Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Low, Default Fallback) vs GPT-5.6 Sol (Xhigh)
Which is better for the money: Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Low, 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 2026-10-26.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
GPT-5.6 Sol (Xhigh) scores 8.1 points higher (44.0 vs 35.9) but costs 4.3× as much to run the benchmark ($2082 vs $482; flagship vs mid-range cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick GPT-5.6 Sol (Xhigh) when you need intelligence above 35.9, and Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Low, Default Fallbac… when 35.9 is enough.
| Metric | Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Low, Default Fallback) | GPT-5.6 Sol (Xhigh) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 35.9 | 44.0 | +22.6% GPT-5.6 Sol (Xhigh) is 22.6% more intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $482.13 | $2,082.28 | +331.9% GPT-5.6 Sol (Xhigh) is 4.3× more expensive |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 5.85s | 62.17s | +962.7% GPT-5.6 Sol (Xhigh) is 962.7% slower |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $2.00 / $10.0 | $4.00 / $20.0 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image |
GPT-5.6 Sol (Xhigh) vs Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Low, Default Fallback): 22.6% more intelligence, 331.9% more cost to run the AA benchmark, and 962.7% slower end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Low, Default Fallback) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Medium) scores 47.80 for $361.
- 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 Sonnet 5.5 (Low, Default Fallback)GPT-5.6 Sol (Xhigh)Today's Pareto frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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Accept: text/markdown or ?format=md returns this page as Markdown. JSON: /api/v1/compare/claude-sonnet-5-5-low/gpt-5-6-sol-xhigh · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/claude-sonnet-5-5-low/gpt-5-6-sol-xhigh?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill