Claude Opus 5.5 vs GPT-5.6 Sol vs GPT-6 Astra
Too close to call on our weighted score (Claude Opus 5.5 70, GPT-6 Astra 68, GPT-5.6 Sol 66). The right pick depends on what you value most.
AnthropicClaude Opus 5.5
70/100- ECI167.4
- Price$4.00 / $20.00
- Context1M
OpenAIGPT-5.6 Sol
66/100- ECI161.8
- Price$4.00 / $20.00
- Context1.05M
- OpenAI
GPT-6 Astra
68/100- ECI166.5
- Price$10.00 / $50.00
- Context1.05M
Too close to call
It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 2 points (Claude Opus 5.5 70/100, GPT-6 Astra 68/100, GPT-5.6 Sol 66/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Claude Opus 5.5 for raw capability. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
- CapabilityClaude Opus 5.5Capabilities Index (ECI): Claude Opus 5.5 167.4 · GPT-6 Astra 166.5 · GPT-5.6 Sol 161.8
- Lowest priceClaude Opus 5.5 and GPT-5.6 SolClaude Opus 5.5 $8.00 · GPT-5.6 Sol $8.00 · GPT-6 Astra $20.00 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextGPT-5.6 Sol and GPT-6 AstraGPT-5.6 Sol 1,050,000 · GPT-6 Astra 1,050,000 · Claude Opus 5.5 1,000,000 tokens
- Widest inputsSame inputsClaude Opus 5.5: Text, Images, PDFs · GPT-5.6 Sol: Text, Images, PDFs · GPT-6 Astra: Text, Images, PDFs
- Self-hostingNo open weightsAll three are available only through APIs
| Measure | Weight | Claude Opus 5.5 | GPT-5.6 Sol | GPT-6 Astra |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI) | 50% | 100 | 93 | 99 |
| Price | 25% | 7 | 7 | 0 |
| Inputs & features | 15% | 80 | 80 | 80 |
| Context window | 10% | 60 | 61 | 61 |
| Overall | 100% | 70/100 | 66/100 | 68/100 |
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | Claude Opus 5.5Anthropic | GPT-5.6 SolOpenAI | GPT-6 AstraOpenAI |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | 167.4 (best) | 161.8 | 166.5 |
| ECI rank | #1 of 148 (best) | #8 of 148 | #2 of 148 |
| GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions | 90.6% | 93.5% | 95.8% (best) |
| FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics | 91.2% | 89.1% | 93.7% (best) |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics | 100% | 100% | 100% |
| SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions | 72.2% | 69.7% | 75.6% (best) |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $4.00 (best) | $4.00 (best) | $10.00 |
| Output | $20.00 (best) | $20.00 (best) | $50.00 |
| Cached input | $0.20 (best) | $0.40 | $1.00 |
| Blended (3:1) | $8.00 (best) | $8.00 (best) | $20.00 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Over 272K: $8.00 / $30.00 | Over 272K: $20.00 / $75.00 |
| Price source | Official Anthropic API | Official OpenAI API | Official OpenAI API |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 1,000,000 tokens | 1,050,000 tokens (best) | 1,050,000 tokens (best) |
| Max output | 128,000 tokens | 128,000 tokens | 128,000 tokens |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| PDFs | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | No | No | No |
| Reasoning | Yeslow · medium · high · xhigh · max | Yeslow · medium · high · xhigh · max | Yeslow · medium · high · xhigh · max |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Proprietary | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| API model ID | claude-opus-5-5 | gpt-5.6-sol | gpt-6-astra |
| API providers | 28 | 40 (best) | 26 |
| Released | Sep 22, 2026 | Jul 9, 2026 | Sep 4, 2026 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Jun 2026 | Feb 16, 2026 | Apr 30, 2026 |
What would a month cost?
Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.
- Claude Opus 5.5$80.00
- GPT-5.6 Sol$80.00
- GPT-6 Astra$200.00
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Claude Opus 5.5, GPT-5.6 Sol or GPT-6 Astra?
It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 2 points (Claude Opus 5.5 70/100, GPT-6 Astra 68/100, GPT-5.6 Sol 66/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Claude Opus 5.5 for raw capability. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
Which is cheaper, Claude Opus 5.5, GPT-5.6 Sol or GPT-6 Astra?
Claude Opus 5.5 is cheaper at $4.00 input / $20.00 output per million tokens (official Anthropic API price). GPT-5.6 Sol costs $4.00 input / $20.00 output per million tokens (official OpenAI API price); GPT-6 Astra costs $10.00 input / $50.00 output per million tokens (official OpenAI API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $8.00 per million tokens for Claude Opus 5.5 versus $8.00 for GPT-5.6 Sol (1× as much) and $20.00 for GPT-6 Astra (2.5× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
Claude Opus 5.5 scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Claude Opus 5.5 167.4 (#1 of 148), GPT-6 Astra 166.5 (#2 of 148) and GPT-5.6 Sol 161.8 (#8 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (164.0–172.0 vs 163.1–171.1), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — GPT-6 Astra 95.8%, GPT-5.6 Sol 93.5%, Claude Opus 5.5 90.6%; FrontierMath Tiers 1–3 — GPT-6 Astra 93.7%, Claude Opus 5.5 91.2%, GPT-5.6 Sol 89.1%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Claude Opus 5.5 100%, GPT-5.6 Sol 100%, GPT-6 Astra 100%; SimpleQA Verified — GPT-6 Astra 75.6%, Claude Opus 5.5 72.2%, GPT-5.6 Sol 69.7%.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Claude Opus 5.5, GPT-5.6 Sol and GPT-6 Astra yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Claude Opus 5.5 leads, which tends to carry over to coding, but test on your own codebase. All three support tool calling for agent workflows.
Which has the bigger context window?
GPT-5.6 Sol and GPT-6 Astra have the largest context windows (1,050,000 and 1,050,000 tokens), against 1,000,000 for Claude Opus 5.5. Maximum output per response: Claude Opus 5.5 up to 128,000, GPT-5.6 Sol up to 128,000, GPT-6 Astra up to 128,000 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Claude Opus 5.5 accepts text, images and PDFs; GPT-5.6 Sol accepts text, images and PDFs; GPT-6 Astra accepts text, images and PDFs. They handle the same number of input types.
Are any of these open source?
No. Claude Opus 5.5, GPT-5.6 Sol and GPT-6 Astra are proprietary and only available through APIs and apps.
Which is newer?
Claude Opus 5.5 is the newest, released Sep 22, 2026. GPT-6 Astra came out Sep 4, 2026; GPT-5.6 Sol came out Jul 9, 2026. Knowledge cutoff: Claude Opus 5.5 Jun 2026, GPT-5.6 Sol Feb 16, 2026, GPT-6 Astra Apr 30, 2026.
How do you decide the winner?
Each model gets a 0–100 score on capability (50%, independent benchmark results); price (25%, blended price per million tokens (3 input : 1 output), log scale); inputs & features (15%, image, PDF, audio and video input, tool calling, structured output and reasoning); context window (10%, maximum tokens per request, log scale). Dimensions missing for any model are dropped and the remaining weights rescaled, so every model is judged on the same evidence. Specs and prices come from public model listings and the labs’ own API pages; capability scores come from independent benchmark runs. Data updated Oct 4, 2026.
