GPT-5.5 (Medium) vs GPT-5.6 Terra (Low)
Which is better for the money: GPT-5.5 (Medium) by OpenAI or GPT-5.6 Terra (Low) 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-5.5 (Medium) scores 6.3 points higher (33.8 vs 27.5) but costs 6.0× as much to run the benchmark ($2095 vs $350; flagship vs mid-range cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick GPT-5.5 (Medium) when you need intelligence above 27.5, and GPT-5.6 Terra (Low) when 27.5 is enough.
| Metric | GPT-5.5 (Medium) | GPT-5.6 Terra (Low) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 33.8 | 27.5 | −18.6% GPT-5.6 Terra (Low) is 18.6% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $2,095.12 | $350.36 | −83.3% GPT-5.6 Terra (Low) is 83.3% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 12.31s | 5.67s | −53.9% GPT-5.6 Terra (Low) is 53.9% 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 (Low) vs GPT-5.5 (Medium): 18.6% less intelligence, 83.3% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 53.9% faster end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- GPT-5.5 (Medium) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Max) scores 51.80 for $1082.
- GPT-5.6 Terra (Low) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, MiMo-V2.6-Pro scores 46.30 for $207.
GPT-5.5 (Medium)GPT-5.6 Terra (Low)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-medium/gpt-5-6-terra-low · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/gpt-5-5-medium/gpt-5-6-terra-low?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill