Model comparison

GPT-5.6 Sol vs o3-mini

Data verified July 23, 2026

Head-to-head evidence from 6 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

Margin

34.5pts

← winning

o3-mini

OpenAI

47.41/100

2 category wins0 category wins

Public leaderboard positions: GPT-5.6 Sol #3 (Supported); o3-mini #136 (Supported). Intervals and evidence labels describe ranking uncertainty, not a guarantee for a specific workload.

Evidence parity. GPT-5.6 Sol and o3-mini share 6 comparable benchmark results. 2 of 8 categories are comparable. 40 results are unique to GPT-5.6 Sol; 4 to o3-mini.

Updated July 23, 2026

Shared results: 6
GPT-5.6 Sol only: 40
o3-mini only: 4
Comparable categories: 2 / 8

Pick GPT-5.6 Sol if you want the stronger benchmark profile. o3-mini only becomes the better choice if you want the cheaper token bill.

Confidence note. This is a partial-evidence comparison with 6 shared benchmark results across 3 evidence categories; 2 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 is clearly ahead on the BenchAlign aggregate, 81.96 to 47.41. The gap is large enough that you do not need to squint at the spreadsheet to see the difference.

GPT-5.6 Sol's sharpest advantage is in knowledge, where it averages 94.6 against 77.2. The single biggest benchmark swing on the page is GPQA, 94.6% to 77.2%.

GPT-5.6 Sol is also the more expensive model on tokens at $5.00 input / $30.00 output per 1M tokens, versus $1.10 input / $4.40 output per 1M tokens for o3-mini. That is roughly 6.8x on output cost alone. GPT-5.6 Sol gives you the larger context window at 1M, compared with 200K for o3-mini.

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 o3-mini
Category	GPT-5.6 Sol	Δ	o3-mini
Knowledge	GPT-5.6 Sol94.6	Margin← 17.4	o3-mini77.2
Coding	GPT-5.6 Sol64.6	Margin← 15.3	o3-mini49.3
Agentic	GPT-5.6 Sol92.0	MarginNo overlap	o3-miniNot measured
Math	GPT-5.6 Sol87.5	MarginNo overlap	o3-miniNot measured
Multimodal	GPT-5.6 Sol83.0	MarginNo overlap	o3-miniNot measured
Inst. Following	GPT-5.6 SolNot measured	MarginNo overlap	o3-mini93.9

Decisive benchmark drivers

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

A · GPT-5.6 SolB · o3-mini

GPQA
Knowledge
Source ↗
A 94.6%B 77.2%
Winner: GPT-5.6 SolΔ 17.4
GPQA: GPT-5.6 Sol scored 94.6%; o3-mini scored 77.2%. 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	o3-mini	Comparison
Input / output priceUSD per 1M tokens	GPT-5.6 Sol$5 input / $30 output	o3-mini$1.1 input / $4.4 output	o3-mini has the lower combined listed price.
Generation speedtokens per second	GPT-5.6 SolNot available	o3-mini160 tok/s	A complete speed comparison is not available.
First-answer latencyseconds to first token	GPT-5.6 SolNot available	o3-mini7.12 s	A complete latency comparison is not available.
Context windowmaximum listed tokens	GPT-5.6 Sol1M	o3-mini200K	GPT-5.6 Sol lists the larger context window.

Benchmark Deep Dive

Agentic

17 benchmarks

Benchmark	GPT-5.6 Sol	o3-mini	Result
Terminal-Bench 2.0Source	91.9%	—	Not comparable
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%	28.7%	GPT-5.6 Sol leads
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

CodingGPT-5.6 Sol wins

9 benchmarks

Benchmark	GPT-5.6 Sol	o3-mini	Result
SWE-bench ProSource	64.6%	—	Not comparable
Terminal-Bench 2.0Source	91.9%	—	Not comparable
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%	39.9%	GPT-5.6 Sol leads
SWE-bench VerifiedSource	—	49.3%	Not comparable

Reasoning

4 benchmarks

Benchmark	GPT-5.6 Sol	o3-mini	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

KnowledgeGPT-5.6 Sol wins

11 benchmarks

Benchmark	GPT-5.6 Sol	o3-mini	Result
GPQASource	94.6%	77.2%	GPT-5.6 Sol leads
GPQA-DSource	94.6%	—	Not comparable
HealthBench ProfessionalSource	60.5%	—	Not comparable
HealthBench HardSource	33.1%	—	Not comparable
Artificial Analysis Intelligence IndexSource	58.9%	19.0%	GPT-5.6 Sol leads
AA-GPQA DiamondSource	94.1%	74.8%	GPT-5.6 Sol leads
AA-HLESource	47.2%	8.7%	GPT-5.6 Sol leads
AA-Omniscience IndexSource	21.7%	—	Not comparable
AA-Omniscience AccuracySource	58.5%	—	Not comparable
AA-Omniscience Hallucination RateSource	88.8%	—	Not comparable
MMLUSource	—	86.9%	Not comparable

Math

4 benchmarks

Benchmark	GPT-5.6 Sol	o3-mini	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 2024Source	—	87.3%	Not comparable

Multimodal

3 benchmarks

Benchmark	GPT-5.6 Sol	o3-mini	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	o3-mini	Result
AA-IFBenchSource	72.7%	—	Not comparable
IFEvalSource	—	93.9%	Not comparable

Frequently Asked Questions (3)

Which is better, GPT-5.6 Sol or o3-mini?

GPT-5.6 Sol is ahead on BenchLM's BenchAlign leaderboard, 81.96 to 47.41. The biggest single separator in this matchup is GPQA, where the scores are 94.6% and 77.2%.

Which is better for knowledge tasks, GPT-5.6 Sol or o3-mini?

GPT-5.6 Sol has the edge for knowledge tasks in this comparison, averaging 94.6 versus 77.2. Inside this category, Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for coding, GPT-5.6 Sol or o3-mini?

GPT-5.6 Sol has the edge for coding in this comparison, averaging 64.6 versus 49.3. Inside this category, AA-SciCode is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

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