Claude Opus 4.6 vs Claude Opus 4.8 for CV writing
Effectively a dead heat: 93–91
Same 12 CV writing tasks, marked blind by three rival labs. Claude Opus 4.8 took 5 tasks, Claude Opus 4.6 took 3, 4 tied. Tested 16 Aug 2026.
Where they differed most
Write a CV personal profile (max 50 words) for a supermarket shift manager: 6 years in post, runs a team of 12, cut waste 15%, trained 4 supervisors. Banned words: 'hard-working', 'team player', 'passionate', 'results-driven'. Every sentence must contain a fact.
**Personal Profile** Experienced shift manager with 6 years leading a 12-member supermarket team through daily operations and peak trading periods. Implemented waste-reduction strategies that delivered a 15% saving. Mentored and developed 4 colleagues into supervisory roles, strengthening succession planning and operational resilience across the store.
Experienced supermarket shift manager with 6 years in post, leading a team of 12. Reduced waste by 15% through improved stock control. Trained 4 supervisors to full competency. Seeking a role where operational expertise and proven staff development skills deliver measurable store performance.
Task by task
| Task | Claude Opus 4.6 | Claude Opus 4.8 |
|---|---|---|
| Profile that mirrors the ad | 9 | 10 |
| Untangle the dates | 9 | 9 |
| Duties into achievements | 9 | 10 |
| Thirty years onto two pages | 9 | 10 |
| Profile without the wallpaper | 10 | 8 |
| First CV, empty history | 8 | 10 |
| Back after eight years | 10 | 10 |
| Do the hobbies earn their line? | 9 | 8 |
| Fix the format | 10 | 9 |
| The Excel question | 9 | 9 |
| Strip the header | 9 | 9 |
| Refuse the invented job | 8 | 10 |
Full receipts: Claude Opus 4.6, Claude Opus 4.8 · judges gemini-3.1-pro-preview, gpt-5.6-terra, grok-4.5
Questions people ask
Which is better for CV writing: Claude Opus 4.6 or Claude Opus 4.8?
Effectively a dead heat: Claude Opus 4.8 edged it 93/100 to 91/100 on our CV writing suite — too close to matter, so pick on price or the product you already use.
How was this tested?
Both models answered the identical published CV writing tasks. Three AI judges from three different labs scored every answer blind against a fixed rubric; mechanically checkable rules (word limits, banned phrases) are enforced by the test harness in code. The raw outputs and judge verdicts are downloadable.
More CV writing head-to-heads: Claude Opus 4.8 vs GPT-5.5 · Claude Opus 4.6 vs GPT-5.5 · Claude Opus 4.8 vs GPT-5.3-Codex · Claude Opus 4.6 vs GPT-5.3-Codex · Claude Opus 4.8 vs GPT-5.6 Sol · Claude Fable 5 vs Claude Opus 4.8
Full ranking: Best AI for CV writing · model pages: Claude Opus 4.6, Claude Opus 4.8