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Van Data Team

text model comparison

GPT-5.6 Sol vs GPT-6 Astra

GPT-5.6 Sol and GPT-6 Astra are both current text models, from OpenAI. GPT-5.6 Sol is 60% cheaper per 1M input tokens than GPT-6 Astra, $4 vs $10. On Arena Text, GPT-5.6 Sol scores 1485 Elo and GPT-6 Astra 1476 Elo (Arena, measured October 28, 2026). Both accept 1,050,000 tokens of context.

Higher Arena Text
GPT-5.6 Sol1485 Elo against 1476 Elo
Lower price per 1M input tokens
GPT-5.6 Sol$4 against $10
Newer release
GPT-6 AstraSep 2026 against Jul 2026

Data verified November 3, 2026 · Dataset 2026-11-03

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Side by side

GPT-5.6 Sol and GPT-6 Astra, line by line

Prices in effect today, compared at the same tier wherever both list one. The better value in each row is highlighted.

FactGPT-5.6 SolGPT-6 Astra
Price
Price per 1M input tokens$4 (better)$10
Price per 1M output tokens$20 (better)$50
Independent benchmarks
Arena Text1485 Elo (#11 of 51) (better)1476 Elo (#21 of 51)
FrontierMath Tiers 1-3 (v2)89.1% (#7 of 42)93.7% (#1 of 42) (better)
GPQA Diamond93.5% (#12 of 41)95.8% (#2 of 41) (better)
SimpleQA Verified69.7% (#8 of 38)75.6% (#2 of 38) (better)
Arena WebDevNot measured1773 Elo (#2 of 45)
Specs
ProviderOpenAIOpenAI
Release dateJuly 9, 2026September 3, 2026
AccessAPI onlyAPI only
Context window1,050,000 tokens1,050,000 tokens
Max output128,000 tokens128,000 tokens
Inputtext, imagetext, image
Outputtexttext

Scores:Arena · 2026-11-03Epoch AI · 2026-11-03

Open both in the interactive comparison

Charts

Against every current text model

Where GPT-5.6 Sol and GPT-6 Astra land among the current models of their task, on every independent benchmark, on price and on context.

Where each stands

On Arena Text, GPT-5.6 Sol ranks #11 and GPT-6 Astra #21 of 51 current models. Each bar is the share of current models it beats: on score, price and context.

GPT-5.6 Sol and GPT-6 Astra among the current text models, one row per benchmark, price and context window.

Independent benchmarks

Arena Text

GPT-5.6 Sol:#11of 51

1,485 Elo · ahead of 80%

GPT-6 Astra:#21of 51

1,476 Elo · ahead of 58%

Arena WebDev

GPT-5.6 Sol: Not scored

GPT-6 Astra:#2of 45

1,773 Elo · ahead of 98%

FrontierMath Tiers 1-3 (v2)

GPT-5.6 Sol:#7of 42

89.1% · ahead of 85%

GPT-6 Astra:#1of 42

93.7% · ahead of 98%

GPQA Diamond

GPT-5.6 Sol:#12of 41

93.5% · ahead of 73%

GPT-6 Astra:#2of 41

95.8% · ahead of 98%

SimpleQA Verified

GPT-5.6 Sol:#8of 38

69.7% · ahead of 78%

GPT-6 Astra:#2of 38

75.6% · ahead of 97%

Price and context

Price per 1M input tokens

GPT-5.6 Sol:#43of 52

$4 · cheaper than 14%

GPT-6 Astra:#49of 52

$10 · cheaper than 0%

Price per 1M output tokens

GPT-5.6 Sol:#43of 52

$20 · cheaper than 14%

GPT-6 Astra:#49of 52

$50 · cheaper than 0%

Context window

GPT-5.6 Sol:#1of 64

1.05M tokens · longer than 86%

GPT-6 Astra:#1of 64

1.05M tokens · longer than 86%

Scores fromArena · 2026-11-03Epoch AI · 2026-11-03

Quality against price

Arena Text · measured October 28, 2026

GPT-5.6 Sol scores 1,485 at $8; GPT-6 Astra scores 1,476 at $20 (blended price per 1M tokens). The line joins the current models no other beats on both price and Arena Text score; hover any point to name it.

