Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) vs GPT-6.1 Sol (Xhigh)
Which is better for the money: Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) by Anthropic or GPT-6.1 Sol (Xhigh) 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
Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Max, Default Fallbac… scores 5.0 points higher (56.0 vs 51.0) but costs 11× as much to run the benchmark ($7260 vs $662; 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 51.0, and GPT-6.1 Sol (Xhigh) when 51.0 is enough.
| Metric | Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) | GPT-6.1 Sol (Xhigh) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 56.0 | 51.0 | −8.9% GPT-6.1 Sol (Xhigh) is 8.9% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $7,259.50 | $662.28 | −90.9% GPT-6.1 Sol (Xhigh) is 90.9% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 447.79s | 143.74s | −67.9% GPT-6.1 Sol (Xhigh) is 67.9% 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 (Xhigh) vs Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback): 8.9% less intelligence, 90.9% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 67.9% 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 (Xhigh) is on today's frontier: nothing is both smarter and cheaper.
Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback)GPT-6.1 Sol (Xhigh)Today's Pareto frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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