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GPT-5.6 Sol vs Claude Opus 5 (2026): Public Challenger vs Anthropic's New Frontier Default

GPT-5.6 Sol vs Claude Opus 5 in 2026: pricing, Sol/Terra/Luna tiers, coding benchmarks, safety claims and when to route work to each model.

Reviewed by Michael Kerkhoff, as of

Definition
This comparison changed again on July 24, 2026: Anthropic replaced Claude Opus 4.8 with Claude Opus 5 at the same $5/$25 per-million-token price, closing much of the gap to Fable 5 and becoming the new default model on Claude Max. That resets the baseline against GPT-5.6 Sol, which publicly launched July 9, 2026 after a US government-coordinated review. Both models are now shipping and purchasable — this is a real head-to-head between two current frontier coding models, decided by capability, price, and operating history rather than availability.
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GPT-5.6 SolClaude Opus 5

Detailed Comparison

A side-by-side analysis of key factors to help you make the right choice.

GPT-5.6 Sol vs Claude Opus 5
FactorGPT-5.6 SolClaude Opus 5
Availability todayPublicly available since July 9, 2026: full OpenAI API plus ChatGPT Plus/Pro, all three tiers, after US regulatory clearancePublicly available since July 24, 2026 across the Claude API, Bedrock, Google Cloud, Microsoft Foundry, claude.ai, Claude Code, and Cowork
Coding ceilingOpenAI claims a Terminal-Bench 2.1 state of the art with max reasoning and ultra subagent mode, independently testable since GA96% on SWE-bench Verified at launch — a 7.4-point jump over Opus 4.8's 88.6%, the largest single-generation coding gain on this page Winner
Frontier reasoning and computer-useNo published Frontier-Bench or OSWorld 2.0 results; strongest published claims remain terminal-agent and cyber-focused43.3% on Frontier-Bench v0.1 (more than double Opus 4.8's 18.7%) and 70.6% on OSWorld 2.0, beating Fable 5's best computer-use result at a third of the cost Winner
Cybersecurity capability and safeguardsOpenAI's strongest cyber model yet; competitive with Mythos Preview on ExploitBench using about one-third of the output tokens; cleared after government safety reviewAnthropic's own safety audit rates Opus 5 the least likely of its current models to behave deceptively, though no equivalent ExploitBench-style claim is published
Price per million tokensSol $5/$30; Terra $2.50/$15; Luna $1/$6, plus explicit cache breakpoints and a 90% cache-read discount; also bundled in ChatGPT Plus $20 / Pro $100$5/$25 input/output, unchanged from Opus 4.8 despite the capability jump; the new default model on Claude Max
Track record and operating historyPublicly launched July 9, 2026 — over two weeks of broad real-world operating history WinnerPublicly launched July 24, 2026 — the newest frontier model in this comparison, with only days of operating history
Independent validationLaunch evals are OpenAI's own; independent Terminal-Bench and ExploitBench replication has had over two weeks to arrive since GA WinnerLaunch evals are Anthropic's own and third-party sites (llm-stats.com, BenchLM.ai); independent replication is only just beginning
Best immediate decisionPilot Sol on your hardest coding and security evals and cost-route lighter work to Terra/LunaRe-run your Opus 4.8 evals against Opus 5 before assuming old routing rules still apply, especially for coding-ceiling and computer-use tasks
Total Score · 4 ties2 / 82 / 8

Key Statistics

Real data from verified industry sources to support your decision.

  • OpenAI publicly launched GPT-5.6 Sol, Terra and Luna on July 9, 2026, after the US Department of Commerce cleared a broad release that had been gated since the June 26 preview. — CNBC (2026)
  • GPT-5.6 is priced at $5/$30 per 1M input/output tokens for Sol, $2.50/$15 for Terra and $1/$6 for Luna, with explicit cache breakpoints and a 30-minute minimum cache life. — OpenAI (2026)
  • OpenAI says GPT-5.6 Sol sets a new state of the art on Terminal-Bench 2.1 and is competitive with Mythos Preview on ExploitBench while using about one-third of the output tokens. — OpenAI (2026)
  • Claude Opus 5 launched July 24, 2026 at $5/$25 per million input/output tokens, unchanged from Opus 4.8, positioned as the new default model on Claude Max and the strongest model available on Claude Pro. — Anthropic (2026)
  • Claude Opus 5 leads the SWE-bench Verified leaderboard at 96%, a 7.4-point jump over Opus 4.8's 88.6%, ahead of Claude Mythos 5 (95.5%) and Claude Fable 5 (95%). — BenchLM.ai (2026)
  • Opus 5 scores 70.6% on OSWorld 2.0 and 62.0% on GDPval-AA while keeping Opus 4.8's identical $5/$25 price and 1M-token input / 128K-token output context window. — llm-stats.com (2026)

All statistics come from verified third-party sources. Source, year, and direct link are shown on each metric.

