Claude Opus 5.5 (Low, Default Fallback) vs GPT-6 Astra (Max)
Which is better for the money: Claude Opus 5.5 (Low, Default Fallback) by Anthropic or GPT-6 Astra (Max) 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
GPT-6 Astra (Max) scores 10.4 points higher (52.7 vs 42.3) but costs 6.2× as much to run the benchmark ($5324 vs $860; flagship vs premium cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick GPT-6 Astra (Max) when you need intelligence above 42.3, and Claude Opus 5.5 (Low, Default Fallback) when 42.3 is enough.
| Metric | Claude Opus 5.5 (Low, Default Fallback) | GPT-6 Astra (Max) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 42.3 | 52.7 | +24.6% GPT-6 Astra (Max) is 24.6% more intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $860.33 | $5,324.10 | +518.8% GPT-6 Astra (Max) is 6.2× more expensive |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 13.96s | 294.32s | +2008.3% GPT-6 Astra (Max) is 2008.3% slower |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $4.00 / $20.0 | $10.0 / $50.0 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image |
GPT-6 Astra (Max) vs Claude Opus 5.5 (Low, Default Fallback): 24.6% more intelligence, 518.8% more cost to run the AA benchmark, and 2008.3% slower 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-6 Astra (Max) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, Claude Opus 5.5 (Xhigh, Default Fallback) scores 56.00 for $4057.
Claude Opus 5.5 (Low, Default Fallback)GPT-6 Astra (Max)Today's Pareto frontierEvery other model
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