Head to head
GPT-6.1 Sol vs GPT-5.6 Sol
Which is better, GPT-6.1 Sol or GPT-5.6 Sol?
GPT-6.1 Sol finishes ahead of GPT-5.6 Sol on the index, 90.3 to 84.4, and leads on all four scores: craft, speed, control and value. Both are scored on the same rubric, in the same week, and neither placing is sponsored.
Updated
GPT-6.1 Sol
04 of 73
90.3
Near-Astra answers at a fifth of the price. The OpenAI model most teams should deploy now.
GPT-5.6 Sol
25 of 73
84.4
Strong and now discounted, but GPT-6.1 Sol beats it for half the money.
The four scores, side by side
| Score | GPT-6.1 Sol | GPT-5.6 Sol | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Craft | 92 | 89 | +3 |
| Speed | 82 | 74 | +8 |
| Control | 91 | 91 | — |
| Value | 89 | 72 | +17 |
| Index score | 90.3 | 84.4 | +5.9 |
Which to pick
GPT-6.1 Sol is the safer pick on every axis we score. GPT-5.6 Sol earns its place in the index, but nothing in these four numbers argues for it over GPT-6.1 Sol.
GPT-6.1 Sol
GPT-6.1 Sol launched at DevDay a week after GPT-6 Sol and replaces it at the same price. OpenAI describes it as near-Astra performance at a lower cost, and the leaderboards bear that out: it scores just below Astra on the Artificial Analysis index and well above it with human voters. At two dollars in and ten out, it is priced head to head with Claude Sonnet 5.5, and it is the default choice inside the OpenAI ecosystem.
Where it shines
- Close to Astra on benchmarks for a fifth of the price
- Preferred over Astra by human voters
- Every framework and agent toolkit supports it from day one
GPT-5.6 Sol
GPT-5.6 Sol was OpenAI's deepest thinker in the summer and remains strong on mathematics and long reasoning. OpenAI has cut its price to four dollars in and twenty out until at least late November, but GPT-6.1 Sol now costs half that with better scores, and ChatGPT has already moved to GPT-6. It is still active on the API, which matters for anyone whose prompts were tuned against it.
Where it shines
- Still strong on mathematics and formal reasoning
- Context window past a million tokens
- Temporarily discounted from its launch price