Model Comparison
GPT-5.6 Sol vs GPT-5.6 Terra
GPT-5.6 Sol (low) leads GPT-5.6 Terra (ultra) by 144 Elo, and their 95% ranges sit 68 Elo apart. Even GPT-5.6 Sol's lowest-rated configuration, GPT-5.6 Sol (ultra), ranks above GPT-5.6 Terra (ultra). Among 78 models, each ranked by its best configuration, GPT-5.6 Sol is #8 and GPT-5.6 Terra is #13. Cost per script: $0.113 for GPT-5.6 Sol (low) and $0.275 for GPT-5.6 Terra (ultra).
Last updated , from board data generated at 01:13 UTC.
Picks and Verdict
PickGPT-5.6 Sol
GPT-5.6 Sol (low)
Pick GPT-5.6 Sol (low) as the one setting worth paying for, at $0.113 a script and ahead of both Terra settings.
PickGPT-5.6 Terra
GPT-5.6 Terra (medium)
Pick GPT-5.6 Terra (medium) when the budget is tight, at $0.062 a script with a tone score level with Sol at low.
Same family, two models, and GPT-5.6 Sol wins at every setting. It is the #8 model of 78 and GPT-5.6 Terra the #13 model, each ranked by its best setting, and at ultra, the level name they share, they are 139 Elo apart with separate 95% ranges. Ultra doesn't earn its price on either model, though. Sol at low sits 5 Elo above its ultra, the board cannot separate them, and it costs $0.113 a script instead of $0.367. Terra gets more out of ultra, 76 Elo over medium, but for about 4.4 times the cost, with overlapping ranges. So the match-up that matters is Sol at low against Terra at medium. Sol leads by 220 Elo with separate ranges, and its widest metric gaps are length, visual cues and substance, for about five cents more a script. It even beats Terra's ultra at less than half that setting's price. Terra at medium does match Sol at low on tone, and $0.062 is the lowest price on this page. I'd pick Sol at low and leave both ultras alone.
Disclosure: both models come from the same lab as one of the four judges, GPT-6.1 Sol. The other judges sit outside that lab, so neither is scored by its own lab alone (how the panel works). The judge analysis measures how much each judge favors its own lab.
How to Read the Writing Score, Writing Elo and 95% Ranges
Writing Score and Writing Elo. The Writing Score (0 to 100) is the weighted average of the nine metric scores: seven from the judges, Length Adherence from code and the Slop Score half from each. The Writing Elo is a rating from pairwise comparisons: on each script, each configuration's average across its drafts is compared with every other configuration's, and gaps within the draft-to-draft variation count as draws. Elo rewards winning often, so the two can put configurations in a different order.
Elo ranges. Each 95% range shows how far a configuration's Elo could move if the drafts had come out slightly differently. It comes from resampling every configuration's recorded draft scores on each reference script and ranking again. Comparing two separate ranges does not test the Elo gap between them: ranges far apart are strong evidence for the order, and overlapping ranges do not mean a tie. The reference scripts stay fixed, so the ranges say nothing about new scripts. The methodology page has the full description.
All Thinking Levels of Both Models
Every ranked configuration of GPT-5.6 Sol and GPT-5.6 Terra, scored on the same 10 scripts by the same four judges.
- Each row is one configuration: the model at one thinking level. The dot is its Writing Elo, a rating from pairwise comparisons of the scores on each script, and the bar is its 95% range: how far that Elo could move if the drafts had come out slightly differently.
- When two bars overlap, the board cannot order those two configurations. Bars far apart are strong evidence for the order.
- The table under the chart lists the same configurations in the same order and adds the Writing Score (the 0 to 100 consensus of the judges and code), cost, time and configuration rank (the place among all configurations on the board).
Shaded rows are the configurations chosen for the metric comparison below.
| Configuration | Writing Elo | 95% Range | Writing Score | Cost / Script | Time / Script | Configuration Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GPT-5.6 Sol (low) | 2218 | 2181 to 2251 | 82.3 | $0.113 | 0.9 min | #16 |
| GPT-5.6 Sol (ultra) | 2213 | 2173 to 2266 | 82.3 | $0.367 | 4.1 min | #18 |
| GPT-5.6 Terra (ultra) | 2074 | 2035 to 2113 | 81.4 | $0.275 | 8.0 min | #25 |
| GPT-5.6 Terra (medium) | 1998 | 1952 to 2041 | 80.7 | $0.062 | 1.4 min | #33 |
Cost is one script at the API list price of the route used, uncached and without judging. Time is the average for one accepted script, retries included.
Computed Findings Across Thinking Levels
Each finding is computed from the configurations above. Where two 95% ranges overlap, the board cannot order those two configurations.
