DeepSeek V3 (Dec '24) vs GPT-5.6 Sol (Xhigh)
Which is better for the money: DeepSeek V3 (Dec '24) by DeepSeek or GPT-5.6 Sol (Xhigh) 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
GPT-5.6 Sol (Xhigh) scores 35.5 points higher (44.0 vs 8.5) but costs 82× as much to run the benchmark ($2082 vs $25.4; flagship vs budget cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick GPT-5.6 Sol (Xhigh) when you need intelligence above 8.5, and DeepSeek V3 (Dec '24) when 8.5 is enough.
| Metric | DeepSeek V3 (Dec '24) | GPT-5.6 Sol (Xhigh) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 8.5 | 44.0 | +417.6% GPT-5.6 Sol (Xhigh) is 5.2× more intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $25.37 | $2,082.28 | +8107.6% GPT-5.6 Sol (Xhigh) is 82× more expensive |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 11.89s | 28.41s | +138.9% GPT-5.6 Sol (Xhigh) is 138.9% slower |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.32 / $0.89 | $4.00 / $20.0 | |
| Input modalities | Text | Text, Image |
GPT-5.6 Sol (Xhigh) vs DeepSeek V3 (Dec '24): 417.6% more intelligence, 8107.6% more cost to run the AA benchmark, and 138.9% slower end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- DeepSeek V3 (Dec '24) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6 Luna (Low) scores 21.50 for $10.6.
- GPT-5.6 Sol (Xhigh) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Max) scores 51.80 for $1082.
DeepSeek V3 (Dec '24)GPT-5.6 Sol (Xhigh)Today's Pareto frontierOpen-weights frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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