When to Choose Each Option

Clear guidance based on your specific situation and needs.

Our Recommendation

Opus 5 arrived with a bigger coding jump than the prior Opus 4.8 baseline had: SWE-bench Verified rose from 88.6% to 96%, a 7.4-point gain at an unchanged price, and Opus 5 more than doubled Opus 4.8's Frontier-Bench v0.1 score while topping every competing model including Fable 5. GPT-5.6 Sol still brings real, differentiated strengths — OpenAI's own Terminal-Bench 2.1 state-of-the-art claim, ExploitBench results competitive with Mythos Preview at roughly a third of the output tokens, and the Sol/Terra/Luna tiering for clean cost routing ($5/$30, $2.50/$15, $1/$6). Neither wins outright: route high-ambition terminal-agent and security workloads to GPT-5.6 Sol, or cost-optimize with Terra/Luna; lean on Claude Opus 5 for the highest available coding ceiling, computer-use execution, and Anthropic's own safety-audit findings around deception resistance. With Opus 5 only days old and GPT-5.6 Sol's independent benchmark replication still arriving, run your own evals before committing either model to production-critical paths.

Choose GPT-5.6 Sol when...
  • Your workload is command-line coding, vulnerability research or long-horizon agent work where OpenAI's Terminal-Bench 2.1 and ExploitBench claims could pay off
  • You want the Sol/Terra/Luna tiering to route by cost: Sol for the hardest tasks, Terra and Luna for cheaper high-volume work
  • You already live in the ChatGPT/Codex ecosystem and want GPT-5.6 inside ChatGPT Plus/Pro plus full API access
  • You want a model with over two weeks of independent, real-world operating history rather than a days-old launch
Choose Claude Opus 5 when...
  • You need the highest available coding ceiling — Opus 5's 96% SWE-bench Verified score is a 7.4-point jump over Opus 4.8 at the same price
  • Your workload involves computer-use or frontier reasoning tasks, where Opus 5 posts new highs on OSWorld 2.0 and Frontier-Bench v0.1
  • You're already on Claude Max and want Anthropic's new default model without switching providers
  • You prefer Anthropic's stable, unchanging published rate card ($5/$25) even as the underlying model's capability jumps

Common questions about this comparison answered.

Frequently Asked Questions

(01)Is GPT-5.6 Sol generally available now?
Yes. After a US government-coordinated review, OpenAI publicly launched GPT-5.6 Sol, Terra and Luna on July 9, 2026. All three tiers are available through the OpenAI API, and the models are included in ChatGPT Plus ($20/mo) and Pro ($100/mo) with usage limits.
(02)Is Claude Opus 5 the same model as Claude Opus 4.8?
No. Anthropic replaced Opus 4.8 with Claude Opus 5 on July 24, 2026, at the same $5/$25 price. Opus 5 more than doubled Opus 4.8's Frontier-Bench v0.1 score and jumped SWE-bench Verified from 88.6% to 96%, becoming the new default model on Claude Max.
(03)Which is better for coding right now?
Claude Opus 5 has the higher published coding ceiling: 96% on SWE-bench Verified versus GPT-5.6 Sol's Terminal-Bench 2.1 state-of-the-art claim on a different benchmark. Sol remains the more terminal-agent and security-focused bet. Run both on your own repos before committing either.
(04)Is GPT-5.6 cheaper than Claude Opus 5?
At the top tier they're close: GPT-5.6 Sol is $5/$30 per 1M input/output tokens versus Opus 5's $5/$25 — Opus 5 is actually cheaper on output. But Terra ($2.50/$15) and Luna ($1/$6) make the GPT-5.6 family cheaper overall for high-volume or lighter work, and both models are also bundled into subscription tiers.

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