GPT-5.6 Luna (Non-reasoning) vs GPT-5.6 Terra (Max)
Which is better for the money: GPT-5.6 Luna (Non-reasoning) by OpenAI or GPT-5.6 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-5.6 Terra (Max) scores 26.6 points higher (42.1 vs 15.5) but costs 109× as much to run the benchmark ($2501 vs $23.0; flagship vs budget cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick GPT-5.6 Terra (Max) when you need intelligence above 15.5, and GPT-5.6 Luna (Non-reasoning) when 15.5 is enough.
| Metric | GPT-5.6 Luna (Non-reasoning) | GPT-5.6 Terra (Max) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 15.5 | 42.1 | +171.6% GPT-5.6 Terra (Max) is 2.7× more intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $22.97 | $2,500.72 | +10786.9% GPT-5.6 Terra (Max) is 109× more expensive |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 5.06s | 115.02s | +2173.1% GPT-5.6 Terra (Max) is 2173.1% slower |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.20 / $1.20 | $2.00 / $12.0 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image |
GPT-5.6 Terra (Max) vs GPT-5.6 Luna (Non-reasoning): 171.6% more intelligence, 10786.9% more cost to run the AA benchmark, and 2173.1% slower end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- GPT-5.6 Luna (Non-reasoning) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6 Luna (Low) scores 21.50 for $10.6.
- GPT-5.6 Terra (Max) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, Claude Opus 5.5 (High, Default Fallback) scores 53.60 for $2172.
GPT-5.6 Luna (Non-reasoning)GPT-5.6 Terra (Max)Today's Pareto frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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