Model comparison

GPT-5.6 Sol vs MAI-Thinking-1

Data verified July 23, 2026

Head-to-head evidence from 5 shared benchmark results across 3 categories. Overall scores shown here use the public BenchAlign v5 ranking lane.

GPT-5.6 Sol

OpenAI

81.96/100

No comparison

MAI-Thinking-1

Microsoft

N/A

2 category wins2 category wins

Public leaderboard positions: GPT-5.6 Sol #3 (Supported); MAI-Thinking-1 unranked (Not scored). Intervals and evidence labels describe ranking uncertainty, not a guarantee for a specific workload.

Evidence parity. GPT-5.6 Sol and MAI-Thinking-1 share 5 comparable benchmark results. 4 of 8 categories are comparable. 41 results are unique to GPT-5.6 Sol; 8 to MAI-Thinking-1.

Updated July 23, 2026

Shared results: 5
GPT-5.6 Sol only: 41
MAI-Thinking-1 only: 8
Comparable categories: 4 / 8

Treat this as a split decision. GPT-5.6 Sol makes more sense if agentic is the priority or you need the larger 1M context window; MAI-Thinking-1 is the better fit if mathematics is the priority.

Confidence note. This is a partial-evidence comparison with 5 shared benchmark results across 3 evidence categories; 4 of 8 categories currently have scoreable aggregates for both models. Treat the verdict as directional until coverage is more balanced.

Why this result

GPT-5.6 Sol and MAI-Thinking-1 finish on the same BenchAlign overall score, so this is less about a single winner and more about where the edge shows up. The BenchAlign headline says tie; the benchmark table is where the real choice happens.

GPT-5.6 Sol gives you the larger context window at 1M, compared with 256K for MAI-Thinking-1.

Category breakdown

Exact category averages are shown below. Not measured means BenchLM does not have enough sourced public coverage for that model and category.

Category scores and score margins for GPT-5.6 Sol and MAI-Thinking-1
Category	GPT-5.6 Sol	Δ	MAI-Thinking-1
Agentic	GPT-5.6 Sol92.0	Margin← 46.0	MAI-Thinking-146.0
Knowledge	GPT-5.6 Sol94.6	Margin← 22.1	MAI-Thinking-172.5
Math	GPT-5.6 Sol87.5	Margin→ 2.2	MAI-Thinking-189.7
Coding	GPT-5.6 Sol64.6	Margin→ 0.9	MAI-Thinking-165.5
Multimodal	GPT-5.6 Sol83.0	MarginNo overlap	MAI-Thinking-1Not measured
Inst. Following	GPT-5.6 SolNot measured	MarginNo overlap	MAI-Thinking-185.0

Decisive benchmark drivers

The largest measured benchmark gaps in this matchup, with exact reported values.

A · GPT-5.6 SolB · MAI-Thinking-1

Terminal-Bench 2.0
Agentic
Source ↗
A 91.9%B 46%
Winner: GPT-5.6 SolΔ 45.9
Terminal-Bench 2.0: GPT-5.6 Sol scored 91.9%; MAI-Thinking-1 scored 46%. GPT-5.6 Sol wins this benchmark.
SWE-bench Pro
Coding
Source ↗
A 64.6%B 52.8%
Winner: GPT-5.6 SolΔ 11.8
SWE-bench Pro: GPT-5.6 Sol scored 64.6%; MAI-Thinking-1 scored 52.8%. GPT-5.6 Sol wins this benchmark.
GPQA
Knowledge
Source ↗
A 94.6%B 84.2%
Winner: GPT-5.6 SolΔ 10.4
GPQA: GPT-5.6 Sol scored 94.6%; MAI-Thinking-1 scored 84.2%. GPT-5.6 Sol wins this benchmark.

Operational comparison

Runtime and commercial metrics are compared only when both models have a complete sourced value.

Metric	GPT-5.6 Sol	MAI-Thinking-1	Comparison
Input / output priceUSD per 1M tokens	GPT-5.6 Sol$5 input / $30 output	MAI-Thinking-1Not available	A complete price comparison is not available.
Generation speedtokens per second	GPT-5.6 SolNot available	MAI-Thinking-1Not available	A complete speed comparison is not available.
First-answer latencyseconds to first token	GPT-5.6 SolNot available	MAI-Thinking-1Not available	A complete latency comparison is not available.
Context windowmaximum listed tokens	GPT-5.6 Sol1M	MAI-Thinking-1256K	GPT-5.6 Sol lists the larger context window.

