GPT-6.1 Sol vs Claude Sonnet 5.5
GPT-6.1 Sol scores higher on the Models at Work leaderboard (70 vs 66 out of 100). On independent tests alone, GPT-6.1 Sol is ahead (81 vs 68). They cost about the same: 1,000 support replies come to $10 on GPT-6.1 Sol and $10 on Claude Sonnet 5.5 at list price.
| GPT-6.1 Sol · OpenAI | Claude Sonnet 5.5 · Anthropic | |
|---|---|---|
| Leaderboard rank | #6 | #10 |
| Score (0–100) | 70 | 66 |
| Kind of work | Everyday default | Everyday default |
| Price per 1M tokens | $2 to read · $10 to write | $2 to read · $10 to write |
| Reads at once | 1M tokens (about 750,000 words) | 1M tokens (about 750,000 words) |
| Where you can get it | OpenAI API, Amazon Bedrock, Microsoft Foundry, Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform (Google Cloud), ChatGPT Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise and Edu, Microsoft 365 Copilot | Claude Team and Enterprise, Amazon Bedrock, Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform (Google Cloud), Microsoft Foundry, Microsoft 365 Copilot, GitHub Copilot |
| Can a company host it itself | No | No |
| Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index | 55 | 55 |
| Humanity's Sixth Sense (Scale) | 46.60 | Not measured |
| Humanity's Last Exam, Diamond (Scale) | Not measured | 37.50 |
| Best for | Drafting proposals and reports, Summarising long documents, Back-office tasks with several steps, Answering questions from company documents | Support replies at volume, Drafting proposals and reports, Summarising meetings and long documents, Answering questions from company documents |
Cost of 1,000 jobs
| 1,000 of these | GPT-6.1 Sol | Claude Sonnet 5.5 |
|---|---|---|
| Support repliesthe customer message, the account notes and two help articles read; a 300-word reply written | $10 | $10 |
| Documents processeda two-page invoice or form read; the fields pulled out | $7 | $7 |
| Calls summariseda 40-minute call transcript read; a summary and next steps written | $26 | $26 |
| Contracts revieweda 40-page contract read against a checklist; a memo of issues written | $75 | $75 |
| Drafts writtena brief and one example read; a 600-word email or proposal section written | $11 | $11 |
Worked out from each vendor’s list price and a fixed size for each job. A product built on a model charges its own price on top. See what every model costs for the same jobs.
Choose GPT-6.1 Sol for
- Drafting proposals and reports
- Summarising long documents
- Back-office tasks with several steps
- Answering questions from company documents
The sensible OpenAI default: 55 on Artificial Analysis's index against 57 for GPT-6 Astra, at a fifth of Astra's list price.
Caveats: Two points separate it from Astra on the index, which is within noise; test Astra only where Sol's answers fall short. The ChatGPT plans are listed from our researcher's reading of OpenAI's launch page, which blocked automated reading this run; on ChatGPT Enterprise and Edu an owner has to switch the model on. In Microsoft 365 Copilot it is rolling out in phases across Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Chat with usage limits Microsoft has not published, per Microsoft's 30 September post; admins commenting there report users already reaching them.
Choose Claude Sonnet 5.5 for
- Support replies at volume
- Drafting proposals and reports
- Summarising meetings and long documents
- Answering questions from company documents
A sound everyday default: 55 on Artificial Analysis's index, four points behind Claude Opus 5.5, at half its list price.
Caveats: The saving depends on the effort setting: at the top setting Artificial Analysis's test run cost $10.02 per task, level with Opus 5.5 ($10.04). On Scale's Humanity's Last Exam, a set of expert-level questions, it scores 37.5 against 55.0 for Opus 5.5: move up for the hardest analysis. In Microsoft 365 Copilot, Claude models are on by default for most commercial customers but off in the EU, EFTA and UK until an administrator allows Anthropic as a subprocessor (a company permitted to handle your data), per Microsoft Learn. In Microsoft 365 Copilot it has been rolling out in phases across Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Chat since 30 September, with usage limits Microsoft has not published, per Microsoft's post of that date, which names Sonnet 5.5.
What people running them say
GPT-6.1 Sol: The launch thread on Hacker News, a developer forum, argued over its own title: 'near-Astra for a fifth of the price' drew 955 comments, most of them about which work to send to Sol and which to a dearer model.
Claude Sonnet 5.5: Less discussed than Opus or Haiku because it just works; the news was October's price cut for text it has already been sent once and reads again, to $0.10 per million tokens (the unit vendors bill by).
Questions people ask
Which is better, GPT-6.1 Sol or Claude Sonnet 5.5?
GPT-6.1 Sol scores higher on the Models at Work leaderboard (70 vs 66 out of 100). On independent tests alone, GPT-6.1 Sol is ahead (81 vs 68). They cost about the same: 1,000 support replies come to $10 on GPT-6.1 Sol and $10 on Claude Sonnet 5.5 at list price.
When should I choose GPT-6.1 Sol over Claude Sonnet 5.5?
Choose GPT-6.1 Sol for drafting proposals and reports, summarising long documents, back-office tasks with several steps, answering questions from company documents. The sensible OpenAI default: 55 on Artificial Analysis's index against 57 for GPT-6 Astra, at a fifth of Astra's list price.
When should I choose Claude Sonnet 5.5 over GPT-6.1 Sol?
Choose Claude Sonnet 5.5 for support replies at volume, drafting proposals and reports, summarising meetings and long documents, answering questions from company documents. A sound everyday default: 55 on Artificial Analysis's index, four points behind Claude Opus 5.5, at half its list price.
Which is cheaper, GPT-6.1 Sol or Claude Sonnet 5.5?
GPT-6.1 Sol costs $2 per million tokens it reads (input) and $10 per million tokens it writes (output) on OpenAI's list price (OpenAI API pricing, read Nov 12, 2026). A token is about three-quarters of a word. Claude Sonnet 5.5 costs $2 per million tokens it reads (input) and $10 per million tokens it writes (output) on Anthropic's list price (Claude pricing, read Nov 12, 2026). A token is about three-quarters of a word.
What do 1,000 jobs cost on GPT-6.1 Sol and Claude Sonnet 5.5?
At list price: 1,000 support replies cost $10 on GPT-6.1 Sol and $10 on Claude Sonnet 5.5; 1,000 documents processed cost $7 on GPT-6.1 Sol and $7 on Claude Sonnet 5.5; 1,000 calls summarised cost $26 on GPT-6.1 Sol and $26 on Claude Sonnet 5.5; 1,000 contracts reviewed cost $75 on GPT-6.1 Sol and $75 on Claude Sonnet 5.5; 1,000 drafts written cost $11 on GPT-6.1 Sol and $11 on Claude Sonnet 5.5. A product built on either model charges its own price on top.
Scores come from the Models at Work leaderboard: Score is 0 to 100 and computed, not typed. 40% is independent testing (Artificial Analysis, Arena, Scale, Epoch, Vals and others; each test is scaled against the best score on this board, and tests of real work, such as finished freelance projects or professional tasks, count double the exams). 30% is price: the vendor's list price for a typical mix of reading and writing, on a fixed scale from $0.05 to $60 per million tokens, so a model that costs a fifth as much gains real ground. 15% is what people report after running it, from Signals and linked threads. 15% is fit: how much text it can take in at once and where a business can get it (the products and clouds that carry it), with a small credit for open weights. A missing component drops out and the rest are reweighted. A model with no independent test yet is provisional and ranks below every measured one. Within three points is a tie. Vendor-published figures are labelled and never counted. Prices are vendor list prices where published; a typical mix assumes three parts reading to one part writing.