GPT-5.6 Terra (Non-reasoning) vs Grok 4.6 (Medium)
Which is better for the money: GPT-5.6 Terra (Non-reasoning) by OpenAI or Grok 4.6 (Medium) by SpaceXAI? 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
Grok 4.6 (Medium) scores 22.0 points higher (42.8 vs 20.8) but costs 6.1× as much to run the benchmark ($1557 vs $256; premium vs mid-range cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick Grok 4.6 (Medium) 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) | Grok 4.6 (Medium) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 20.8 | 42.8 | +105.8% Grok 4.6 (Medium) is 2.1× more intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $255.77 | $1,557.04 | +508.8% Grok 4.6 (Medium) is 6.1× more expensive |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 5.10s | 34.32s | +572.9% Grok 4.6 (Medium) is 572.9% slower |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $2.00 / $12.0 | $2.00 / $6.00 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image |
Grok 4.6 (Medium) vs GPT-5.6 Terra (Non-reasoning): 105.8% more intelligence, 508.8% more cost to run the AA benchmark, and 572.9% 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.
- Grok 4.6 (Medium) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Max) scores 51.80 for $1082.
GPT-5.6 Terra (Non-reasoning)Grok 4.6 (Medium)Today's Pareto frontierEvery other model
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