ChatGPT vs Claude: complete overview of all available models today, similarities and functional differences (July 2025)

Today users have more choices than ever between ChatGPT and Claude, but the active models vary greatly depending on the platform and subscription.

Accessing ChatGPT or Claude via web, mobile app, or desktop, the options actually available can change significantly: some advanced functions and models remain reserved for paid plans, while free users can only partly experience the potential of these systems.

This creates an ecosystem in which understanding the real differences between the services goes beyond appearances and requires a careful analysis of what you can actually do with each platform, starting from the range of selectable models and the depth of available tools.

All models available on ChatGPT today: the lineup expands from GPT-4o, 4.1, o3, and the new mini versions.

When you log in to ChatGPT today, whether via the official website or the mobile and desktop apps, the selection of models depends heavily on the type of subscription you have.

Free users get access to GPT-4o, a multimodal model that has been a game changer for the platform, able to handle text, images, and voice input, but with strict limits on the number of messages you can send every five hours. Once you hit the limit, the system automatically switches to a mini version, which is less powerful but allows unlimited responses, though with less refined and complete answers.

For those who invest in a Plus, Team, or Enterprise subscription, things become much more nuanced: the ability to manually select the most suitable model for your needs becomes a reality, with options ranging from GPT-4o without strict limits, the GPT-4.1 variant for more structured and highly precise tasks, mini versions designed for speed and responsiveness, and especially the new o-series models, like o3 and o4-mini, created for advanced reasoning and fast problem solving.

Pro subscribers can also access GPT-4.5, a model still in beta aiming for more natural and in-depth conversations, along with o3-pro, which is particularly valued for its ability to handle complex scientific and mathematical requests. It’s worth noting that GPT-3.5 is no longer manually selectable in modern interfaces, surviving only as a temporary fallback during periods of high traffic.

This variety translates into an extremely wide range of possibilities, but also a certain level of complexity when choosing the best model to use each day.

All models available on Claude today: with generation 4 come Sonnet, Opus, and Haiku.

The models ecosystem available on Claude, developed by Anthropic, follows a similar logic but stands out for some structural choices, especially in terms of transparency and consistency of the offering.

For those accessing for free, the platform provides Sonnet 4, the new-generation model that, while multimodal like GPT-4o, stands out for its ability to handle an extremely large context window, well above hundreds of thousands of tokens, allowing detailed analysis of documents, images, and conversations.

Pro users can switch between Sonnet 4, Opus 4—the top model for complex reasoning, advanced analysis, and absolute precision tasks—and Haiku 3.5, designed for those who need ultrafast responses even for light or repetitive tasks. Also still available, mainly for compatibility reasons, are earlier versions from the Claude 3.x family, like Sonnet 3.7 and Opus 3, intended for users who prefer less "creative" and more sober responses, but it’s already clear that Anthropic is planning a gradual removal of these legacy models, favoring a smooth transition to generation 4.

For the most demanding teams, Max and Enterprise versions simply raise usage limits, allowing a higher volume of messages and access to tools designed for corporate collaboration. The platform’s logic, therefore, is not just about offering more models, but focuses above all on consistency, context, and transparent management of the limits imposed on each plan.

Similarities between ChatGPT and Claude: multimodality, universal accessibility, and increasingly integrated research tools.

When comparing ChatGPT and Claude, it’s clear that the two platforms have now reached substantial parity in terms of accessibility and basic versatility, with both adopting solutions that, until recently, were considered cutting-edge.

Today, whether you work via web, mobile, or desktop, you can take advantage of multimodality, uploading text, images, and in some cases even voice input, and receive responses that integrate reasoning and interpretation on multiple levels.

Both systems manage the reading and analysis of complex files, from PDFs to spreadsheets, and let users perform integrated web research without leaving the chat, with increasingly transparent and carefully presented source citations.

The user interface is designed to provide a seamless experience across different devices, ensuring speed and flexibility even on smartphones or dedicated desktop apps.

In terms of context understanding, both ChatGPT and Claude let you work on very large documents, easily handling reports, contracts, or even entire books in a work environment that adapts to the needs of individuals or teams.

These convergences have made both platforms reliable and versatile, ready to meet the needs of professionals, students, and curious users seeking an intelligent, accessible, and always up-to-date tool.

Key functional differences: memory, extensions, code, and privacy are still the true distinguishing factors.

Despite the many convergences that characterize the evolution of the two platforms, the fundamental differences become clear when you closely examine the operating logic and advanced tools available for power users.

ChatGPT puts a strong emphasis on personalization and cross-chat memory: the platform can remember details, preferences, and projects over time, building up a truly personalized history that improves answer quality and enables automation of repetitive or recurring tasks.

Claude, on the other hand, has chosen a different philosophy based on statelessness: it doesn’t retain memory between chats, focusing on privacy and giving users complete control over what is shared, and only in enterprise versions are extremely transparent opt-in memory modes being tested.

In terms of extensions, ChatGPT has built a real ecosystem thanks to the GPT Store, where you can add plugins for any need, from financial analysis to travel booking, up to automatic content generation or custom automations, turning the platform into a true operational hub.

Claude, instead, has introduced Artifacts, interactive deliverables such as slides, web-apps, and tables that can be generated directly in the chat and are ready to be shared or integrated into other workflows, but with no option for third-party plugin installation.

Another area of divergence is in tools for code and data analysis: ChatGPT offers an integrated Python environment right in the interface, making it easy and quick to run calculations, graphs, and advanced analyses without leaving the system, while Claude delegates all this to the API or a separate CLI, keeping the consumer platform lean and focused on text interaction.

In terms of image generation, ChatGPT stands out for its integration of DALL·E and the ability to create, edit, or rework images directly in the chat, whereas Claude is limited to providing detailed analysis of uploaded images, without creative generation features.

The management of usage limits is different too: ChatGPT is more restrictive on messages sent with the top model in the free version, while Claude allows a higher number of daily interactions for free users, though reserving the top-tier features for subscribers.

Finally, the privacy question remains central: OpenAI provides advanced protection only for business users, while Anthropic adopts a privacy-first approach in all versions, avoiding training on consumer chat data and limiting information retention to the essentials.

Choosing between ChatGPT and Claude today means prioritizing an ecosystem of tools or depth and privacy.

The choice between ChatGPT and Claude, in July 2025, often comes down to whether you want to prioritize an ecosystem of integrated tools, with memory and customizable automations, or a platform that’s all about depth of context, total privacy, and easily reusable outputs.

ChatGPT presents itself as a true all-in-one platform, perfect for those working on multidisciplinary projects who want to manage images, code, automations, and advanced memory in a single coherent and constantly updated environment.

Claude, on the other hand, stands out for its ability to handle very long contexts without losing coherence, for the speed guaranteed by lighter models like Haiku, and for data management that always puts the user at the center, never sacrificing transparency and control.

Ultimately... the choice between the two platforms depends on your individual priorities: those seeking maximum personalization and a creative tools hub will find an irreplaceable ally in ChatGPT, while those preferring confidentiality, coherence, and versatility in handling texts and large documents will discover in Claude a solid, reliable work companion that always puts privacy first.

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