Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) vs GPT-5.5 (Xhigh)
Which is better for the money: Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) by Anthropic or GPT-5.5 (Xhigh) by OpenAI? 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 (Max, Default Fallbac… scores 17.6 points higher (56.0 vs 38.4) but costs 1.4× as much to run the benchmark ($7260 vs $5294; both flagship class). Pick Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Max, Default Fallbac… when the extra intelligence is worth the premium, otherwise GPT-5.5 (Xhigh).
| Metric | Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) | GPT-5.5 (Xhigh) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 56.0 | 38.4 | −31.4% GPT-5.5 (Xhigh) is 31.4% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $7,259.50 | $5,294.36 | −27.1% GPT-5.5 (Xhigh) is 27.1% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 380.92s | 55.87s | −85.3% GPT-5.5 (Xhigh) is 85.3% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $2.00 / $10.0 | $5.00 / $30.0 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image |
GPT-5.5 (Xhigh) vs Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback): 31.4% less intelligence, 27.1% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 85.3% faster end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, Claude Opus 5.5 (Xhigh, Default Fallback) scores 56.00 for $4057.
- GPT-5.5 (Xhigh) 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 (Max, Default Fallback)GPT-5.5 (Xhigh)Today's Pareto frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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