GPT-5.6 Terra (Max) vs GPT-6.1 Terra (Low)
Which is better for the money: GPT-5.6 Terra (Max) by OpenAI or GPT-6.1 Terra (Low) 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 (Max) scores 5.9 points higher (42.1 vs 36.2) but costs 22× as much to run the benchmark ($2501 vs $115; flagship vs mid-range cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick GPT-5.6 Terra (Max) when you need intelligence above 36.2, and GPT-6.1 Terra (Low) when 36.2 is enough.
| Metric | GPT-5.6 Terra (Max) | GPT-6.1 Terra (Low) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 42.1 | 36.2 | −14.0% GPT-6.1 Terra (Low) is 14.0% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $2,500.72 | $114.52 | −95.4% GPT-6.1 Terra (Low) is 95.4% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 115.02s | 6.78s | −94.1% GPT-6.1 Terra (Low) is 94.1% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $2.00 / $12.0 | $1.00 / $5.00 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image |
GPT-6.1 Terra (Low) vs GPT-5.6 Terra (Max): 14.0% less intelligence, 95.4% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 94.1% faster end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- GPT-5.6 Terra (Max) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, Claude Opus 5.5 (High, Default Fallback) scores 53.60 for $2172.
- GPT-6.1 Terra (Low) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, MiMo-V2.6-Flash scores 37.90 for $110.
GPT-5.6 Terra (Max)GPT-6.1 Terra (Low)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/gpt-6-1-terra-low · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/gpt-5-6-terra/gpt-6-1-terra-low?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill