Claude Opus 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) vs GPT-5.6 Sol (Medium)
Which is better for the money: Claude Opus 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) by Anthropic or GPT-5.6 Sol (Medium) by OpenAI? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-10-25.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
Claude Opus 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) scores 18.4 points higher (57.6 vs 39.2) but costs 8.7× as much to run the benchmark ($8708 vs $997; flagship vs premium cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick Claude Opus 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) when you need intelligence above 39.2, and GPT-5.6 Sol (Medium) when 39.2 is enough.
| Metric | Claude Opus 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) | GPT-5.6 Sol (Medium) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 57.6 | 39.2 | −31.9% GPT-5.6 Sol (Medium) is 31.9% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $8,708.20 | $997.39 | −88.5% GPT-5.6 Sol (Medium) is 88.5% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 693.20s | 10.52s | −98.5% GPT-5.6 Sol (Medium) is 98.5% 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 (Medium) vs Claude Opus 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback): 31.9% less intelligence, 88.5% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 98.5% 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 (Medium) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Xhigh) scores 51.00 for $662.
Claude Opus 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback)GPT-5.6 Sol (Medium)Today's Pareto frontierEvery other model
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