Claude Fable 5 and GPT-4.1 share 13 comparable benchmark results. 1 of 8 categories are comparable. 21 results are unique to Claude Fable 5; 7 to GPT-4.1.

Updated July 23, 2026
Shared results
13
Claude Fable 5 only
21
GPT-4.1 only
7
Comparable categories
1 / 8

Pick Claude Fable 5 if you want the stronger benchmark profile. GPT-4.1 only becomes the better choice if you want the cheaper token bill or you would rather avoid the extra latency and token burn of a reasoning model.

Confidence note. This is a partial-evidence comparison with 13 shared benchmark results across 6 evidence categories; 1 of 8 categories currently have scoreable aggregates for both models. Treat the verdict as directional until coverage is more balanced.

Why this result

Claude Fable 5 is clearly ahead on the BenchAlign aggregate, 83.68 to 51.11. The gap is large enough that you do not need to squint at the spreadsheet to see the difference.

Claude Fable 5's sharpest advantage is in coding, where it averages 89.2 against 54.6. The single biggest benchmark swing on the page is SWE-bench Verified, 95% to 54.6%.

Claude Fable 5 is also the more expensive model on tokens at $10.00 input / $50.00 output per 1M tokens, versus $2.00 input / $8.00 output per 1M tokens for GPT-4.1. That is roughly 6.3x on output cost alone. Claude Fable 5 is the reasoning model in the pair, while GPT-4.1 is not. That usually helps on harder chain-of-thought-heavy tests, but it can also mean more latency and more token spend in real use. Claude Fable 5 gives you the larger context window at 1M+, compared with 1M for GPT-4.1.

Category breakdown

Exact category averages are shown below. Not measured means BenchLM does not have enough sourced public coverage for that model and category.

Category scores and score margins for Claude Fable 5 and GPT-4.1
CategoryClaude Fable 5ΔGPT-4.1
CodingClaude Fable 589.2Margin 34.6GPT-4.154.6
AgenticClaude Fable 584.6MarginNo overlapGPT-4.1Not measured
KnowledgeClaude Fable 5Not measuredMarginNo overlapGPT-4.166.3
MathClaude Fable 5Not measuredMarginNo overlapGPT-4.14.1
MultimodalClaude Fable 557.9MarginNo overlapGPT-4.1Not measured
Inst. FollowingClaude Fable 5Not measuredMarginNo overlapGPT-4.187.4

Decisive benchmark drivers

The largest measured benchmark gaps in this matchup, with exact reported values.

More
A · Claude Fable 5B · GPT-4.1
  1. SWE-bench Verified

    Coding
    Source ↗
    A 95%B 54.6%
    Winner: Claude Fable 5Δ 40.4
    SWE-bench Verified: Claude Fable 5 scored 95%; GPT-4.1 scored 54.6%. Claude Fable 5 wins this benchmark.

Operational comparison

Runtime and commercial metrics are compared only when both models have a complete sourced value.

MetricClaude Fable 5GPT-4.1Comparison
Input / output priceUSD per 1M tokensClaude Fable 5$10 input / $50 outputGPT-4.1$2 input / $8 outputGPT-4.1 has the lower combined listed price.
Generation speedtokens per secondClaude Fable 5Not availableGPT-4.1108 tok/sA complete speed comparison is not available.
First-answer latencyseconds to first tokenClaude Fable 5Not availableGPT-4.11.02 sA complete latency comparison is not available.
Context windowmaximum listed tokensClaude Fable 51M+GPT-4.11MClaude Fable 5 lists the larger context window.

Benchmark Deep Dive

Agentic
BenchmarkClaude Fable 5GPT-4.1Result
Terminal-Bench 2.0Source 84.3%Not comparable
OSWorld-VerifiedSource 85%Not comparable
GDPval-AASource 1748Not comparable
AA Agentic IndexSource 52.8%Not comparable
τ²-bench resultsSource 98.5%47.1%Claude Fable 5 leads
GDPval-AASource 62.4%Not comparable
AA BriefcaseSource 1574Not comparable
AA AutomationBenchSource 48.6%Not comparable
AA EnterpriseOps-GymSource 51.1%Not comparable
AA Harvey LABSource 93.6%Not comparable
AA Tau3 BankingSource 26.8%Not comparable
terminalBenchHardSource 62.9%Not comparable
aaTerminalBench21Source 84.6%Not comparable
Gert LabsSource 25.65%Not comparable
CodingClaude Fable 5 wins
BenchmarkClaude Fable 5GPT-4.1Result
SWE-bench VerifiedSource 95%54.6%Claude Fable 5 leads
SWE-bench ProSource 80%Not comparable
FrontierCode 1.1 MainSource 53.5%Not comparable
Terminal-Bench 2.0Source 84.3%Not comparable
cursorBench31Source 70.6%Not comparable
cursorBench32Source 70.5%Not comparable
VulcanBench v3Source 87.0%Not comparable
AA Coding IndexSource 76.5%Not comparable
AA-SciCodeSource 60.2%38.1%Claude Fable 5 leads
Reasoning
BenchmarkClaude Fable 5GPT-4.1Result
AA-LCRSource 70.0%61.0%Claude Fable 5 leads
CritPtSource 28.6%0.0%Claude Fable 5 leads
Knowledge
BenchmarkClaude Fable 5GPT-4.1Result
Artificial Analysis Intelligence IndexSource 59.9%19.4%Claude Fable 5 leads
AA-GPQA DiamondSource 92.6%66.6%Claude Fable 5 leads
AA-HLESource 53.3%4.6%Claude Fable 5 leads
AA-Omniscience IndexSource 40.2%-36.2%Claude Fable 5 leads
AA-Omniscience AccuracySource 61.4%24.2%Claude Fable 5 leads
AA-Omniscience Hallucination RateSource 54.9%79.6%Claude Fable 5 leads
MMLUSource 90.2%Not comparable
GPQASource 66.3%Not comparable
Math
BenchmarkClaude Fable 5GPT-4.1Result
FrontierMath v2 (Tiers 1-3)Source 5.517%Not comparable
FrontierMath v2 (Tier 4)Source 0.000%Not comparable
Multimodal
BenchmarkClaude Fable 5GPT-4.1Result
Blueprint-Bench 2Source 38.6%Not comparable
OfficeQA ProSource 57.9%Not comparable
Design Arena WebsiteSource 13321068Claude Fable 5 leads
AA-MMMU-ProSource 61.2%Not comparable
Inst. Following
BenchmarkClaude Fable 5GPT-4.1Result
AA-IFBenchSource 63.5%43.0%Claude Fable 5 leads
IFEvalSource 87.4%Not comparable
Frequently Asked Questions (2)

Which is better, Claude Fable 5 or GPT-4.1?

Claude Fable 5 is ahead on BenchLM's BenchAlign leaderboard, 83.68 to 51.11. The biggest single separator in this matchup is SWE-bench Verified, where the scores are 95% and 54.6%.

Which is better for coding, Claude Fable 5 or GPT-4.1?

Claude Fable 5 has the edge for coding in this comparison, averaging 89.2 versus 54.6. Inside this category, SWE-bench Verified is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

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Last updated: July 23, 2026

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