Quick Take

Claude Opus 5 (Anthropic) and GPT-5.6 Sol (max) (OpenAI) are leading-edge models released in July 2026. Both models share an identical intelligence index of 58.9, positioning them as top-tier competitors. While they share similar intelligence, they diverge significantly in their operational characteristics, including coding proficiency, latency, and cost structure.

Benchmark Read

Both models demonstrate high capabilities across standardized tests.

• Coding Index: GPT-5.6 Sol (max) leads slightly at 77.4 compared to Claude Opus 5’s 76.5.
• GPQA: GPT-5.6 Sol (max) scores 0.941, edging out Claude Opus 5 at 0.937.
• LCR: GPT-5.6 Sol (max) performs at 0.737, while Claude Opus 5 sits at 0.67.
• SciCode: GPT-5.6 Sol (max) leads with 0.561 versus 0.543 for Claude Opus 5.
• HLE: Claude Opus 5 leads with 0.507 compared to 0.472 for GPT-5.6 Sol (max).

Cost and Speed

Operational efficiency is a key differentiator between these models:

• Pricing: Claude Opus 5 is more cost-effective with a blended rate of $10.00/1M tokens, compared to $11.25/1M for GPT-5.6 Sol (max). OpenAI’s output cost is higher at $30.00/1M versus Anthropic’s $25.00/1M.
• Speed: GPT-5.6 Sol (max) offers a higher output speed of 73.856 tok/s, significantly faster than Claude Opus 5’s 50.124 tok/s. However, Claude Opus 5 excels in responsiveness, with a time to first token of 10.052s, drastically lower than the 86.493s required by GPT-5.6 Sol (max).

Best Fit

Claude Opus 5 is best suited for applications requiring rapid interaction and cost-sensitive scaling. GPT-5.6 Sol (max) is better optimized for batch processing and complex coding tasks where the higher output speed compensates for the slower initial response time.