Claude Opus 4.5 vs GPT-5.2: A Real-World Head-to-Head Test

After three months of daily use with both Claude Opus 4.5 and GPT-5.2, I finally have enough data to give you a definitive comparison. The short answer? It depends entirely on what you need done.

Claude consistently dominates in tasks requiring nuanced reasoning and longer context windows. When I threw a 50,000-token codebase at both models, Claude maintained coherence while GPT started losing track of earlier functions. For creative writing and explaining complex topics, Claude's responses feel more natural and less formulaic.

GPT-5.2 fights back with superior speed and broader tool integrations. If you need real-time data, web browsing, or image generation in the same conversation, GPT's ecosystem remains unmatched. For quick tasks under 2000 tokens, the speed difference is noticeable. My verdict: Claude for deep work, GPT for breadth.