GPT-5.6 Terra (Medium) vs GPT-5.6 Terra (Xhigh)
Which is better for the money: GPT-5.6 Terra (Medium) by OpenAI or GPT-5.6 Terra (Xhigh) 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 (Xhigh) scores 7.9 points higher (38.0 vs 30.1) but costs 2.7× as much to run the benchmark ($1187 vs $447; premium vs mid-range cost classes). Pick GPT-5.6 Terra (Xhigh) when the extra intelligence is worth the premium, otherwise GPT-5.6 Terra (Medium).
| Metric | GPT-5.6 Terra (Medium) | GPT-5.6 Terra (Xhigh) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 30.1 | 38.0 | +26.2% GPT-5.6 Terra (Xhigh) is 26.2% more intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $446.53 | $1,186.77 | +165.8% GPT-5.6 Terra (Xhigh) is 2.7× more expensive |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 5.59s | 33.63s | +501.6% GPT-5.6 Terra (Xhigh) is 501.6% slower |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $2.00 / $12.0 | $2.00 / $12.0 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image |
GPT-5.6 Terra (Xhigh) vs GPT-5.6 Terra (Medium): 26.2% more intelligence, 165.8% more cost to run the AA benchmark, and 501.6% slower 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 (Xhigh) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Max) scores 51.80 for $1082.
GPT-5.6 Terra (Medium)GPT-5.6 Terra (Xhigh)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-terra-medium/gpt-5-6-terra-xhigh · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/gpt-5-6-terra-medium/gpt-5-6-terra-xhigh?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill