GPT-5.6 Luna Max vs GPT-6 Astra Max: which scores higher?

GPT-6 Astra Max leads the intelligence index 56.9 to 23.8. GPT-5.6 Luna Max costs 98% less on blended price. See token costs, speed and which to pick.

Metric	GPT-5.6 Luna (Max)	GPT-6 Astra (Max)
Intelligence Index	23.8	56.9
Input price (per 1M tokens)	$0.20	$10.00
Output price (per 1M tokens)	$1.20	$50.00
Output speed (tokens/s)	125	46
Time to first token	108s	6.8 min
Release date	2026-07-09	2026-09-03

Metric

GPT-5.6 Luna (Max)

GPT-6 Astra (Max)

Intelligence Index

23.8

56.9

Input price (per 1M tokens)

$0.20

$10.00

Output price (per 1M tokens)

$1.20

$50.00

Output speed (tokens/s)

125

Time to first token

108s

6.8 min

Release date

2026-07-09

2026-09-03

This is an all-OpenAI comparison, with GPT-5.6 Luna (Max) on one side and GPT-6 Astra (Max) on the other. Everything below is read from the benchmark, price and speed data in Franklin AI's catalogue; nothing here comes from a hands-on test. The biggest separation is in overall capability: 56.9 for GPT-6 Astra Max against 23.8 for GPT-5.6 Luna Max.

GPT-6 Astra Max leads on the intelligence index

On the intelligence index, GPT-5.6 Luna Max scores 23.8 against 56.9 for GPT-6 Astra Max. A gap this large suggests the two are built for different jobs. Put another way, GPT-5.6 Luna Max would need 139% more on this index to draw level.

For context, that places GPT-5.6 Luna Max 70th and GPT-6 Astra Max 5th out of 109 scored models still on offer.

The catalogue does not yet split either model's score into coding and math indexes.

How fast they respond

GPT-5.6 Luna Max generates about 125 tokens per second and GPT-6 Astra Max about 46 tokens per second. That makes GPT-5.6 Luna Max roughly 2.7 times as fast at writing. The wait for the first token averages 108 seconds on GPT-5.6 Luna Max against 6.8 minutes on GPT-6 Astra Max. GPT-5.6 Luna Max gets to its first token 3.8 times as fast. Waits that long are felt on every chat-style request, though they matter less for batch jobs.

Put together, an 800-token answer would take about 114 seconds from GPT-5.6 Luna Max and 7.1 minutes from GPT-6 Astra Max, counting the first-token wait.

Generation gap

The release dates are July 9, 2026 for GPT-5.6 Luna Max and September 3, 2026 for GPT-6 Astra Max, about 2 months apart.

Running costs

GPT-5.6 Luna Max lists $0.20 per million input tokens and $1.20 per million output tokens; GPT-6 Astra Max lists $10.00 and $50.00. For output tokens, GPT-6 Astra Max is 42 times the price of GPT-5.6 Luna Max.

Take 1 million input tokens and 200,000 output tokens: that comes to $0.44 on GPT-5.6 Luna Max and $20.00 on GPT-6 Astra Max. A bigger example, extracting fields from 20,000 pages of 1,500 tokens into 150-token records, costs $9.60 on GPT-5.6 Luna Max and $450 on GPT-6 Astra Max: a gap of $440. On a 3:1 blend of input to output tokens, that works out to $0.45 versus $20.00 per million.

Cost per point of intelligence

Per point of intelligence index, GPT-5.6 Luna Max costs $0.019 of blended price per million tokens and GPT-6 Astra Max $0.35. So GPT-6 Astra Max buys its higher score at a premium, while GPT-5.6 Luna Max is the value pick, paying 95% less per point.

Common questions about GPT-5.6 Luna Max and GPT-6 Astra Max

Is GPT-6 Astra Max better than GPT-5.6 Luna Max?

Neither wins everywhere: GPT-6 Astra Max scores higher on the intelligence index, 56.9 to 23.8; GPT-5.6 Luna Max is 98% cheaper on blended price; and GPT-5.6 Luna Max streams output 2.7 times as fast.

Which model has lower latency?

GPT-5.6 Luna Max generates output faster, at 125 tokens per second against 46 tokens per second. GPT-5.6 Luna Max reaches its first token sooner (108 seconds against 6.8 minutes).

Which is cheaper, GPT-5.6 Luna Max or GPT-6 Astra Max?

GPT-5.6 Luna Max is cheaper on a blended basis. GPT-5.6 Luna Max lists $0.20 per million input tokens and $1.20 per million output tokens; GPT-6 Astra Max lists $10.00 and $50.00. For 1 million input and 200,000 output tokens that is $0.44 against $20.00.

Are GPT-5.6 Luna Max and GPT-6 Astra Max from the same company?

Both are OpenAI models, listed as separate models in the catalogue. GPT-5.6 Luna Max was released on July 9, 2026 and GPT-6 Astra Max on September 3, 2026.

Where do these numbers come from?

The figures are the recorded benchmark, price and speed data in Franklin AI's model catalogue. This page is written from that data automatically; neither model was tested by hand for it.

Final whistle

Short answer: GPT-6 Astra Max is the stronger all-round pick on this data, while GPT-5.6 Luna Max makes sense in narrower cases. Pick GPT-5.6 Luna Max if cost matters ($1.20 against $50.00 per million output tokens) and long outputs need to finish quickly. Pick GPT-6 Astra Max if you need the higher overall score (56.9 against 23.8) and you want the more recent release.

Where the numbers come from

The scores, speed and prices in this comparison come from independent third-party model evaluations that Franklin AI syncs each day, and the article was written from a snapshot of them. For the latest results, open the GPT-5.6 Luna (Max) and GPT-6 Astra (Max) pages. The AI Benchmark methodology explains how that data is collected and shown.