Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) vs GPT-6.1 Sol (High)
Which is better for the money: Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) by Anthropic or GPT-6.1 Sol (High) by OpenAI? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-10-24.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Max, Default Fallbac… scores 5.8 points higher (56.0 vs 50.2) but costs 14× as much to run the benchmark ($7260 vs $521; 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 50.2, and GPT-6.1 Sol (High) when 50.2 is enough.
| Metric | Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) | GPT-6.1 Sol (High) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 56.0 | 50.2 | −10.4% GPT-6.1 Sol (High) is 10.4% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $7,259.50 | $521.32 | −92.8% GPT-6.1 Sol (High) is 92.8% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 360.53s | 43.44s | −88.0% GPT-6.1 Sol (High) is 88.0% 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 (High) vs Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback): 10.4% less intelligence, 92.8% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 88.0% 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-6.1 Sol (High) is on today's frontier: nothing is both smarter and cheaper.
Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback)GPT-6.1 Sol (High)Today's Pareto frontierEvery other model
Matchup
Compare something else
Agents:
Accept: text/markdown or ?format=md returns this page as Markdown. JSON: /api/v1/compare/claude-sonnet-5-5/gpt-6-1-sol-high · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/claude-sonnet-5-5/gpt-6-1-sol-high?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill