Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) vs GPT-5.6 Terra (Xhigh)
Which is better for the money: Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) by Anthropic or GPT-5.6 Terra (Xhigh) 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 (Max, Default Fallbac… scores 18.0 points higher (56.0 vs 38.0) but costs 6.1× as much to run the benchmark ($7260 vs $1187; flagship vs premium cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Max, Default Fallbac… when you need intelligence above 38.0, and GPT-5.6 Terra (Xhigh) when 38.0 is enough.
| Metric | Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) | GPT-5.6 Terra (Xhigh) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 56.0 | 38.0 | −32.1% GPT-5.6 Terra (Xhigh) is 32.1% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $7,259.50 | $1,186.77 | −83.7% GPT-5.6 Terra (Xhigh) is 83.7% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 465.48s | 36.37s | −92.2% GPT-5.6 Terra (Xhigh) is 92.2% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $2.00 / $10.0 | $2.00 / $12.0 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image |
GPT-5.6 Terra (Xhigh) vs Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback): 32.1% less intelligence, 83.7% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 92.2% faster end-to-end.
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-5.6 Terra (Xhigh) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Max) scores 51.80 for $1082.
Compare something else
Accept: text/markdown or ?format=md returns this page as Markdown. JSON: /api/v1/compare/claude-sonnet-5-5/gpt-5-6-terra-xhigh · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/claude-sonnet-5-5/gpt-5-6-terra-xhigh?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill