GPT-5.6 Terra (Max) vs GPT-6.1 Terra (Non-reasoning)
Which is better for the money: GPT-5.6 Terra (Max) by OpenAI or GPT-6.1 Terra (Non-reasoning) 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 8.6 points higher (42.1 vs 33.5) but costs 16× as much to run the benchmark ($2501 vs $154; flagship vs mid-range cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick GPT-5.6 Terra (Max) when you need intelligence above 33.5, and GPT-6.1 Terra (Non-reasoning) when 33.5 is enough.
| Metric | GPT-5.6 Terra (Max) | GPT-6.1 Terra (Non-reasoning) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 42.1 | 33.5 | −20.4% GPT-6.1 Terra (Non-re… is 20.4% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $2,500.72 | $153.58 | −93.9% GPT-6.1 Terra (Non-re… is 93.9% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 115.44s | 6.61s | −94.3% GPT-6.1 Terra (Non-re… is 94.3% 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 (Non-reasoning) vs GPT-5.6 Terra (Max): 20.4% less intelligence, 93.9% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 94.3% 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 (Non-reasoning) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6 Luna (Max) scores 38.10 for $122.
GPT-5.6 Terra (Max)GPT-6.1 Terra (Non-reasoning)Today's Pareto frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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