Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Xhigh, Default Fallback) vs GPT-6.1 Sol (Max)
Which is better for the money: Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Xhigh, Default Fallback) by Anthropic or GPT-6.1 Sol (Max) 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 Sonnet 5.5 (Xhigh, Default Fallb… scores 0.1 points higher (51.9 vs 51.8) but costs 2.0× as much to run the benchmark ($2177 vs $1082; flagship vs premium cost classes). Pick Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Xhigh, Default Fallb… when the extra intelligence is worth the premium, otherwise GPT-6.1 Sol (Max).
| Metric | Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Xhigh, Default Fallback) | GPT-6.1 Sol (Max) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 51.9 | 51.8 | −0.2% GPT-6.1 Sol (Max) is 0.2% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $2,176.82 | $1,081.55 | −50.3% GPT-6.1 Sol (Max) is 50.3% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 32.10s | 220.48s | +586.9% GPT-6.1 Sol (Max) is 586.9% slower |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $2.00 / $10.0 | $2.00 / $10.0 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image |
GPT-6.1 Sol (Max) vs Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Xhigh, Default Fallback): 0.2% less intelligence, 50.3% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 586.9% slower end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Xhigh, Default Fallback) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, Claude Opus 5.5 (High, Default Fallback) scores 53.60 for $2172.
- GPT-6.1 Sol (Max) is on today's frontier: nothing is both smarter and cheaper.
Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Xhigh, Default Fallback)GPT-6.1 Sol (Max)Today's Pareto frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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