Claude Opus 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) vs GPT-5.6 Sol (Max)
Which is better for the money: Claude Opus 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) by Anthropic or GPT-5.6 Sol (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
Claude Opus 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) scores 10.6 points higher (57.6 vs 47.0) but costs 2.5× as much to run the benchmark ($8708 vs $3465; both flagship class). Pick Claude Opus 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) when the extra intelligence is worth the premium, otherwise GPT-5.6 Sol (Max).
| Metric | Claude Opus 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) | GPT-5.6 Sol (Max) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 57.6 | 47.0 | −18.4% GPT-5.6 Sol (Max) is 18.4% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $8,708.20 | $3,464.84 | −60.2% GPT-5.6 Sol (Max) is 60.2% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 693.20s | 105.13s | −84.8% GPT-5.6 Sol (Max) is 84.8% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $4.00 / $20.0 | $4.00 / $20.0 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image |
GPT-5.6 Sol (Max) vs Claude Opus 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback): 18.4% less intelligence, 60.2% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 84.8% faster end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- Claude Opus 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) is on today's frontier: nothing is both smarter and cheaper.
- GPT-5.6 Sol (Max) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, Kimi K3.1 Pro scores 55.10 for $3117.
Claude Opus 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback)GPT-5.6 Sol (Max)Today's Pareto frontierEvery other model
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