GPT-5 mini (High) vs GPT-6 Sol (Non-reasoning)
Which is better for the money: GPT-5 mini (High) by OpenAI or GPT-6 Sol (Non-reasoning) by OpenAI? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-10-25.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
GPT-6 Sol (Non-reasoning) scores 11.7 points higher (28.5 vs 16.8) but costs 2.4× as much to run the benchmark ($449 vs $189; both mid-range class). Pick GPT-6 Sol (Non-reasoning) when the extra intelligence is worth the premium, otherwise GPT-5 mini (High).
| Metric | GPT-5 mini (High) | GPT-6 Sol (Non-reasoning) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 16.8 | 28.5 | +69.6% GPT-6 Sol (Non-reason… is 69.6% more intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $188.66 | $449.37 | +138.2% GPT-6 Sol (Non-reason… is 2.4× more expensive |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 64.18s | 5.75s | −91.0% GPT-6 Sol (Non-reason… is 91.0% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.25 / $2.00 | $2.00 / $10.0 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image |
GPT-6 Sol (Non-reasoning) vs GPT-5 mini (High): 69.6% more intelligence, 138.2% more cost to run the AA benchmark, and 91.0% faster end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- GPT-5 mini (High) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, Claude Haiku 5.5 (Xhigh) scores 41.20 for $158.
- GPT-6 Sol (Non-reasoning) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Medium) scores 47.80 for $361.
GPT-5 mini (High)GPT-6 Sol (Non-reasoning)Today's Pareto frontierEvery other model
Matchup
Compare something else
Agents:
Accept: text/markdown or ?format=md returns this page as Markdown. JSON: /api/v1/compare/gpt-5-mini/gpt-6-sol-non-reasoning · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/gpt-5-mini/gpt-6-sol-non-reasoning?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill