GPT-5.5 Instant (June 2026) vs GPT-5.6 Terra (Non-reasoning)
Which is better for the money: GPT-5.5 Instant (June 2026) by OpenAI or GPT-5.6 Terra (Non-reasoning) by OpenAI? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-10-27.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
GPT-5.5 Instant (June 2026) scores 5.2 points higher (26.0 vs 20.8) but costs 3.9× as much to run the benchmark ($987 vs $256; premium vs mid-range cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick GPT-5.5 Instant (June 2026) when you need intelligence above 20.8, and GPT-5.6 Terra (Non-reasoning) when 20.8 is enough.
| Metric | GPT-5.5 Instant (June 2026) | GPT-5.6 Terra (Non-reasoning) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 26.0 | 20.8 | −20.0% GPT-5.6 Terra (Non-re… is 20.0% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $986.85 | $255.77 | −74.1% GPT-5.6 Terra (Non-re… is 74.1% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 16.18s | 5.05s | −68.8% GPT-5.6 Terra (Non-re… is 68.8% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $5.00 / $30.0 | $2.00 / $12.0 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image |
GPT-5.6 Terra (Non-reasoning) vs GPT-5.5 Instant (June 2026): 20.0% less intelligence, 74.1% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 68.8% faster end-to-end.
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 (Non-reasoning) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, MiMo-V2.6-Pro scores 46.30 for $207.
GPT-5.5 Instant (June 2026)GPT-5.6 Terra (Non-reasoning)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-5-5-instant-06-26/gpt-5-6-terra-non-reasoning · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/gpt-5-5-instant-06-26/gpt-5-6-terra-non-reasoning?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill