GPT-6.1 Sol (Xhigh) vs GPT-6 Astra (Max)
Which is better for the money: GPT-6.1 Sol (Xhigh) by OpenAI or GPT-6 Astra (Max) by OpenAI? 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
GPT-6 Astra (Max) scores 1.7 points higher (52.7 vs 51.0) but costs 8.0× as much to run the benchmark ($5324 vs $662; flagship vs premium cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick GPT-6 Astra (Max) when you need intelligence above 51.0, and GPT-6.1 Sol (Xhigh) when 51.0 is enough.
| Metric | GPT-6.1 Sol (Xhigh) | GPT-6 Astra (Max) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 51.0 | 52.7 | +3.3% GPT-6 Astra (Max) is 3.3% more intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $662.28 | $5,324.10 | +703.9% GPT-6 Astra (Max) is 8.0× more expensive |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 170.50s | 388.52s | +127.9% GPT-6 Astra (Max) is 127.9% slower |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $2.00 / $10.0 | $10.0 / $50.0 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image |
GPT-6 Astra (Max) vs GPT-6.1 Sol (Xhigh): 3.3% more intelligence, 703.9% more cost to run the AA benchmark, and 127.9% slower end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- GPT-6.1 Sol (Xhigh) is on today's frontier: nothing is both smarter and cheaper.
- GPT-6 Astra (Max) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, Claude Opus 5.5 (Xhigh, Default Fallback) scores 56.00 for $4057.
GPT-6.1 Sol (Xhigh)GPT-6 Astra (Max)Today's Pareto frontierEvery other model
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Accept: text/markdown or ?format=md returns this page as Markdown. JSON: /api/v1/compare/gpt-6-1-sol-xhigh/gpt-6-astra · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/gpt-6-1-sol-xhigh/gpt-6-astra?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill