Claude Opus 5 Intelligence Leaderboard Performance

Claude Opus 5 Intelligence Leaderboard Performance

Claude Opus 5 Leads Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index

Claude Opus 5 (Adaptive Reasoning, Max Effort) currently holds the #1 position on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index v4.1 with a score of 61. This index aggregates nine distinct evaluations, including GPQA Diamond, SciCode, and Humanity's Last Exam, to measure general model intelligence.

Intelligence Rankings and Effort Levels

The top of the leaderboard is dominated by the Opus 5 family, with performance varying based on the "effort" setting used during reasoning:

  1. Claude Opus 5 (Max Effort): Score 61
  2. Claude Opus 5 (Xhigh Effort): Score 60
  3. Claude Fable 5 (Max Effort, Opus 4.8 Fallback): Score 60
  4. GPT-5.6 Sol (Max): Score 59
  5. Claude Opus 5 (High Effort): Score 59

These rankings indicate that Claude Opus 5 at "High Effort" performs on par with GPT-5.6 Sol at its maximum setting, while its "Xhigh" and "Max" settings provide a marginal intelligence lead.

Cost-Efficiency Analysis

While Claude Opus 5 leads in raw intelligence scores, it is one of the most expensive models available. Analysis of the intelligence-vs-cost matrix suggests a diminishing return on investment for the highest-scoring models.

Price vs. Performance Trade-offs

Community discussion highlights a significant price gap between the top-tier Claude models and their competitors:

  • Cost Premium: Users note that Claude Opus 5 and Fable 5 are substantially more expensive than GPT-5.6 Sol.
  • Marginal Gains: Some users argue that the 2% difference in intelligence score (61 vs 59) does not justify a cost that is nearly double that of GPT-5.6 Sol.

"Twice the cost for 4% more intelligence, is it worth it?"

Knowledge Reliability and Hallucinations

The AA-Omniscience Index specifically measures knowledge reliability and penalizes hallucinations. In this metric, the ranking shifts, suggesting that parameter density and model size may play a larger role in reliability than general reasoning intelligence.

The top performers in the AA-Omniscience Index include:

  • Claude Fable 5 (with fallback)
  • Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview
  • Claude Opus 5 (Max)
  • Grok 4.6 (high)
  • Gemini 3.6 Flash
  • GPT 5.6 Sol (Max)

User Experience and Practical Application

Despite the leaderboard rankings, end-user reports on the utility of Claude Opus 5 are mixed, with some users finding it less reliable for specific tasks than previous versions or competitors.

Domain-Specific Performance

Users have reported varying experiences across different domains:

  • Coding and UI: Some users found Opus 5 to be "surprisingly bad at UI" and noted that its coding style differs from Fable, sometimes overbuilding requested features.
  • Reasoning: Some users prefer Opus 5 over GPT-5.6 Sol, stating that Opus 5 does not "re-explain everything" and avoids over-reasoning on simple tasks.
  • Reliability: Concerns were raised regarding "safeguards" and censorship, with some users claiming that Claude models are more prone to refusing prompts or triggering censorship filters compared to other models.

The Utility of General Leaderboards

There is a growing sentiment among technical users that single-metric leaderboards are becoming less useful for decision-making. Because different models exhibit strengths in specific domains—such as Fable for UI design or Sol for systems design—a general intelligence score may not reflect a model's suitability for a specific professional workflow.

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