Claude Opus 5.5 (Low, Default Fallback) vs GPT-5.6 Terra (Medium)
Which is better for the money: Claude Opus 5.5 (Low, Default Fallback) by Anthropic or GPT-5.6 Terra (Medium) by OpenAI? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-10-26.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
Claude Opus 5.5 (Low, Default Fallback) scores 12.2 points higher (42.3 vs 30.1) but costs 1.9× as much to run the benchmark ($860 vs $447; premium vs mid-range cost classes). Pick Claude Opus 5.5 (Low, Default Fallback) when the extra intelligence is worth the premium, otherwise GPT-5.6 Terra (Medium).
| Metric | Claude Opus 5.5 (Low, Default Fallback) | GPT-5.6 Terra (Medium) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 42.3 | 30.1 | −28.8% GPT-5.6 Terra (Medium) is 28.8% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $860.33 | $446.53 | −48.1% GPT-5.6 Terra (Medium) is 48.1% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 15.14s | 5.88s | −61.2% GPT-5.6 Terra (Medium) is 61.2% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $4.00 / $20.0 | $2.00 / $12.0 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image |
GPT-5.6 Terra (Medium) vs Claude Opus 5.5 (Low, Default Fallback): 28.8% less intelligence, 48.1% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 61.2% faster end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- Claude Opus 5.5 (Low, Default Fallback) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Xhigh) scores 51.00 for $662.
- GPT-5.6 Terra (Medium) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Medium) scores 47.80 for $361.
Claude Opus 5.5 (Low, Default Fallback)GPT-5.6 Terra (Medium)Today's Pareto frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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