GPT-5.6 Luna (Low) vs GPT-5.6 Sol (Max)
Which is better for the money: GPT-5.6 Luna (Low) by OpenAI or GPT-5.6 Sol (Max) 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-5.6 Sol (Max) scores 26.0 points higher (47.0 vs 21.0) but costs 128× as much to run the benchmark ($3465 vs $27.0; flagship vs budget cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick GPT-5.6 Sol (Max) when you need intelligence above 21.0, and GPT-5.6 Luna (Low) when 21.0 is enough.
| Metric | GPT-5.6 Luna (Low) | GPT-5.6 Sol (Max) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 21.0 | 47.0 | +123.8% GPT-5.6 Sol (Max) is 2.2× more intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $27.02 | $3,464.84 | +12723.2% GPT-5.6 Sol (Max) is 128× more expensive |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 5.90s | 113.85s | +1829.7% GPT-5.6 Sol (Max) is 1829.7% slower |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.20 / $1.20 | $4.00 / $20.0 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image |
GPT-5.6 Sol (Max) vs GPT-5.6 Luna (Low): 123.8% more intelligence, 12723.2% more cost to run the AA benchmark, and 1829.7% slower end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- GPT-5.6 Luna (Low) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6 Luna (Low) scores 21.50 for $10.6.
- GPT-5.6 Sol (Max) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, Kimi K3.1 Pro scores 55.10 for $3117.
GPT-5.6 Luna (Low)GPT-5.6 Sol (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-low/gpt-5-6-sol · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/gpt-5-6-luna-low/gpt-5-6-sol?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill