GPT-5.6 Sol is $0.5 cheaper per 1M input tokens (20% lower; 1.25x difference).
API cost decision in 10 seconds
🔥GPT-5.6 Sol vs Claude Opus 5 (batch)
Pick GPT-5.6 Sol when budget and context both matter.
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Data confirmed:
Prices normalized to USD per 1M tokens
Sample workload: 1M input + 500K output
Budget verdict
Pick GPT-5.6 Sol when budget and context both matter.
On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, GPT-5.6 Sol is estimated at $7 vs $8.75 for Claude Opus 5 (batch), saving $1.75 (20% lower).
Cost-first pickGPT-5.6 Sol
Context-first pickGPT-5.6 Sol
Sample savings$1.7520%
10x traffic gap$17.5
GPT-5.6 Sol is cheaper on the standard workload and also has the larger context window. At 10x that traffic, the same price gap is about $17.5. Use the calculator below to replace the sample workload with your own token volume.
Cost sensitivity
Workload Sensitivity
GPT-5.6 Sol stays cheaper across input-heavy, balanced, and output-heavy sample workloads.
| Workload shape | Token mix | Better pick | GPT-5.6 Sol | Claude Opus 5 (batch) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Input-heavy / RAG | 5M input + 500K output | GPT-5.6 Sol | $15 | $18.75 |
| Balanced workload | 1M input + 1M output | GPT-5.6 Sol | $12 | $15 |
| Output-heavy chatbot | 1M input + 5M output | GPT-5.6 Sol | $52 | $65 |
GPT-5.6 Sol is $2.5 cheaper per 1M output tokens (20% lower; 1.25x difference).
GPT-5.6 Sol has 50K more context (1.05x larger).
GPT-5.6 Sol is $1.75 cheaper on the standard workload (20% lower).
Estimate your workload cost
Your Workload Cost
This estimate uses normalized public API pricing per 1M tokens. It is a planning aid, not a billing quote. Verify provider pricing, limits, and terms before production use.
Quick Decision
GPT-5.6 Sol has the lower input price; GPT-5.6 Sol has the lower output price; GPT-5.6 Sol offers the larger context window. For the 1M input plus 500K output sample, GPT-5.6 Sol is cheaper for the standard workload.
For a 1M input token plus 500K output token workload, the estimated API cost is $7 for GPT-5.6 Sol and $8.75 for Claude Opus 5 (batch).
Choose GPT-5.6 Sol when you care most about lower input-token price, lower output-token price, and larger context window.
Choose Claude Opus 5 (batch) when its provider, model quality, latency, or availability is more important than the numeric price/context winner.
- On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, GPT-5.6 Sol is estimated at $7 vs $8.75 for Claude Opus 5 (batch), saving $1.75 (20% lower).
- GPT-5.6 Sol is $1.75 cheaper on the standard workload (20% lower).
- GPT-5.6 Sol is $0.5 cheaper per 1M input tokens (20% lower; 1.25x difference).
- GPT-5.6 Sol is $2.5 cheaper per 1M output tokens (20% lower; 1.25x difference).
- GPT-5.6 Sol has 50K more context (1.05x larger).
| Feature | 🔥GPT-5.6 Sol (OpenAI) | Claude Opus 5 (batch) (Anthropic) |
|---|---|---|
| Input Price prompt tokens per 1M | $2 | $2.5 |
| Completion Price per 1M tokens | $10 | $12.5 |
| Sample Workload Cost 1M input + 500K output | $7 | $8.75 |
| Context Window | 1.05M | 1M |
| Release Date | ||
| Popularity | #15 |
Use-Case Decision Matrix
| Use case | Better pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Budget-constrained production | GPT-5.6 Sol | On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, GPT-5.6 Sol is estimated at $7 vs $8.75 for Claude Opus 5 (batch), saving $1.75 (20% lower). |
| High-volume input processing | GPT-5.6 Sol | Lower prompt-token price matters most when prompts, retrieved passages, or documents dominate the bill. |
| Long responses and chatbots | GPT-5.6 Sol | Lower output-token price matters most when assistants generate many completion tokens. |
| RAG or long-document work | GPT-5.6 Sol | A larger context window leaves more room for retrieved passages, conversation history, or source files. |
Related Alternatives
- gpt-oss-120b (free) can replace GPT-5.6 Sol when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.
- gpt-oss-20b (free) can replace GPT-5.6 Sol when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.
- gpt-oss-20b can replace GPT-5.6 Sol when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.1.
- gpt-oss-120b can replace GPT-5.6 Sol when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.12.
- Grok 4.20 Multi-Agent offers 2M context with $2.5 sample workload cost.
- Grok 4.20 offers 2M context with $2.5 sample workload cost.
- DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731 offers 1.31M context with $0.17 sample workload cost.
- DeepSeek V4 Flash Latest offers 1.31M context with $0.11 sample workload cost.
- DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731 · DeepSeek · #1
- MiMo-V2.5 · Xiaomi · #2
- Hy3 · Tencent · #3
- Ox Alpha · stealth · #4
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Open Anthropic modelsGPT-5.6 Sol is the flagship model in OpenAI's GPT-5.6 series. It is suited for complex reasoning, coding, and agentic workflows, and is particularly strong at command-line and multi-step coding tasks...
Claude Opus 5 is Anthropic’s flagship model for demanding reasoning, coding, and long-horizon agentic work. It is particularly strong at end-to-end software tasks, code review and bug finding, visual analysis...