Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Xhigh, Default Fallback) vs GPT-6 Astra (Max)
Which is better for the money: Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Xhigh, Default Fallback) by Anthropic or GPT-6 Astra (Max) 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-6 Astra (Max) scores 0.8 points higher (52.7 vs 51.9) but costs 2.4× as much to run the benchmark ($5324 vs $2177; both flagship class). Pick GPT-6 Astra (Max) when the extra intelligence is worth the premium, otherwise Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Xhigh, Default Fallb….
| Metric | Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Xhigh, Default Fallback) | GPT-6 Astra (Max) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 51.9 | 52.7 | +1.5% GPT-6 Astra (Max) is 1.5% more intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $2,176.82 | $5,324.10 | +144.6% GPT-6 Astra (Max) is 2.4× more expensive |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 33.91s | 328.93s | +870.0% GPT-6 Astra (Max) is 870.0% slower |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $2.00 / $10.0 | $10.0 / $50.0 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image |
GPT-6 Astra (Max) vs Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Xhigh, Default Fallback): 1.5% more intelligence, 144.6% more cost to run the AA benchmark, and 870.0% 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 Astra (Max) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, Claude Opus 5.5 (Xhigh, Default Fallback) scores 56.00 for $4057.
Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Xhigh, Default Fallback)GPT-6 Astra (Max)Today's Pareto frontierEvery other model
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