The 2025 Showdown Between Claude vs ChatGPT
It’s the perfect time to read a Claude vs ChatGPT comparison; as two of the leading AI tools in the field of natural language processing, they’re transforming the way companies do business. This is especially true for marketing and communication; a solid example would be AI email assistants, which are revolutionizing email content generation and predictive analytics.
In this thorough comparison, we take a closer look at the history of both tools, compare their usability and performance, and conclude with an overview of their pricing structures. By the end, you’ll have a clearer understanding of how Claude and ChatGPT stack up against each other in terms of functionality, ease of use, and value.
As a bonus, we’ll also tell you how Claude and ChatGPT can help boost your email performance!
A Brief History of Claude and ChatGPT
Anthropic is an artificial intelligence research company based in the US. It was co-founded by a team of people who previously worked at OpenAI and Google Brain. Anthropic has developed several AI models and applications, including the AI assistant we’re analyzing here — Claude.
Anthropic’s Claude AI has seen significant advancements since its initial release in 2023. The latest iteration, Claude 3 Opus — also called Claude 3.5 — further refines these capabilities, demonstrating the rapid evolution of this AI model.
ChatGPT, the AI platform we are comparing Claude with, was developed by OpenAI, an intelligence research company. Founded by a team including Elon Musk and Sam Altman, the company is the biggest name in areas like machine learning and natural language processing.
OpenAI’s notable achievements include:
- Developing GPT, a series of large language models.
- Creating DALL-E, a model that can generate unique images from text descriptions.
Next, here’s more information about the variants of Claude and ChatGPT you can choose from.
Claude Models
Anthropic has released multiple models in quick succession over the past 2 years:
| Model Name | Key features |
|---|---|
| Claude 1 | The first release and foundational model |
| Claude 2 | This was version 2.0; it offered enhanced reasoning and introduced coding abilities |
| Claude 3 | Claude 3 brought image analysis, advanced math, programming, and logical reasoning |
| Claude 3 Opus | This is a high-performance variant of Claude 3 |
| Claude 3.5 Sonnet | Sonnet is a balanced model with a good mix of capabilities and performance |
| Claude 3.5 Haiku | Anthtropic’s most lightweight and efficient model, it is optimized for speed |
ChatGPT Models
OpenAI users can access these models:
| Model Name | Key features |
|---|---|
| GPT-3 | It’s a powerful language model with features such as text generation, translation, and creative content. It was released in 2020 |
| GPT-3.5 | Released in 2022, this is an improved version of GPT-3 with enhanced capabilities and performance. |
| GPT-4 | This version made its debut in 2023, offering significant improvements over previous models in terms of reasoning, coherence, and problem-solving. |
| GPT-4o | The newest GPT, this is OpenAI’s most advanced model. It has features such as complex text generation, accurate translation, and sophisticated creative content. |
Comparing Claude vs ChatGPT
In this section, we’ll compare Claude and ChatGPT across several major areas.
We’ll evaluate ease of use and overall performance plus examine their specialized functions. Additionally, we’ll explore how each tool fosters creativity and handles technical tasks before diving into their pricing plans to determine which offers the most value.
For this ChatGPT vs Claude comparison, we looked at:
- User experience,
- Performance,
- Customization,
- Document analysis,
- Creativity,
- Image generation,
- Coding,
- Pricing.
While Claude and ChatGPT were identical in most of these aspects, we observed interesting differences at times — read on to find out what we discovered!
The User Experience of ChatGPT vs Claude
Claude is available primarily as a web application and API. The access is straightforward, but Anthropic is currently more focused on developers and businesses integrating the API into their platforms.
Claude’s interface focuses on simplicity and functionality, catering primarily to professionals and developers. It’s clean but may feel minimalist compared to mainstream consumer apps.
Comparatively, ChatGPT offers a more user-centric approach with web apps, mobile apps, and APIs. OpenAI also provides options like ChatGPT Plus for enhanced access to advanced models like GPT-4o.
Claude currently focuses on web-based interactions and API integrations, but no dedicated mobile app is available. However, users can access Claude through mobile web browsers. ChatGPT shines in mobile accessibility, offering dedicated apps for both iOS and Android.
Below, we explain what conversing with Claude and ChatGPT felt like.
Fluency in Conversation and Context Handling
Claude’s tone is generally more neutral, cautious, and thoughtful, which makes it ideal for users who are looking for a balanced, non-confrontational interaction. It’s particularly good at handling complex, abstract topics in a way that feels conversational.
Comparatively, ChatGPT’s conversational style is more playful and cheery. It’s more casual, dynamic, and adaptable. We noted that ChatGPT was particularly good at responding to riddles, jokes, and humor. Interactions with ChatGPT felt a lot more human than Claude.