- Best Configurations Head to Head. GPT-5.6 Sol (low) leads GPT-5.6 Terra (ultra) by 144 Elo, and their 95% ranges do not overlap (2181 to 2251 against 2035 to 2113), which is strong evidence for that order.
- Every GPT-5.6 Sol Configuration Ranks Higher. Both GPT-5.6 Sol configurations rank above both GPT-5.6 Terra configurations: the lowest-rated, GPT-5.6 Sol (ultra) at Elo 2213, still beats GPT-5.6 Terra (ultra) at Elo 2074. Their 95% ranges do not overlap.
- Lowest Thinking Levels Head to Head. At their lowest thinking levels, GPT-5.6 Sol (low) at Elo 2218 and $0.113 per script leads GPT-5.6 Terra (medium) at Elo 1998 and $0.062 per script by 220 Elo. Their 95% ranges do not overlap.
- Same Level Name, Side by Side. At ultra, the one level name both models use, GPT-5.6 Sol has the higher Writing Elo: 2213 against 2074. Their 95% ranges do not overlap there. Level names come from each provider, so the same name does not promise the same reasoning budget.
- Cheapest GPT-5.6 Sol Configuration Above GPT-5.6 Terra's Best. The cheapest GPT-5.6 Sol configuration with a higher Writing Elo than GPT-5.6 Terra (ultra), at Elo 2074 and $0.275 per script, is GPT-5.6 Sol (low), at Elo 2218 and $0.113 per script. It costs less than the configuration it beats.
- Lowest to Highest Thinking Level. GPT-5.6 Sol moves -5 Elo from low to ultra, at about 3.2 times the cost per script. GPT-5.6 Terra moves +76 Elo from medium to ultra, at about 4.4 times the cost per script.
Two Chosen Configurations Compared
Pick one configuration of each model to compare their metric scores, consistency across drafts and per-script scores. Each menu starts on the model's best configuration.
Scores by Metric
GPT-5.6 Sol (low) scores higher on seven of the nine metrics and GPT-5.6 Terra (ultra) on two. Weighted by each metric's share of the Writing Score, Writing Craft & Clarity does the most to put GPT-5.6 Sol (low) ahead, with a 2.5-point lead on that metric. The weight beside each metric is its share of the Writing Score.
Consistency Across Drafts
| GPT-5.6 Sol (low) | GPT-5.6 Terra (ultra) | |
|---|---|---|
| Score spread across drafts (±) | 1.27 | 1.38 |
| Lowest script score | 79.8 Script 4 | 79.8 Script 4 |
| Highest script score | 84.2 Script 9 | 83.0 Script 6 |
| Range across scripts | 4.4 | 3.2 |
Spread is how much the Writing Score moves between a configuration's drafts, and lower is steadier. Green marks the better number in each row.
Scores by Script
Writing Score on each reference script. Gap is GPT-5.6 Sol (low) minus GPT-5.6 Terra (ultra), and the higher score is in bold.
| Script | GPT-5.6 Sol (low) | GPT-5.6 Terra (ultra) | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| Script 1 opinion / warning explainer | 82.1 | 81.1 | +1.0 |
| Script 2 news-analysis / skeptical explainer | 82.5 | 82.1 | +0.4 |
| Script 3 personal roadmap / opinion | 82.3 | 82.5 | -0.2 |
| Script 4 short explainer | 79.8 | 79.8 | 0.0 |
| Script 5 news-analysis / opinion explainer | 83.2 | 82.2 | +1.0 |
| Script 6 founder announcement / personal origin story | 82.8 | 83.0 | -0.2 |
| Script 7 personal technical walkthrough / agentic workflow case study | 82.0 | 80.6 | +1.4 |
| Script 8 product release announcement / personal observation | 82.6 | 80.3 | +2.3 |
| Script 9 career guide / hiring analysis | 84.2 | 81.8 | +2.4 |
| Script 10 engineering process walkthrough / presentation adaptation | 82.0 | 80.6 | +1.4 |
Scorecards and Thinking Pages
Each configuration name in the table above opens its own scorecard.
Compare With Another Model
Pick a second model. A pair with its own written match-up opens that page, and any other pair opens in the comparison tool.
Nearby Match-Ups by Best Writing Elo
Every configuration wrote five drafts for each of the same 10 briefs, from the same prompt. Generation was closed-book, with the prompt as the only source and no web search or other tools. Each judge scores every draft once: Claude Opus 5.5 at medium effort through the Claude Code subscription, GPT-6.1 Sol at medium reasoning through the Codex CLI, GLM 5.3 Flash through OpenRouter, and Jev 1.13, a typed judge from TypeSafe that answers each metric as a multiple-choice question. The channel's finished script is their reference for the voice, and it gets no score on the board itself.
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