Claude Opus 5.5 (Xhigh, Default Fallback) vs GPT-6 Astra (Medium)
Which is better for the money: Claude Opus 5.5 (Xhigh, Default Fallback) by Anthropic or GPT-6 Astra (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 (Xhigh, Default Fallbac… scores 6.4 points higher (56.0 vs 49.6) but costs 1.7× as much to run the benchmark ($4057 vs $2434; both flagship class). Pick Claude Opus 5.5 (Xhigh, Default Fallbac… when the extra intelligence is worth the premium, otherwise GPT-6 Astra (Medium).
| Metric | Claude Opus 5.5 (Xhigh, Default Fallback) | GPT-6 Astra (Medium) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 56.0 | 49.6 | −11.4% GPT-6 Astra (Medium) is 11.4% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $4,056.65 | $2,434.12 | −40.0% GPT-6 Astra (Medium) is 40.0% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 125.20s | 13.72s | −89.0% GPT-6 Astra (Medium) is 89.0% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $4.00 / $20.0 | $10.0 / $50.0 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image |
GPT-6 Astra (Medium) vs Claude Opus 5.5 (Xhigh, Default Fallback): 11.4% less intelligence, 40.0% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 89.0% faster end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- Claude Opus 5.5 (Xhigh, Default Fallback) is on today's frontier: nothing is both smarter and cheaper.
- GPT-6 Astra (Medium) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, Claude Opus 5.5 (High, Default Fallback) scores 53.60 for $2172.
Claude Opus 5.5 (Xhigh, Default Fallback)GPT-6 Astra (Medium)Today's Pareto frontierEvery other model
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