GPT-5.6 Luna (High) vs GPT-6.1 Terra (Max)
Which is better for the money: GPT-5.6 Luna (High) by OpenAI or GPT-6.1 Terra (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-6.1 Terra (Max) scores 16.0 points higher (48.1 vs 32.1) but costs 8.4× as much to run the benchmark ($909 vs $108; premium vs mid-range cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick GPT-6.1 Terra (Max) when you need intelligence above 32.1, and GPT-5.6 Luna (High) when 32.1 is enough.
| Metric | GPT-5.6 Luna (High) | GPT-6.1 Terra (Max) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 32.1 | 48.1 | +49.8% GPT-6.1 Terra (Max) is 49.8% more intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $108.15 | $909.01 | +740.5% GPT-6.1 Terra (Max) is 8.4× more expensive |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 16.31s | 194.83s | +1094.5% GPT-6.1 Terra (Max) is 1094.5% slower |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.20 / $1.20 | $1.00 / $5.00 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image |
GPT-6.1 Terra (Max) vs GPT-5.6 Luna (High): 49.8% more intelligence, 740.5% more cost to run the AA benchmark, and 1094.5% slower end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- GPT-5.6 Luna (High) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, Claude Haiku 5.5 (High) scores 37.80 for $94.1.
- GPT-6.1 Terra (Max) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Xhigh) scores 51.00 for $662.
GPT-5.6 Luna (High)GPT-6.1 Terra (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-5-6-luna-high/gpt-6-1-terra · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/gpt-5-6-luna-high/gpt-6-1-terra?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill