Side-by-side comparison · AI Assistants & LLMs

Claude vs LMArena

Everything that matters when choosing between them, in one place: our rating, what each can do, what they cost, and the trade-offs.

Best overall

Claude

4.6

From $20/mo

Details Visit

LMArena

3.8

Free to start

Details Visit

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At a glance

Claude4.6

Best overallEasiest to use

Pick it if: Anyone who writes, researches or makes decisions for a living, plus anyone curious about Claude Code.

LMArena3.8

Best value

Pick it if: Anyone choosing between AI tools, and people who want to know which model is leading right now.

Claude scores highest overall, but LMArena gives you more for your money. Which one is right comes down to what you value most.

Overview

Attribute	Claude	LMArena
In one line	Anthropic's chat assistant, at its best on careful writing and long documents.	Free site where you compare AI models side by side and see which ones people rate best.
Pricing model	Freemium	Free
Starting price	$20/mo	Free
Free plan	Yes	Yes
Works with Claude Code	Yes	No

Rating breakdown

Our scores out of 5. The higher bar in each row is highlighted.

Attribute	Claude	LMArena
Overall rating	4.6Winner	3.8
Ease of useHow quickly someone non-technical gets value from it.	4.5	3.5
FeaturesHow completely it covers the job it's built for, and how well the pieces fit together.	4.5	4.0
Output qualityHow good the results are before you fix them.	5.0	3.5
Value for moneyWhat you get for the price, including the free plan.	4.5	5.0
Speed & reliabilityHow fast it is and how often it falls over.	4.5	3.0

Feature comparison

A tick means it does this today. A dash means we haven't checked.

Attribute	Claude	LMArena
Access & platform
Free plan	Yes	Yes
Mobile app	Yes	No
Desktop app	Yes	No
Browser extension	Yes	No
API access	Yes	No
Teams & business
Team workspace	Yes	No
Enterprise plan or SSO	Yes	No
Connects to other apps	Yes	No
Open source or self-hosted	No	No
AI abilities
Works with your files	Yes	Yes
Understands images	Yes	Yes
Makes images	No	Yes
Makes video	No	Yes
Writes code	Yes	Yes
Runs agents or automations	Yes	No
Learns your brand or style	Yes	No
Works in many languages	Yes	Yes
Capabilities score	14/ 17	7/ 17

Pricing

Plans as listed on each vendor's site when we last checked. Confirm before you buy.

Attribute	Claude	LMArena
Plans	Free Free Trying it out and light daily use.	FreeOur pick Free Everyone.
	ProOur pick $20/mo, or $17/mo billed yearly Anyone who uses it most days.
	Max From $100/mo Heavy users and people living in Claude Code.
	Team From $20/seat/mo billed yearly Businesses with 2 to 150 people.
Which plan to pick	Start on Free to see if the writing suits you. Most people who stick with it move to Pro within a month; only go to Max if you hit the Pro limits every day or you're running Claude Code for hours at a time.	There's nothing to buy. Use it free, and pay for whichever assistant comes out best for your work.

Key features

Attribute	Claude	LMArena
Standout features	Projects Artifacts Long documents Web search and connectors Tasks and Claude Code Memory	Battle mode Side by side Direct chat Leaderboards Agent mode Early access

Pros and cons

Attribute	Claude	LMArena
Pros	Writing sounds like a person and needs the least editing of any assistant Handles long documents and messy briefs without losing track Projects and memory mean you stop repeating the same context Artifacts turn answers into real documents, slides and small apps One subscription covers Claude Code as well The free plan now includes memory, connectors and Artifacts	Free access to the leading models, often before release Blind voting makes it easy to judge models on output alone Leaderboards cover text, code, images, video and agents Real people's preferences are harder to game than lab benchmarks
Cons	Free and Pro usage limits can bite on a busy day No image or video generation, which ChatGPT and Gemini both have The free plan doesn't include the top Opus models Fewer third-party connectors and plugins than ChatGPT	Rankings favour answers that look good, and labs have been caught testing private versions to climb the board Conversations are collected and partly shared with model makers, so keep private work out Frequent "something went wrong" errors, captchas, logouts and models removed without notice Direct chat is being narrowed, with newer models only available in random battles The company now sells evaluations to the labs it ranks, which raises questions about neutrality

Who each one is for

Attribute	Claude	LMArena
Best for	Long-form writing and editing Reading and summarising long documents Thinking through a plan or decision Pairing with Claude Code	Choosing between AI models with your own prompts Checking which model leads after a launch Trying top models for free Comparing image and video models
You'll find it used by	Writers and marketers Founders Consultants Developers	AI enthusiasts Developers Product teams Journalists

Questions people ask

Which is better, Claude or LMArena?

Claude scores highest overall in our ratings (Claude 4.6/5 and LMArena 3.8/5). Claude is best for long-form writing and editing and reading and summarising long documents. LMArena is best for choosing between AI models with your own prompts and checking which model leads after a launch.

Which is cheaper, Claude or LMArena?

Claude: There's a free plan, and paid plans start at $20/mo. LMArena: It's free to use.

Which is easier to use, Claude or LMArena?

Claude rates highest for ease of use in our scores. Anyone who writes, researches or makes decisions for a living, plus anyone curious about Claude Code.

Ratings are our own, from using each tool, across ease of use, features, output quality, value for money, speed & reliability.

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