As for context, Claude is technically more capable, at least on paper. It has a larger context window which can process up to 100k+ tokens of text in a conversation. This enables it to maintain a broader context over extended interactions.
ChatGPT’s context window (32k tokens in the new GPT-4 Turbo) is smaller than Claude’s. This means there’s a chance it may struggle more when dealing with very long or complex exchanges. But it excels at maintaining context in shorter, more focused conversations.
Verdict: When it comes to user experience, this round is a tie.
Custom Models From Claude and ChatGPT
Custom AI models are designed to tailor the assistant’s capabilities to certain use cases, such as:
- Specific industries,
- Tasks,
- User preferences.
Both Claude and ChatGPT offer options for customization, but their methods and flexibility differ.
Customizing Anthropic Claude
Claude’s ability to customize models is more limited compared to ChatGPT’s. Claude is primarily focused on providing ethical, neutral responses and does not offer as much flexibility in terms of customizing the AI’s behavior or outputs.
It can be fine-tuned in some settings for specific tasks or industries. But it can be tough to build very specific, goal-oriented assistants.
OpenAI Supports Custom GPTs
If customization is a critical feature to you, OpenAI offers more variety. ChatGPT comes with robust customization options through the Custom GPT feature.
Users can fine-tune the model by uploading custom data, modifying behavior settings, and adjusting the assistant’s tone and approach based on their needs.
Custom GPTs allow users to modify the AI for very specific functions, such as:
- Creating a personal assistant,
- Developing a customer service chatbot,
- Niche industry-specific needs such as law or healthcare.
Customization options can adjust personality, tone, and even the type of information the model emphasizes. The ability to upload custom knowledge bases or integrate external APIs further enhances the model’s flexibility.
Verdict: ChatGPT wins this round thanks to its custom GPTs.
Performance Face-Off Between ChatGPT and Claude
To assess performance, we evaluated both platforms on 3 different parameters — read more below.
Response Speed and Latency
Claude is optimized for generating responses efficiently, particularly for tasks requiring extensive context processing. Its response speed remains consistent, even when handling lengthy or complex prompts. However, latency may occasionally increase when operating at high workload levels.
ChatGPT is designed for quick response generation, often delivering answers within seconds for typical queries. Interestingly, ChatGPT users often experience faster response times with the free GPT-3.5 model than paid GPT-4o.
Challenging Topics
Claude excels at handling complex topics that require sustained reasoning or extended context retention. With a larger context window, it can analyze lengthy documents and maintain logical consistency over prolonged interactions. This makes it ideal for research-intensive tasks or technical discussions.
ChatGPT is no slacker; it takes on complex topics but may struggle with maintaining consistency in extremely long or multi-threaded conversations. For example, we saw that it did not understand context when referring to specific topics in an earlier answer.
Ethical Behavior
Both ChatGPT and Claude took a firm stand against our offensive requests. We tried extensively to get both platforms to bypass their ethical code but failed. Good work from both OpenAI and Anthropic.
Verdict: The performance round between Claude and ChatGPT ends in a tie.
Claude and ChatGPT Take Turns Analyzing a Document
For this exercise, we uploaded a document containing a study on personalizing email subject lines. The language was of medium difficulty, and it would need someone familiar with email marketing terms and jargon to understand it.
Below, you can see how they both performed.
The study itself examined how different elements in subject lines affect open rates in email marketing campaigns. Both AI models delivered comprehensive summaries, showcasing their ability to extract key information efficiently.
While Claude’s summary was concise and informative, ChatGPT’s response offered a more detailed breakdown, segmented into well-defined sections. This level of granularity proved particularly useful for a deeper understanding of the document’s content.
It was interesting to see how ChatGPT and Claude caught different details, affecting the final output. Both models demonstrated their proficiency in document analysis, each offering unique strengths.
Verdict: Once more, we have a tied round.
Comparing the Creativity of Claude and ChatGPT
A common complaint about AI tools is that they aren’t great at creative work. We put both Claude and ChatGPT to the test.
Poetry
We gave both AI tools the same prompt: “Write an approx 200-word poem about a guy named Nigel who loved motorcycles and rode through America in the 1970s.”
Below is the output:
In our opinion, both platforms did a stellar job writing poems, especially since the premise was so abstract and challenging.
Creative Writing
For this task, here’s the prompt we provided to both AI assistants: “Write a short story about penguins traveling to Africa, but add a twist at the ending.”
We doubt Claude will be writing children’s books in the near future
In this exercise, both Claude and ChatGPT stuck to the instructions and started off well. But the “twist” part confused us and reminded us that these tools aren’t sentient. This was a point where it was clear that AI tools are just language models, working as high-performance autocorrect tools.
Verdict: While AI tools did an equally good job of writing poetry, we don’t see any threat to creative writers anytime soon. This round is a tie.