Benchmark Deep Dive

AgenticGPT-5.6 Sol wins

17 benchmarks

Benchmark	GPT-5.6 Sol	MAI-Thinking-1	Result
Terminal-Bench 2.0Source	91.9%	46%	GPT-5.6 Sol leads
BrowseCompSource	92.2%	—	Not comparable
OSWorld 2.0Source	62.6%	—	Not comparable
CyberGymSource	84.5%	—	Not comparable
ExploitGymSource	33.7%	—	Not comparable
ToolathlonSource	58%	—	Not comparable
AA Agentic IndexSource	54.0%	—	Not comparable
τ²-bench resultsSource	85.1%	—	Not comparable
GDPval-AASource	61.8%	—	Not comparable
GDPval-AASource	1736	—	Not comparable
AA BriefcaseSource	1501	—	Not comparable
AA ITBenchSource	56.2%	—	Not comparable
AA Tau3 BankingSource	33.0%	—	Not comparable
AA AutomationBenchSource	51.2%	—	Not comparable
AA Harvey LABSource	87.2%	—	Not comparable
terminalBenchHardSource	65.9%	—	Not comparable
aaTerminalBench21Source	88%	—	Not comparable

CodingMAI-Thinking-1 wins

9 benchmarks

Benchmark	GPT-5.6 Sol	MAI-Thinking-1	Result
SWE-bench ProSource	64.6%	52.8%	GPT-5.6 Sol leads
Terminal-Bench 2.0Source	91.9%	46.0%	GPT-5.6 Sol leads
deepSweSource	72.7%	—	Not comparable
FrontierCode 1.1 ExtendedSource	60.6%	—	Not comparable
cursorBench32Source	67.2%	—	Not comparable
VulcanBench v3Source	87.0%	—	Not comparable
AA Coding IndexSource	77.4%	—	Not comparable
AA-SciCodeSource	56.1%	—	Not comparable
SWE-bench VerifiedSource	—	73.5%	Not comparable

Reasoning

5 benchmarks

Benchmark	GPT-5.6 Sol	MAI-Thinking-1	Result
ARC-AGI-3Source	7.8%	—	Not comparable
GeneBench-ProSource	28.7%	—	Not comparable
AA-LCRSource	73.7%	—	Not comparable
CritPtSource	32.3%	—	Not comparable
Graphwalks BFS 128KSource	—	90%	Not comparable

KnowledgeGPT-5.6 Sol wins

12 benchmarks

Benchmark	GPT-5.6 Sol	MAI-Thinking-1	Result
GPQASource	94.6%	84.2%	GPT-5.6 Sol leads
GPQA-DSource	94.6%	84.2%	GPT-5.6 Sol leads
HealthBench ProfessionalSource	60.5%	—	Not comparable
HealthBench HardSource	33.1%	—	Not comparable
Artificial Analysis Intelligence IndexSource	58.9%	—	Not comparable
AA-GPQA DiamondSource	94.1%	—	Not comparable
AA-HLESource	47.2%	—	Not comparable
AA-Omniscience IndexSource	21.7%	—	Not comparable
AA-Omniscience AccuracySource	58.5%	—	Not comparable
AA-Omniscience Hallucination RateSource	88.8%	—	Not comparable
MMLU-ProSource	—	85%	Not comparable
SimpleQASource	—	31%	Not comparable

MathMAI-Thinking-1 wins

6 benchmarks

Benchmark	GPT-5.6 Sol	MAI-Thinking-1	Result
FrontierMath (legacy)Source	89%	—	Not comparable
FrontierMath v2 (Tiers 1-3)Source	89.000%	—	Not comparable
FrontierMath v2 (Tier 4)Source	83.000%	—	Not comparable
AIME 2025Source	—	97%	Not comparable
AIME26Source	—	94.5%	Not comparable
HMMT Feb 2026Source	—	84.9%	Not comparable

Multimodal

3 benchmarks

Benchmark	GPT-5.6 Sol	MAI-Thinking-1	Result
MMMU-ProSource	83%	—	Not comparable
MMMU-Pro w/ PythonSource	84.6%	—	Not comparable
AA-MMMU-ProSource	83.4%	—	Not comparable

Inst. Following

2 benchmarks

Benchmark	GPT-5.6 Sol	MAI-Thinking-1	Result
AA-IFBenchSource	72.7%	—	Not comparable
IFBenchSource	—	85%	Not comparable

Frequently Asked Questions (5)

Which is better, GPT-5.6 Sol or MAI-Thinking-1?

GPT-5.6 Sol and MAI-Thinking-1 are tied on the BenchAlign overall score, so the right pick depends on which category matters most for your use case.

Which is better for knowledge tasks, GPT-5.6 Sol or MAI-Thinking-1?

GPT-5.6 Sol has the edge for knowledge tasks in this comparison, averaging 94.6 versus 72.5. Inside this category, GPQA is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for coding, GPT-5.6 Sol or MAI-Thinking-1?

MAI-Thinking-1 has the edge for coding in this comparison, averaging 65.5 versus 64.6. Inside this category, Terminal-Bench 2.0 is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for math, GPT-5.6 Sol or MAI-Thinking-1?

MAI-Thinking-1 has the edge for math in this comparison, averaging 89.7 versus 87.5. GPT-5.6 Sol stays close enough that the answer can still flip depending on your workload.

Which is better for agentic tasks, GPT-5.6 Sol or MAI-Thinking-1?

GPT-5.6 Sol has the edge for agentic tasks in this comparison, averaging 92 versus 46. Inside this category, Terminal-Bench 2.0 is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Related Comparisons

Explore More

OpenAI Compare Pricing Methodology Find Your Best LLM Overall Rankings

Last updated: July 23, 2026

Choose a model with this week’s evidence

Join 2,000+ readers for ranking moves, pricing changes, and the claims that still need proof.

One email each week. Unsubscribe anytime.