Quick Take

Released in July 2026, Claude Opus 5 (Anthropic) and GPT-5.6 Sol (max) (OpenAI) are top-tier models competing for dominance in intelligence and coding tasks. Claude Opus 5 focuses on adaptive reasoning, while GPT-5.6 Sol (max) emphasizes high-speed output and comprehensive benchmark coverage.

Benchmark Read

Performance metrics reveal a tight race. Claude Opus 5 holds an Intelligence Index of 60.1, slightly edging out GPT-5.6 Sol (max) at 58.9. In coding, they are nearly identical, with GPT-5.6 Sol (max) scoring 77.4 compared to Claude Opus 5's 77.

Specific benchmark results highlight different strengths:

• GPQA: GPT-5.6 Sol (max) leads with 0.941 vs. 0.937.
• LCR: GPT-5.6 Sol (max) scores 0.736, outperforming Claude Opus 5 at 0.686.
• HLE: Claude Opus 5 performs better at 0.525 compared to 0.472.
• SciCode: GPT-5.6 Sol (max) leads slightly at 0.561 vs. 0.55.

GPT-5.6 Sol (max) provides additional validation through IFBench (0.726), TerminalBench Hard (0.659), and TAU2 (0.850).

Cost and Speed

Cost structures differ significantly. Claude Opus 5 is more affordable with a blended rate of $10.00/1M tokens, compared to $11.25/1M for GPT-5.6 Sol (max).

Speed profiles offer a trade-off:

• Time to First Token: Claude Opus 5 is significantly faster at 22.558s, whereas GPT-5.6 Sol (max) takes 86.493s.
• Output Speed: GPT-5.6 Sol (max) is faster at 73.856 tok/s, while Claude Opus 5 operates at 60.357 tok/s.

Best Fit

Claude Opus 5 is best suited for interactive applications where low latency for the initial response is critical. GPT-5.6 Sol (max) is better suited for heavy-duty, high-volume generation tasks where the sustained output speed compensates for the longer initial wait time.