Claude Opus 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) vs GPT-6 Luna (Medium)
Which is better for the money: Claude Opus 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) by Anthropic or GPT-6 Luna (Medium) 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 27.7 points higher (57.6 vs 29.9) but costs 279× as much to run the benchmark ($8708 vs $31.2; flagship vs budget cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick Claude Opus 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) when you need intelligence above 29.9, and GPT-6 Luna (Medium) when 29.9 is enough.
| Metric | Claude Opus 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) | GPT-6 Luna (Medium) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 57.6 | 29.9 | −48.1% GPT-6 Luna (Medium) is 48.1% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $8,708.20 | $31.17 | −99.6% GPT-6 Luna (Medium) is 99.6% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 626.13s | 8.25s | −98.7% GPT-6 Luna (Medium) is 98.7% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $4.00 / $20.0 | $0.10 / $0.50 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image |
GPT-6 Luna (Medium) vs Claude Opus 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback): 48.1% less intelligence, 99.6% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 98.7% 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-6 Luna (Medium) is on today's frontier: nothing is both smarter and cheaper.
Claude Opus 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback)GPT-6 Luna (Medium)Today's Pareto frontierEvery other model
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