Quality against priceArena Text score against price for 43 text models, GPT-5.6 Sol and GPT-6 Astra marked.1,2501,3001,3501,4001,4501,5001,550$0.30$1$3$10MOST ATTRACTIVE QUADRANTMedian price $3Median 1,475Blended price per 1M tokens (3 input : 1 output), log scaleArena Text (Elo)GPT-5.6 SolGPT-6 Astra
Quality against price: the data
Arena Text score against price for 43 text models, GPT-5.6 Sol and GPT-6 Astra marked.
ModelProviderBlended price per 1M tokensArena Text (Elo)
Gemini 4 ArgonGoogle$41,520
Claude Opus 5.5Anthropic$81,509
Muse WonderMeta$81,507
Claude Fable 5Anthropic$201,504
Claude Fable 5.1Anthropic$201,504
Gemini 3.8 FlashGoogle$1.501,496
Muse Spark 1.3Meta$21,495
Claude Opus 5Anthropic$101,492
Kimi K3Moonshot Kimi$61,488
GPT-5.6 SolOpenAI$81,485
Gemini 3.6 FlashGoogle$31,483
GPT-5.5OpenAI$111,482
Claude Opus 4.8Anthropic$101,482
Qwen3.8-MaxAlibaba Qwen$31,482
GPT-6.1 SolOpenAI$41,481
GLM-5.3Z.ai$2.151,481
MiMo-V2.6-ProXiaomi MiMo$0.541,480
Claude Sonnet 5.5Anthropic$41,477
GLM-5.3-FlashZ.ai$0.241,477
GPT-6 AstraOpenAI$201,476
DeepSeek-V4.1-FlashDeepSeek$0.521,476
GPT-5.4OpenAI$5.631,475
Gemini 3 Flash PreviewGoogle$1.131,473
Grok 4.20xAI$1.561,472
GPT-5.6 TerraOpenAI$4.501,467
Grok 4.5xAI$31,465
DeepSeek-V4-ProDeepSeek$1.981,465
Claude Sonnet 5Anthropic$41,462
GPT-6 SolOpenAI$41,458
Gemini 3.5 Flash-LiteGoogle$0.851,456
Grok 4.6xAI$31,455
GPT-5.6 LunaOpenAI$0.451,453
MiMo-V2.6-FlashXiaomi MiMo$0.181,448
Step 5 PreviewStepFun$1.431,448
Grok 4.3xAI$1.561,442
GPT-6 LunaOpenAI$0.201,441
Grok 4.7xAI$31,441
Mistral Large 4Mistral AI$1.051,432
Claude Haiku 5.5Anthropic$0.201,425
GPT-4.1OpenAI$3.501,415
Solar Pro 4Upstage$0.521,388
GPT-4.1 miniOpenAI$0.701,383
GPT-4.1 nanoOpenAI$0.181,322

Cost

What each costs

Example workloads at each provider's listed rates, then every other rate either one lists. The cheaper figure in each row is highlighted.

The same work, priced

For 10M input and 2M output tokens, GPT-6 Astra costs 2.5 times as much as GPT-5.6 Sol, at each provider's listed rates.

What GPT-5.6 Sol and GPT-6 Astra cost for the same work, at the rates each provider lists.

  • 10M input and 2M output tokens

    GPT-6 Astra costs 2.5× as much

    GPT-5.6 Sol
    $80
    GPT-6 Astra
    $200

  • The same, with 9M of the input tokens cached

    GPT-6 Astra costs 2.5× as much

    GPT-5.6 Sol
    $47.60
    GPT-6 Astra
    $119
Workload or rateGPT-5.6 SolGPT-6 Astra
Example workloads
10M input and 2M output tokens$80 (better)$200
The same, with 9M of the input tokens cached$47.60 (better)$119
Other listed rates
1M input tokens, cached$0.40 (better)$1

Your own bill will differ. These figures use list prices and example workloads. The AI Model Cost Audit reviews your real usage, shortlists models that score as well for each task for less, and estimates the savings.

