Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Xhigh, Default Fallback) vs GPT-6.1 Sol (Medium)
Which is better for the money: Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Xhigh, Default Fallback) by Anthropic or GPT-6.1 Sol (Medium) by OpenAI? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-10-26.
Depends on your budget
Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Xhigh, Default Fallb… scores 4.1 points higher (51.9 vs 47.8) but costs 6.0× as much to run the benchmark ($2177 vs $361; flagship vs mid-range cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Xhigh, Default Fallb… when you need intelligence above 47.8, and GPT-6.1 Sol (Medium) when 47.8 is enough.
| Metric | Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Xhigh, Default Fallback) | GPT-6.1 Sol (Medium) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 51.9 | 47.8 | −7.9% GPT-6.1 Sol (Medium) is 7.9% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $2,176.82 | $361.37 | −83.4% GPT-6.1 Sol (Medium) is 83.4% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 33.27s | 13.94s | −58.1% GPT-6.1 Sol (Medium) is 58.1% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $2.00 / $10.0 | $2.00 / $10.0 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image |
GPT-6.1 Sol (Medium) vs Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Xhigh, Default Fallback): 7.9% less intelligence, 83.4% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 58.1% faster end-to-end.
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 (Medium) is on today's frontier: nothing is both smarter and cheaper.
Compare something else
Accept: text/markdown or ?format=md returns this page as Markdown. JSON: /api/v1/compare/claude-sonnet-5-5-xhigh/gpt-6-1-sol-medium · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/claude-sonnet-5-5-xhigh/gpt-6-1-sol-medium?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill