Claude Opus 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) vs GPT-5.6 Sol (Xhigh)
Which is better for the money: Claude Opus 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) by Anthropic or GPT-5.6 Sol (Xhigh) by OpenAI? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-10-24.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
Claude Opus 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) scores 13.6 points higher (57.6 vs 44.0) but costs 4.2× as much to run the benchmark ($8708 vs $2082; both flagship class). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick Claude Opus 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) when you need intelligence above 44.0, and GPT-5.6 Sol (Xhigh) when 44.0 is enough.
| Metric | Claude Opus 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) | GPT-5.6 Sol (Xhigh) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 57.6 | 44.0 | −23.6% GPT-5.6 Sol (Xhigh) is 23.6% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $8,708.20 | $2,082.28 | −76.1% GPT-5.6 Sol (Xhigh) is 76.1% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 626.13s | 28.41s | −95.5% GPT-5.6 Sol (Xhigh) is 95.5% 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 (Xhigh) vs Claude Opus 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback): 23.6% less intelligence, 76.1% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 95.5% 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 (Xhigh) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Max) scores 51.80 for $1082.
Claude Opus 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback)GPT-5.6 Sol (Xhigh)Today's Pareto frontierEvery other model
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