Side-by-side comparison of pricing, 12 benchmarks, and generation speed.
| Metric | GPT-5.5 Instant (June 2026) | Claude Opus 4.5 (Non-reasoning) |
|---|---|---|
| Input ($/M tokens) | $5 | $5 |
| Output ($/M tokens) | $30 | $25 |
Verdict. GPT-5.5 Instant (June 2026) wins the overall benchmark matchup 2–0 across 2 overlapping categories, but raw benchmark score is only one input to the decision.
Pricing. Both models sit in the premium bracket for output-token pricing. At 1.2× the per-million-token cost, Claude Opus 4.5 (Non-reasoning) is meaningfully cheaper if your traffic is output-heavy (long completions, document generation, agent loops). Claude Opus 4.5 (Non-reasoning) makes more sense when output volume is low and absolute reasoning quality justifies the premium.
Strengths. GPT-5.5 Instant (June 2026) is strongest on Coding Index (39.4), Intelligence Index (26.8). Claude Opus 4.5 (Non-reasoning) leads on Intelligence Index (23.7).
Speed. On throughput, GPT-5.5 Instant (June 2026) generates tokens at 131 tok/s versus 44 tok/s — about 67% faster. On time-to-first-token, GPT-5.5 Instant (June 2026) responds in 1190ms vs 1250ms, which matters most for chat-style UIs.
Provider. OpenAI and Anthropic sell to overlapping but distinct developer audiences: OpenAI tends to ship frontier reasoning models with premium positioning, while Anthropic often prices more aggressively. Your existing vendor relationships, billing, and SLA preferences may matter as much as the raw numbers above.
Workload cost. Workload scenarios (per million requests at 30M input + 15M output tokens): GPT-5.5 Instant (June 2026) costs $600.00 ($7200/year); Claude Opus 4.5 (Non-reasoning) costs $525.00 ($6300/year). At a smaller 5M-input/2M-output scale (single-developer tool or prototype): GPT-5.5 Instant (June 2026) ≈ $85.00/run, Claude Opus 4.5 (Non-reasoning) ≈ $75.00/run. At agent/realtime scale (200M input / 100M output per million requests): GPT-5.5 Instant (June 2026) ≈ $4000/run, Claude Opus 4.5 (Non-reasoning) ≈ $3500/run. Claude Opus 4.5 (Non-reasoning) becomes more attractive at higher volume — the absolute per-token pricing difference compounds when you ship at scale.
Recommendation. Both models have legitimate use cases — the right answer depends on whether you are optimizing for benchmark ceiling, latency, or unit cost. Start with the cheaper / faster model, evaluate against your specific task, and only switch if the upgrade shows a meaningful lift.
Head-to-head deltas
Data from Artificial Analysis API — 12 benchmarks
Claude Opus 4.5 (Non-reasoning) is cheaper overall. Its blended price (3:1 input/output ratio) is $10.00/M tokens vs $11.25/M for GPT-5.5 Instant (June 2026).
GPT-5.5 Instant (June 2026) wins 2 out of 12 benchmarks compared to 0 for Claude Opus 4.5 (Non-reasoning). See the detailed benchmark chart above for per-category results.
GPT-5.5 Instant (June 2026) generates tokens faster at 131 tok/s vs 44 tok/s. GPT-5.5 Instant (June 2026) also has lower time-to-first-token (1.19s vs 1.25s).
Choose based on your priorities: Claude Opus 4.5 (Non-reasoning) for lower cost, GPT-5.5 Instant (June 2026) for stronger benchmark performance, and GPT-5.5 Instant (June 2026) for faster generation. For latency-sensitive apps, check the TTFT comparison above.