Launch price $100, regular price $150

Book the cost audit

Verdict

When to choose each

GPT-5.6 Sol

Where it leads

  • Lower input and output prices, $4 and $20 vs $10 and $50 per 1M tokens
  • Higher Arena Text score, 1485 Elo vs 1476 Elo
  • Cheaper cached input, $0.40 vs $1 per 1M tokens

Best for

  • Frontier capability evaluations for complex API workflows
  • Long-horizon coding and research agents that use computer use or MCP tools

Watch out for

  • Not in the pinned LiveBench snapshot; its independent scores here come from Epoch AI's own GPQA Diamond, FrontierMath and SimpleQA Verified runs
Full GPT-5.6 Sol profile

GPT-6 Astra

Where it leads

  • Higher FrontierMath Tiers 1-3 (v2) score, 93.7% vs 89.1%
  • Higher GPQA Diamond score, 95.8% vs 93.5%
  • Higher SimpleQA Verified score, 75.6% vs 69.7%

Best for

  • Frontier reasoning and agentic evaluations where deep-context retrieval accuracy is the binding constraint
  • Workloads that can be kept under the long-context threshold, where the effective rate stays at $10 / $50

Watch out for

  • Long-context billing is a cliff, not a taper: a request over the long-context threshold is rebilled in full at $20 per million input and $75 per million output, so a prompt that crosses it costs roughly double
  • GPT-6 Astra is the first publicly released model OpenAI classifies as crossing the Critical cybersecurity threshold under its own Preparedness Framework, which carries additional deployment safeguards
  • Vendor-reported benchmark figures come from OpenAI’s own launch material and its own harness; they are not independently reproduced here
Full GPT-6 Astra profile

From benchmark to production

Building on GPT-5.6 Sol or GPT-6 Astra?

Public scores rarely hold on your own data. We test both models on your real tasks, then build the agent or pipeline around the one that wins.

AI Model Cost AuditLaunch price $100, regular price $150What the audit includes

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FAQ

GPT-5.6 Sol vs GPT-6 Astra FAQ

Which is cheaper, GPT-5.6 Sol or GPT-6 Astra?

GPT-5.6 Sol is 60% cheaper per 1M input tokens than GPT-6 Astra, $4 vs $10. For 10M input and 2M output tokens, GPT-5.6 Sol costs $80 and GPT-6 Astra $200 at standard rates.

Which is cheaper with prompt caching, GPT-5.6 Sol or GPT-6 Astra?

GPT-5.6 Sol charges $0.40 per 1M cached input tokens, 90% below its standard input rate, and GPT-6 Astra $1, 90% below. With 9M of 10M input tokens cached and 2M output tokens, GPT-5.6 Sol costs $47.60 and GPT-6 Astra $119.

Which scores higher on independent benchmarks, GPT-5.6 Sol or GPT-6 Astra?

GPT-5.6 Sol leads on Arena Text, 1485 Elo to 1476 Elo; GPT-6 Astra leads on FrontierMath Tiers 1-3 (v2), 93.7% to 89.1%; GPT-6 Astra leads on GPQA Diamond, 95.8% to 93.5%. Scores are independent evaluations, not either vendor's launch figures.

Which has the larger context window, GPT-5.6 Sol or GPT-6 Astra?

Both accept 1,050,000 tokens of context. Both return up to 128,000 tokens per response.

Further reading

More on GPT-5.6 Sol and GPT-6 Astra

Articles on GPT-5.6 Sol and GPT-6 Astra

Related comparisons

Production evaluation

Choosing between GPT-5.6 Sol and GPT-6 Astra?

Public benchmarks narrow the shortlist. We run both on your own tasks, data and cost limits, then build the routing and review controls to run the winner in production.

  • A head-to-head evaluation on your real workload
  • Routing between models by cost and difficulty
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