Image Generation using Claude and ChatGPT
Anthropic’s Claude model can’t create images.
The company has been fully focused on text-based output. Asking it to create an image resulted in the assistant attempting to make one using code. The prompt we used was: “Create an image of a pig riding a dragon through modern-day Shanghai in a suit and add a vaporwave aesthetic.”
The result is below.
It was now ChatGPT’s turn, and here’s what it came up with.
ChatGPT has significantly improved DALL-E recently, and the images are far more usable than they were a year ago. We gave it various tasks, such as creating UI elements for an app and making email campaign templates for marketing, and avatars. The results convinced us that DALL-E is more than sufficient for basic graphic design needs.
Verdict: This is an easy win for ChatGPT, as Claude does not generate images.
Which is Better for Coding, ChatGPT or Claude?
Online reviews indicate Claude is far more popular with coders than ChatGPT. Both AI models can assist with programming, but their strengths vary.
This table breaks down the coding capabilities of both tools:
| Feature | Claude | ChatGPT |
|---|---|---|
| Programming languages supported | Claude focuses on common languages like Python, JavaScript, and Java. | ChatGPT offers comprehensive support for various languages, including Rust and Julia. |
| Code Debugging | It excels in identifying logic errors and suggesting solutions in simple programs. | ChatGPT has strong debugging capabilities, especially for complex and multi-file projects. |
| Context Limit | Claude has a large context window (100k+ tokens in Claude 2) which allows the handling of large codebases. | It has a smaller context window (32k tokens in GPT-4o). |
| Code Generation | It generates more efficient and optimized code for advanced programming needs. | It generates clean code, though slightly less efficient for advanced tasks. |
Which AI Should You Choose for Coding?
Both tools are excellent in their respective niches.
Choose Claude if:
- You’re working with a large codebase and need a model with a larger context window.
- You prioritize natural language clarity and ethical considerations in coding.
- You’re a beginner or working on smaller-scale projects and need clear, conversational guidance.
Choose ChatGPT if:
- You need advanced code generation and debugging for complex projects.
- You work with a wide range of programming languages and APIs.
- You’re an experienced programmer looking for in-depth technical assistance.
- You require image generation for your project.
We recommend you try both; the decision largely depends on the complexity of your project and your specific needs as a developer.
Verdict: Going by numerous online reviews, Claude is better for coding.
Pricing Plans of Claude vs ChatGPT Compared
Choosing between Claude and ChatGPT often involves considering not just their capabilities but also the cost-benefit analysis. Check out details on pricing plans below.
Claude Pricing Plans
Anthropic offers two sets of pricing plans. The first set of plans is packaged under “Claude.ai” for web users who need an interface. Developers would be more interested in the plans available under the “Anthropic API” umbrella.
| Plan | Price | Features |
|---|---|---|
| Claude Free | $0 | ‣ Talk to Claude on the web, iOS, and Android ‣ Ask about images and docs ‣ Access to Claude 3.5 Sonnet |
| Claude Pro | $20/month or | ‣ All of the above + ‣ More usage than Free ‣ Access to Projects to organize documents and chats ‣ Ability to use more models, like Claude 3 Opus ‣ Early access to new features |
| Claude Team | $30/month or | ‣ All of the above + ‣ More usage than Pro ‣ Central billing and administration ‣ Early access to collaboration features |
| Claude Enterprise | Custom pricing | ‣ All of the above + ‣ More usage than Team ‣ Expanded context window ‣ Single sign-on (SSO) and domain capture ‣ Role-based access with fine grained permissioning ‣ System for Cross-domain Identity Management (SCIM) ‣ Audit logs ‣ Data source integrations |
| Anthropic API Claude 3.5 Sonnet | Input: $3 per million tokens Output: $15 per million tokens | ‣ The most intelligent model ‣ 200K context window ‣ 50% discount with the Batches API |
| Anthropic API Claude 3.5 Haiku | Input: $1 per million tokens Output: $5 per million tokens | ‣ The most cost-effective model ‣ 200K context window ‣ 50% discount with the Batches API |
| Anthropic API Claude 3 Opus | Input: $15 per million tokens Output: $75 per million tokens | ‣ The most powerful model for complex tasks ‣ 200K context window ‣ 50% discount with the Batches API |
ChatGPT Pricing Plans
OpenAI offers different plans for its interface-based and API packages:
| Model | Pricing | Features |
|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT Free | $0 | ‣ Limited access to GPT-4o and GPT-3.5, ‣ Limited messages, ‣ Text-only responses |
| ChatGPT Plus | $20/month | ‣ Access to GPT-4o, OpenAI o1-preview, and OpenAI o1-mini ‣ Unlimited messages, ‣ Advanced Voice Mode ‣ DALL-E, ‣ Chat history, ‣ Voice assistant on mobile |
| ChatGPT Team | $30 per user/month | ‣ All of the above + ‣ Higher message limits, ‣ Team workspace, ‣ Data privacy controls, ‣ Customizable GPTs, ‣ File uploads, ‣ Analytics |
| ChatGPT Enterprise | Custom | ‣ All of the above + ‣ High-speed access to all OpenAI tools ‣ Enterprise-level security, ‣ Custom data retention ‣ Expanded context window |
| DALL-E | Included in Plus, Team, and Enterprise | ‣ Image generation, ‣ Editing |
| Whisper (Audio) | Available with API access | ‣ Speech-to-text capabilities |
| API GPT-4o | Input: $2.50 per million tokens Output: $10 per million tokens | ‣ Includes all the features of the ChatGPT Plus plan |
| API GPT-4o mini | Input: $0.15 per million tokens Output: $0.6 per million tokens | ‣ Same as web and mobile access |
| OpenAI o1-preview | Input: $15 per million tokens Output: $60 per million tokens | ‣ Includes all the functions available on web and mobile access |
| Realtime API | Input: $5 per million tokens Output: $20 per million tokens | ‣ All text-based functions offered by web-access models |
Claude vs ChatGPT: Which One is Better?
