GPT-5.6 Terra (Non-reasoning) vs GPT-6.1 Terra (Max)
Which is better for the money: GPT-5.6 Terra (Non-reasoning) by OpenAI or GPT-6.1 Terra (Max) 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-6.1 Terra (Max) scores 27.3 points higher (48.1 vs 20.8) but costs 3.6× as much to run the benchmark ($909 vs $256; premium vs mid-range cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick GPT-6.1 Terra (Max) when you need intelligence above 20.8, and GPT-5.6 Terra (Non-reasoning) when 20.8 is enough.
| Metric | GPT-5.6 Terra (Non-reasoning) | GPT-6.1 Terra (Max) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 20.8 | 48.1 | +131.3% GPT-6.1 Terra (Max) is 2.3× more intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $255.77 | $909.01 | +255.4% GPT-6.1 Terra (Max) is 3.6× more expensive |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 4.90s | 83.46s | +1603.3% GPT-6.1 Terra (Max) is 1603.3% slower |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $2.00 / $12.0 | $1.00 / $5.00 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image |
GPT-6.1 Terra (Max) vs GPT-5.6 Terra (Non-reasoning): 131.3% more intelligence, 255.4% more cost to run the AA benchmark, and 1603.3% slower end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- 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-6.1 Terra (Max) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Xhigh) scores 51.00 for $662.
GPT-5.6 Terra (Non-reasoning)GPT-6.1 Terra (Max)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-non-reasoning/gpt-6-1-terra · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/gpt-5-6-terra-non-reasoning/gpt-6-1-terra?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill