GPT-5.6 Sol (Medium) vs GPT-6 Luna (Non-reasoning)
Which is better for the money: GPT-5.6 Sol (Medium) by OpenAI or GPT-6 Luna (Non-reasoning) 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 20.7 points higher (39.2 vs 18.5) but costs 52× as much to run the benchmark ($997 vs $19.2; premium vs budget cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick GPT-5.6 Sol (Medium) when you need intelligence above 18.5, and GPT-6 Luna (Non-reasoning) when 18.5 is enough.
| Metric | GPT-5.6 Sol (Medium) | GPT-6 Luna (Non-reasoning) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 39.2 | 18.5 | −52.8% GPT-6 Luna (Non-reaso… is 52.8% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $997.39 | $19.16 | −98.1% GPT-6 Luna (Non-reaso… is 98.1% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 11.36s | 5.09s | −55.2% GPT-6 Luna (Non-reaso… is 55.2% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $4.00 / $20.0 | $0.10 / $0.50 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image |
GPT-6 Luna (Non-reasoning) vs GPT-5.6 Sol (Medium): 52.8% less intelligence, 98.1% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 55.2% faster 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 (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 Sol (Medium)GPT-6 Luna (Non-reasoning)Today's Pareto frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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