GPT-6.1 Sol is the best AI for agent workflows when you need reliability at a price you can run all day. Multi-step automations magnify model mistakes, so a strong reasoner matters, but agents also make many calls. GPT-6.1 Sol comes within a point of GPT-6 Astra on independent testing at a fifth of the price. For the hardest coding agents, Claude Opus 5.5 is stronger; for cheap sub-steps inside a workflow, Claude Haiku 5.5 is built for the job.
The safest agent workflows default, the cheaper option worth trying first, and the specialist pick — before you read the detail below.
GPT-6.1 Sol is the strongest answer here for agent workflows — pick it when quality of output matters more than the $2.00/1M/1M input you pay for it.
Claude Haiku 5.5 handles the same job for about 95% less per token. Start here and only move up if the output is not good enough.
Claude Opus 5.5 is the fastest of these for agent workflows — worth it when latency is what the reader notices, not the last few points of reasoning depth.
GPT-6.1 Sol is the best value for reliable multi-step agents.
Claude Opus 5.5 is the stronger choice for long coding agents where mistakes are costly.
Claude Haiku 5.5 keeps sub-agent and tool-call steps cheap at $0.10/$0.50.
Use GPT-6.1 Sol for tool-using agents where errors are costly but volume is high.
Use Claude Opus 5.5 for coding agents that work across a repository for long stretches.
Use Claude Haiku 5.5 for routing, extraction and other small steps inside a larger agent.
Switch the scoring lens to see whether the agent workflows answer changes when cost, speed, or long-document depth leads the decision.
OpenAI / Balanced / Oct 10, 2026
Near-Astra capability at Sol pricing — OpenAI's value pick.
Ranks models by the broadest mix of coding, writing, research, and long-context usefulness.
You need it inside ordinary ChatGPT chats today, or your prompts regularly pass 272K tokens where the rate doubles.
Where the agent workflows recommendation shifts once you weigh price or latency differently.
Near-Astra capability at Sol pricing — OpenAI's value pick.
Anthropic's new coding default — top SWE-bench Pro score at a lower price than Opus 5.
Anthropic's budget model, now with adjustable reasoning, at $0.10/$0.50.
OpenAI's frontier answer to Fable 5.1 — computer-use and agentic-coding leader at $10/$50.
List prices and published scores — the numbers this page's pick is built from.
| Model | Input | Output | Est. month | Context | Speed | Coding | Writing | Research |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GPT-6.1 SolOpenAI | $2.00/1M | $10.00/1M | $40 | 1.1M tokens | Balanced | 98 | 94 | 97 |
| Claude Opus 5.5Anthropic | $4.00/1M | $20.00/1M | $80 | 1M tokens | Deliberate | 100 | 97 | 99 |
| Claude Haiku 5.5Anthropic | $0.10/1M | $0.50/1M | $2.00 | 1M tokens | Very fast | 86 | 84 | 82 |
| GPT-6 AstraOpenAI | $10.00/1M | $50.00/1M | $200 | 1.1M tokens | Deliberate | 100 | 97 | 100 |
Scores out of 100 — how we evaluate models. “Est. month” is 10M in / 2M out at list price: a ceiling, no discounts.
Why each one is on the shortlist for agent workflows, what it is genuinely good at, and where we would steer you away from it.
Ranked first here for agent workflows: 98/100 on coding, with the widest margin of anything in this line-up.
OpenAI's September 29, 2026 DevDay release — a Sol-tier reasoning model that OpenAI says comes close to GPT-6 Astra on agentic coding, computer use and professional work at one fifth of Astra's price.
You need it inside ordinary ChatGPT chats today, or your prompts regularly pass 272K tokens where the rate doubles.
OpenAI's best value for serious work. GPT-6.1 Sol replaces both GPT-6 Sol and, for most teams, GPT-6 Astra: independent testing has it a point behind Astra at a fifth of the list price. Pick Astra only when the last point of capability is worth five times the bill.
Full pricing, benchmark table and release notes on the GPT-6.1 Sol page.
Here for latency: it answers fastest of anything listed for agent workflows, at 100/100 on coding.
Anthropic's September 22, 2026 Opus — a step up from Opus 5 on agentic coding, long-running agent work and vision, at a lower $4/$20 list price and with fewer tokens spent per finished task.
Your tasks are well-scoped and latency-sensitive — Sonnet 5.5 is half the price and Anthropic says it is the fastest Sonnet yet.
The new premium coding default from Anthropic. Opus 5.5 posts the highest SWE-bench Pro figure in any launch table we track and costs less than Opus 5 did. Fable 5.1 still makes sense for the hardest open-ended research at $10/$50; for almost everything else Opus 5.5 is the better buy, and Sonnet 5.5 at half the price is close behind on well-scoped work.
Full pricing, benchmark table and release notes on the Claude Opus 5.5 page.
Where most budgets should land for agent workflows — about 95% less per token than GPT-6.1 Sol, and still 86/100 on the coding axis.
Anthropic's budget model, now with adjustable reasoning, at $0.10/$0.50. Full Claude Haiku 5.5 review →
The alternative to check next for agent workflows — 100/100 on coding.
OpenAI's frontier answer to Fable 5.1 — computer-use and agentic-coding leader at $10/$50. Full GPT-6 Astra review →
UseRightAI recommendations are based on practical decision factors people actually feel in day-to-day use.
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For agent workflows, GPT-6.1 Sol (OpenAI) is our pick. Near-Astra capability at Sol pricing — OpenAI's value pick. It costs $2/1M input and $10/1M output tokens, with a 1.05M-token context window — enough headroom for all but the largest agent workflows jobs. Claude Opus 5.5 is the closest alternative if it doesn't fit your setup.
Because the work it is built for overlaps closely with agent workflows: coding agents in Codex that need near-Astra quality at Sol pricing and computer-use and browser automation run at volume. OpenAI's best value for serious work. GPT-6.1 Sol replaces both GPT-6 Sol and, for most teams, GPT-6 Astra: independent testing has it a point behind Astra at a fifth of the list price. Pick Astra only when the last point of capability is worth five times the bill.
On a moderate month — 10M input and 2M output tokens — GPT-6.1 Sol runs about $40.00 at list price, with no batch or caching discounts applied, so treat that as a ceiling. Claude Haiku 5.5 is the cheaper route at roughly $2.00 for the same volume, if agent workflows is high-volume enough for price to lead the decision.
Prompts above 272K input tokens are billed at $4/$15. At launch it was available in ChatGPT Work and Codex, not in regular ChatGPT conversations. Avoid it if you need it inside ordinary ChatGPT chats today, or your prompts regularly pass 272K tokens where the rate doubles. None of that rules it out for agent workflows on its own — but if one of those limits maps onto how you actually work, take the alternative on this page seriously rather than defaulting to the top pick.
Claude Haiku 5.5 at $0.1/1M input is the budget option here. Anthropic's budget model, now with adjustable reasoning, at $0.10/$0.50. Expect a quality step down on the hardest cases — the usual pattern is to route routine agent workflows volume to Claude Haiku 5.5 and keep GPT-6.1 Sol for the work where a wrong answer is expensive.
Claude Haiku 5.5, rated very fast against GPT-6.1 Sol's balanced. Speed matters most for interactive and high-volume work; if your agent workflows runs in the background, the slower and more capable model is usually the better trade.