Claude and ChatGPT are both competent products offering a similar level of performance.
The debate between them boils down to personal preference and specific needs. While ChatGPT excels in versatility and integrations, Claude shines in natural interaction and ethical focus. ChatGPT’s strengths lie in its ability to handle diverse tasks like coding assistance and image generation, while Claude’s strengths are in its human-like conversation and commitment to safety.
The “better” AI depends on your priorities; if you require a wide range of capabilities and extensive customization, ChatGPT might be your choice. If you prioritize natural conversation and need coding assistance, Claude would be more suitable.
Which AI is Better for Email Marketing, Claude or ChatGPT?
AI in email marketing is evolving at light speed; you can’t afford to sit this one out. As an email marketer, using AI is a smart choice — there are numerous tasks you can trust both Claude and ChatGPT to handle.
Regardless of which one you pick, an AI assistant can help with activities such as:
- Subject line personalization: It can craft attention-grabbing and personalized subject lines for email campaigns.
- Email copywriting: It can write engaging and persuasive email content, including promotional, transactional, and newsletter emails.
- Email personalization: It can help tailor content for different customer segments to improve engagement.
- Designing emails: It can provide guidance on the layout, structure, and design elements of your emails, ensuring best practices are followed.
- Strategizing email segmentation: It can assist in defining customer segments and creating tailored email campaigns for each group.
- Email A/B testing: It can suggest A/B testing strategies for various email components such as subject lines, copy, and call-to-action buttons.
- Email list management: It can offer best practices for managing, segmenting, and growing your email list effectively.
- Crafting email CTAs: Both Claude and ChatGPT can help you write clear, compelling calls-to-action that drive conversions in emails.
- Email authentication: These tools can guide you to set up authentication using SPF, DKIM, and DMARC.
While AI can help you become an expert on these topics, check out our blog — it’s an excellent resource for email marketers at all levels.
It’s not just AI tools; we also review and compare various email platforms:
- AI for Small Business Marketing
- ChatGPT Prompts for Email Marketing
- Best Free AI Tools for Email Writing
- GoHighLevel Review
- SendGrid Review
- ClickFunnels Alternatives
- Mailchimp Review
- Klaviyo Review
- Beehiiv vs Substack
- Klaviyo vs Mailchimp
- Best Beehiiv Alternatives
- Mailchimp Alternatives
- Mailgun vs SendGrid
Choose Campaign Refinery For Peak Email Performance
Whether you choose Claude or ChatGPT, there are aspects of email marketing that AI can’t handle, such as email deliverability. Landing your emails in the inbox takes experience and skill, and it will take practice before you hit the sweet spot.
A great first step would be to sign up with the platform offering the best inbox placement in the business: Campaign Refinery.
At Campaign Refinery, we take great pride in our email deliverability numbers and are eager to work with ethical and seasoned email professionals who have long-term ambitious goals.
We offer tools and features such as:
- Automated list cleaner: An email validation tool is built into our platform, sniffing out problematic email entries on your list.
- Screening for new signups: We verify new customers are legit before they can send emails from our servers
- Server monitoring: We closely observe activities on our servers to ensure no one participates in spammy activities. This ensures our reputation with mailbox providers remains intact.
- Powerful automation builder: With our automation builder, you get more control over the customer journey.
- Accurate analytics: Email marketers need metrics they can trust. Our dashboard shows you accurate data all the time.
Team up with Campaign Refinery to make your email campaigns flourish — apply here to become a user today!
