Gemini 4 Carbon High vs GPT-6 Sol Max compared

Gemini 4 Carbon (High) from Google and GPT-6 Sol (Max) from OpenAI sit in different tiers of the catalogue. No hands-on testing went into this write-up; it summarises the recorded benchmark, price and speed data for both models. The headline gap is on the intelligence index, where Gemini 4 Carbon High scores 60.0 and GPT-6 Sol Max 44.2.

Gemini 4 Carbon High leads on the intelligence index

The catalogue puts Gemini 4 Carbon High at 60.0 and GPT-6 Sol Max at 44.2 on its intelligence index. The difference is large enough that the lower-scoring model has to win on cost or speed to stay in the running. In relative terms, Gemini 4 Carbon High scores 36% higher.

Across the 109 active models with an intelligence score in the catalogue, Gemini 4 Carbon High ranks 1st and GPT-6 Sol Max ranks 26th.

There are no coding or math index scores for either model in the catalogue, which keeps this comparison at the aggregate level.

Cost: GPT-6 Sol Max is cheaper

Gemini 4 Carbon High lists $4.00 per million input tokens and $20.00 per million output tokens; GPT-6 Sol Max lists $2.00 and $10.00. Gemini 4 Carbon High costs twice as much per output token.

A reference job of 1 million input tokens and 200,000 output tokens costs $8.00 with Gemini 4 Carbon High and $4.00 with GPT-6 Sol Max, so GPT-6 Sol Max saves $4.00. Scale it up to extracting fields from 20,000 pages of 1,500 tokens into 150-token records and the bill is $180 for Gemini 4 Carbon High against $90.00 for GPT-6 Sol Max. Blended at three input tokens per output token, the effective rates are $8.00 for Gemini 4 Carbon High and $4.00 for GPT-6 Sol Max.

Release timing

The release dates are September 22, 2026 for GPT-6 Sol Max and October 28, 2026 for Gemini 4 Carbon High, 36 days apart. That is close enough to count them as the same generation.

Speed and latency

Once a response is under way, Gemini 4 Carbon High produces roughly 91 tokens per second against 127 tokens per second for GPT-6 Sol Max. On long outputs, that is a real advantage for GPT-6 Sol Max. Before any text appears, Gemini 4 Carbon High takes 2.0 minutes and GPT-6 Sol Max 91 seconds. GPT-6 Sol Max gets to its first token 1.3 times as fast. Waits that long are felt on every chat-style request, though they matter less for batch jobs.

Add the two numbers up for a 1,000-token reply and GPT-6 Sol Max finishes first: 2.2 minutes for Gemini 4 Carbon High, 99 seconds for GPT-6 Sol Max.

Is the price in proportion?

Dividing the blended price by the intelligence index gives a rough cost per point: $0.13 for Gemini 4 Carbon High and $0.090 for GPT-6 Sol Max, per million tokens. GPT-6 Sol Max delivers each index point for 32% less; whether Gemini 4 Carbon High's extra 15.8 points are worth the premium depends on how often your tasks need them.