GPT-5.6 Terra (Medium) vs GPT-6 Sol (Max)
Which is better for the money: GPT-5.6 Terra (Medium) by OpenAI or GPT-6 Sol (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 Sol (Max) scores 17.5 points higher (47.6 vs 30.1) but costs 3.4× as much to run the benchmark ($1536 vs $447; premium vs mid-range cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick GPT-6 Sol (Max) when you need intelligence above 30.1, and GPT-5.6 Terra (Medium) when 30.1 is enough.
| Metric | GPT-5.6 Terra (Medium) | GPT-6 Sol (Max) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 30.1 | 47.6 | +58.1% GPT-6 Sol (Max) is 58.1% more intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $446.53 | $1,535.80 | +243.9% GPT-6 Sol (Max) is 3.4× more expensive |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 6.06s | 94.05s | +1452.0% GPT-6 Sol (Max) is 1452.0% slower |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $2.00 / $12.0 | $2.00 / $10.0 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image |
GPT-6 Sol (Max) vs GPT-5.6 Terra (Medium): 58.1% more intelligence, 243.9% more cost to run the AA benchmark, and 1452.0% 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-6 Sol (Max) 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-6 Sol (Max)Today's Pareto frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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