GPT-5.4 nano (Xhigh) vs GPT-6 Astra (Medium)
Which is better for the money: GPT-5.4 nano (Xhigh) by OpenAI or GPT-6 Astra (Medium) 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
GPT-6 Astra (Medium) scores 28.9 points higher (49.6 vs 20.7) but costs 7.3× as much to run the benchmark ($2434 vs $331; flagship vs mid-range cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick GPT-6 Astra (Medium) when you need intelligence above 20.7, and GPT-5.4 nano (Xhigh) when 20.7 is enough.
| Metric | GPT-5.4 nano (Xhigh) | GPT-6 Astra (Medium) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 20.7 | 49.6 | +139.6% GPT-6 Astra (Medium) is 2.4× more intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $331.24 | $2,434.12 | +634.9% GPT-6 Astra (Medium) is 7.3× more expensive |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 105.67s | 14.16s | −86.6% GPT-6 Astra (Medium) is 86.6% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.20 / $1.25 | $10.0 / $50.0 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image |
GPT-6 Astra (Medium) vs GPT-5.4 nano (Xhigh): 139.6% more intelligence, 634.9% more cost to run the AA benchmark, and 86.6% faster end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- GPT-5.4 nano (Xhigh) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, MiMo-V2.6-Pro scores 46.30 for $207.
- GPT-6 Astra (Medium) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, Claude Opus 5.5 (High, Default Fallback) scores 53.60 for $2172.
GPT-5.4 nano (Xhigh)GPT-6 Astra (Medium)Today's Pareto frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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Accept: text/markdown or ?format=md returns this page as Markdown. JSON: /api/v1/compare/gpt-5-4-nano/gpt-6-astra-medium · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/gpt-5-4-nano/gpt-6-astra-medium?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill