Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Xhigh, Default Fallback) vs Solar Mini 4
Which is better for the money: Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Xhigh, Default Fallback) by Anthropic or Solar Mini 4 by Upstage? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-10-25.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Xhigh, Default Fallb… scores 27.8 points higher (51.9 vs 24.1) but costs 4.3× as much to run the benchmark ($2177 vs $502; flagship vs premium cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Xhigh, Default Fallb… when you need intelligence above 24.1, and Solar Mini 4 when 24.1 is enough.
| Metric | Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Xhigh, Default Fallback) | Solar Mini 4 | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 51.9 | 24.1 | −53.6% Solar Mini 4 is 53.6% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $2,176.82 | $502.02 | −76.9% Solar Mini 4 is 76.9% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 33.13s | 23.11s | −30.2% Solar Mini 4 is 30.2% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $2.00 / $10.0 | $0.10 / $0.40 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text |
Solar Mini 4 vs Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Xhigh, Default Fallback): 53.6% less intelligence, 76.9% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 30.2% faster 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.
- Solar Mini 4 is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Medium) scores 47.80 for $361.
Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Xhigh, Default Fallback)Solar Mini 4Today's Pareto frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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