GPT-5.6 Sol (Medium) vs GPT-6 Luna (High)
Which is better for the money: GPT-5.6 Sol (Medium) by OpenAI or GPT-6 Luna (High) 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 (Medium) scores 6.3 points higher (39.2 vs 32.9) but costs 21× as much to run the benchmark ($997 vs $47.9; premium vs budget cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick GPT-5.6 Sol (Medium) when you need intelligence above 32.9, and GPT-6 Luna (High) when 32.9 is enough.
| Metric | GPT-5.6 Sol (Medium) | GPT-6 Luna (High) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 39.2 | 32.9 | −16.1% GPT-6 Luna (High) is 16.1% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $997.39 | $47.85 | −95.2% GPT-6 Luna (High) is 95.2% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 10.81s | 16.20s | +49.9% GPT-6 Luna (High) is 49.9% slower |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $4.00 / $20.0 | $0.10 / $0.50 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image |
GPT-6 Luna (High) vs GPT-5.6 Sol (Medium): 16.1% less intelligence, 95.2% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 49.9% slower end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- GPT-5.6 Sol (Medium) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Xhigh) scores 51.00 for $662.
- GPT-6 Luna (High) is on today's frontier: nothing is both smarter and cheaper.
GPT-5.6 Sol (Medium)GPT-6 Luna (High)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-medium/gpt-6-luna-high · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/gpt-5-6-sol-medium/gpt-6-luna-high?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill