GPT-5.6 Terra (Medium) vs GPT-5.6 Terra (Non-reasoning)
Which is better for the money: GPT-5.6 Terra (Medium) by OpenAI or GPT-5.6 Terra (Non-reasoning) by OpenAI? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-10-24.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
GPT-5.6 Terra (Medium) scores 9.3 points higher (30.1 vs 20.8) but costs 1.7× as much to run the benchmark ($447 vs $256; both mid-range class). Pick GPT-5.6 Terra (Medium) when the extra intelligence is worth the premium, otherwise GPT-5.6 Terra (Non-reasoning).
| Metric | GPT-5.6 Terra (Medium) | GPT-5.6 Terra (Non-reasoning) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 30.1 | 20.8 | −30.9% GPT-5.6 Terra (Non-re… is 30.9% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $446.53 | $255.77 | −42.7% GPT-5.6 Terra (Non-re… is 42.7% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 5.85s | 5.09s | −13.0% GPT-5.6 Terra (Non-re… is 13.0% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $2.00 / $12.0 | $2.00 / $12.0 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image |
GPT-5.6 Terra (Non-reasoning) vs GPT-5.6 Terra (Medium): 30.9% less intelligence, 42.7% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 13.0% faster end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- GPT-5.6 Terra (Medium) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Medium) scores 47.80 for $361.
- GPT-5.6 Terra (Non-reasoning) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, MiMo-V2.6-Pro scores 46.30 for $207.
GPT-5.6 Terra (Medium)GPT-5.6 Terra (Non-reasoning)Today's Pareto frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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