GPT-5.5 Instant (June 2026) vs GPT-6 Astra (Max)
Which is better for the money: GPT-5.5 Instant (June 2026) by OpenAI or GPT-6 Astra (Max) 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-6 Astra (Max) scores 26.7 points higher (52.7 vs 26.0) but costs 5.4× as much to run the benchmark ($5324 vs $987; flagship vs premium cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick GPT-6 Astra (Max) when you need intelligence above 26.0, and GPT-5.5 Instant (June 2026) when 26.0 is enough.
| Metric | GPT-5.5 Instant (June 2026) | GPT-6 Astra (Max) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 26.0 | 52.7 | +102.7% GPT-6 Astra (Max) is 2.0× more intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $986.85 | $5,324.10 | +439.5% GPT-6 Astra (Max) is 5.4× more expensive |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 16.37s | 369.90s | +2159.6% GPT-6 Astra (Max) is 2159.6% slower |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $5.00 / $30.0 | $10.0 / $50.0 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image |
GPT-6 Astra (Max) vs GPT-5.5 Instant (June 2026): 102.7% more intelligence, 439.5% more cost to run the AA benchmark, and 2159.6% slower 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-6 Astra (Max) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, Claude Opus 5.5 (Xhigh, Default Fallback) scores 56.00 for $4057.
GPT-5.5 Instant (June 2026)GPT-6 Astra (Max)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-6-astra · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/gpt-5-5-instant-06-26/gpt-6-astra?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill