GPT-5.6 Sol (Low) vs GPT-6 Astra (Max)
Which is better for the money: GPT-5.6 Sol (Low) by OpenAI or GPT-6 Astra (Max) by OpenAI? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-10-26.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
GPT-6 Astra (Max) scores 19.2 points higher (52.7 vs 33.5) but costs 8.4× as much to run the benchmark ($5324 vs $637; flagship vs premium cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick GPT-6 Astra (Max) when you need intelligence above 33.5, and GPT-5.6 Sol (Low) when 33.5 is enough.
| Metric | GPT-5.6 Sol (Low) | GPT-6 Astra (Max) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 33.5 | 52.7 | +57.3% GPT-6 Astra (Max) is 57.3% more intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $637.28 | $5,324.10 | +735.4% GPT-6 Astra (Max) is 8.4× more expensive |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 8.26s | 294.32s | +3463.2% GPT-6 Astra (Max) is 3463.2% slower |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $4.00 / $20.0 | $10.0 / $50.0 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image |
GPT-6 Astra (Max) vs GPT-5.6 Sol (Low): 57.3% more intelligence, 735.4% more cost to run the AA benchmark, and 3463.2% slower end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- GPT-5.6 Sol (Low) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (High) scores 50.20 for $521.
- 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-5.6 Sol (Low)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-5-6-sol-low/gpt-6-astra · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/gpt-5-6-sol-low/gpt-6-astra?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill