GPT-5.5 (Medium) vs GPT-6 Astra (Max)
Which is better for the money: GPT-5.5 (Medium) by OpenAI or GPT-6 Astra (Max) by OpenAI? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-10-25.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
GPT-6 Astra (Max) scores 18.9 points higher (52.7 vs 33.8) but costs 2.5× as much to run the benchmark ($5324 vs $2095; both flagship class). Pick GPT-6 Astra (Max) when the extra intelligence is worth the premium, otherwise GPT-5.5 (Medium).
| Metric | GPT-5.5 (Medium) | GPT-6 Astra (Max) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 33.8 | 52.7 | +55.9% GPT-6 Astra (Max) is 55.9% more intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $2,095.12 | $5,324.10 | +154.1% GPT-6 Astra (Max) is 2.5× more expensive |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 11.50s | 280.51s | +2339.2% GPT-6 Astra (Max) is 2339.2% 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 (Medium): 55.9% more intelligence, 154.1% more cost to run the AA benchmark, and 2339.2% slower 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-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 (Medium)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-medium/gpt-6-astra · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/gpt-5-5-medium/gpt-6-astra?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill