GPT-6.1 Sol wins on coding (98 vs 97) and price ($2 vs $4/1M input). For most workflows, GPT-6.1 Sol is the stronger default — near-astra capability at sol pricing — openai's value pick.
The safest GPT-6.1 Sol vs GPT-5.6 Sol 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 GPT-6.1 Sol vs GPT-5.6 Sol — pick it when quality of output matters more than the $2.00/1M/1M input you pay for it.
Claude Sonnet 5.5 is the cheaper way in for GPT-6.1 Sol vs GPT-5.6 Sol, at $2.00/1M/1M input against GPT-6.1 Sol's $2.00/1M/1M.
GPT-5.6 Sol is the fastest of these for GPT-6.1 Sol vs GPT-5.6 Sol — worth it when latency is what the reader notices, not the last few points of reasoning depth.
GPT-6.1 Sol leads on coding with a score of 98 vs 97 for GPT-5.6 Sol.
GPT-6.1 Sol is cheaper at $2/1M input tokens vs $4/1M for GPT-5.6 Sol.
GPT-6.1 Sol is the stronger default for coding tasks.
Go with GPT-6.1 Sol if you want one model to handle coding and research — it targets agentic coding and computer use when Astra's price is hard to justify.
GPT-5.6 Sol earns its place when your work is mostly frontier agentic coding and deep research, even though it loses the overall count here.
Both models serve different primary workflows — GPT-6.1 Sol for agentic coding and computer use when Astra's price is hard to justify, GPT-5.6 Sol for frontier agentic coding and deep research — so running each where it has a clear edge often beats forcing one to do both.
Switch the scoring lens to see whether the GPT-6.1 Sol vs GPT-5.6 Sol 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 GPT-6.1 Sol vs GPT-5.6 Sol recommendation shifts once you weigh price or latency differently.
Near-Astra capability at Sol pricing — OpenAI's value pick.
Former OpenAI flagship — still strong on terminal coding, now behind GPT-6 Astra.
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 |
| GPT-5.6 SolOpenAI | $4.00/1M | $20.00/1M | $80 | 1.1M tokens | Deliberate | 97 | 94 | 97 |
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 GPT-6.1 Sol vs GPT-5.6 Sol, what it is genuinely good at, and where we would steer you away from it.
Ranked first here for GPT-6.1 Sol vs GPT-5.6 Sol: 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.
The fastest model in this shortlist for GPT-6.1 Sol vs GPT-5.6 Sol. Pick it when turnaround is what your readers or users notice.
The flagship of OpenAI's GPT-5.6 family — its most capable reasoning and agentic-coding model, with an 'ultra' mode that spawns sub-agents for long autonomous workflows.
Repo-level coding is the main job — Opus 5 leads SWE-bench Pro by ~15 points — or you're cost-sensitive (Terra is 60% cheaper at 1–4 points off).
Superseded: GPT-6 Astra (September 3, 2026) is now OpenAI's most capable model, and GPT-6.1 Sol (September 29) is the value pick at $2/$10. Still a strong terminal-workflow model. It led Terminal-Bench and agentic browsing at launch, but Claude Opus 5.5 is the better pick for repository-level software engineering.
Full pricing, benchmark table and release notes on the GPT-5.6 Sol page.
UseRightAI recommendations are based on practical decision factors people actually feel in day-to-day use.
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GPT-6.1 Sol wins on more of the categories we score — coding, research, reasoning — so it is the better default of the two. GPT-5.6 Sol is the better pick when your work is mostly frontier agentic coding and deep research. Neither is universally "better": GPT-6.1 Sol is aimed at agentic coding and computer use when Astra's price is hard to justify, GPT-5.6 Sol at frontier agentic coding and deep research.
GPT-6.1 Sol is cheaper at $2/1M input and $10/1M output. GPT-5.6 Sol costs $4/1M input and $20/1M output.
Both GPT-6.1 Sol and GPT-5.6 Sol have the same 1.05M context window.
GPT-6.1 Sol is better for coding with a score of 98 vs GPT-5.6 Sol's 97 (out of 100). Claude Opus 5.5 is the overall coding leader in this directory at 100/100.
GPT-6.1 Sol is faster with a balanced speed rating (score: 3) vs GPT-5.6 Sol's deliberate rating (score: 2). Speed matters most for interactive and high-throughput work; for batch jobs the GPT-5.6 Sol latency penalty is usually invisible.
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. That is the main case for looking at GPT-5.6 Sol instead.
Trails Claude Opus 5 badly on repository-level engineering (SWE-bench Pro 64.6% vs 79.2%). Long-context surcharge ($10/$45 above 272K) and 2–3x ultra-mode costs stack up fast. Avoid it if repo-level coding is the main job — Opus 5 leads SWE-bench Pro by ~15 points — or you're cost-sensitive (Terra is 60% cheaper at 1–4 points off). Against GPT-6.1 Sol specifically, the gap shows up most on coding (98 vs 97).
Take a moderate workload of 10M input and 2M output tokens a month. GPT-6.1 Sol runs $40.00 (at $2/1M in and $10/1M out); GPT-5.6 Sol runs $80.00 (at $4/1M in and $20/1M out). That is a $40.00/month difference — GPT-6.1 Sol is the cheaper of the two at this volume, and the gap scales linearly as you send more. Output tokens dominate the bill on both, so prompt length matters far less than response length.
Yes, and for most teams that beats picking one. A common split is GPT-6.1 Sol for agentic coding and computer use when Astra's price is hard to justify, with GPT-5.6 Sol handling frontier agentic coding and deep research. Since GPT-6.1 Sol is both the stronger and the cheaper option here, a split mainly makes sense if GPT-5.6 Sol covers a capability you specifically need.