GPT-5.5 Instant (June 2026) vs GPT-5.6 Terra (High)
Which is better for the money: GPT-5.5 Instant (June 2026) by OpenAI or GPT-5.6 Terra (High) by OpenAI? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-10-27.
Clear winner
Verdict
Pick GPT-5.6 Terra (High)
GPT-5.6 Terra (High) vs GPT-5.5 Instant (June 2026): 31.5% more intelligence, 22.2% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 55.4% faster end-to-end.
| Metric | GPT-5.5 Instant (June 2026) | GPT-5.6 Terra (High) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 26.0 | 34.2 | +31.5% GPT-5.6 Terra (High) is 31.5% more intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $986.85 | $767.78 | −22.2% GPT-5.6 Terra (High) is 22.2% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 16.37s | 7.30s | −55.4% GPT-5.6 Terra (High) is 55.4% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $5.00 / $30.0 | $2.00 / $12.0 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image |
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- GPT-5.5 Instant (June 2026) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Xhigh) scores 51.00 for $662.
- GPT-5.6 Terra (High) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Xhigh) scores 51.00 for $662.
GPT-5.5 Instant (June 2026)GPT-5.6 Terra (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/gpt-5-5-instant-06-26/gpt-5-6-terra-high · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/gpt-5-5-instant-06-26/gpt-5-6-terra-high?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill