Model decision, October 2026
Four vendors shipped new flagships between September 1 and October 13, 2026. This page compares them on what you can verify: API price, context, where you can use them, and how independent leaderboards listed them on October 23, 2026. The verdicts are ours, and they are labeled as such.
Quick answer
As of October 23, 2026: Claude Opus 5.5 is the strongest all-round pick for writing and coding at a mid-range price ($4 / $20 per million tokens) and sits at the top of the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index listing. Gemini 4 Argon leads the LMArena text listing (marked preliminary) and is the price-performance pick while its introductory $2 / $10 price runs (through November 30, 2026; $4 / $20 from December 1). GPT-6.1 Sol ($2 / $10) is the default value pick inside OpenAI’s ecosystem, and GPT-6 Astra or Claude Fable 5.1 ($10 / $50 each) are for the hardest long-running work.
API list prices per million tokens, standard tier, short context unless noted. Consumer plans bundle these models differently; see the last table.
| Model | Released | Input / output per 1M tokens | Context | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GPT-6 Astra (OpenAI) | September 3, 2026 | $10 / $50 (over 272K input: $20 / $75) | 1,050,000 tokens; 128,000 output | OpenAI’s flagship; Fast and Ultrafast tiers cost more |
| GPT-6.1 Sol (OpenAI) | September 29, 2026 | $2 / $10 | 1,050,000 tokens | OpenAI’s balanced model; GPT-6 Sol is the Chat model on paid ChatGPT plans |
| GPT-6 Luna (OpenAI) | September 22, 2026 | $0.10 / $0.50 | 1,050,000 tokens | Cost-sensitive tier; Codex on ChatGPT Free and Go uses GPT-6 Luna |
| Claude Fable 5.1 (Anthropic) | September 1, 2026 | $10 / $50 | 1M tokens; 128K output | Anthropic’s top generally available model |
| Claude Opus 5.5 (Anthropic) | September 22, 2026 | $4 / $20 (fast mode $8 / $40) | 1M tokens; 128K output | Cheaper than Opus 5 ($5 / $25), which is now legacy |
| Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Anthropic) | September 28, 2026 | $2 / $10 | 1M tokens | Mid-tier workhorse |
| Claude Haiku 5.5 (Anthropic) | October 7, 2026 | $0.10 / $0.50 up to 100K prompt tokens; $0.50 / $2.50 above | 1M tokens | Cheapest current Claude |
| Gemini 4 Argon (Google) | GA October 13, 2026 | $2 / $10 through November 30, 2026, then $4 / $20 from December 1, 2026 | 1,048,576 tokens input plus output | Google’s flagship; not on the free API tier |
| Grok 4.7 (xAI) | September 22, 2026 | $2 / $6 under 200K prompt tokens; $4 / $12 at or above | 500K tokens | xAI’s recommended model for code and chat |
We do not run our own benchmark and we do not repeat vendor benchmark claims. These are the top rows as each site listed them on October 23, 2026. Rankings move weekly; open the source before you rely on them.
| Leaderboard | Top rows as listed on October 23, 2026 | Where the others sit |
|---|---|---|
| Artificial Analysis, Intelligence Index | Claude Opus 5.5 (max with fallback) 58; Claude Sonnet 5.5 (max with fallback) 56; Claude Opus 5.5 (xhigh with fallback) 56; Muse Wonder Full (max) 56; Claude Opus 5.5 (high with fallback) 54 | Claude Fable 5.1, GPT-6 Astra and Gemini 4 Argon (high) at 53 |
| LMArena text (arena.ai) | Gemini 4 Argon (High) 1517 (preliminary); Claude Opus 5.5 (High) 1509; Muse Wonder (Max) 1509; Claude Fable 5 (High) 1503; Claude Fable 5.1 (Max) 1503 | GPT-6 models and Grok 4.7 are not in the top five rows |
Our verdicts weigh price, access through the plans people already pay for, and the leaderboard listings above. They are judgment calls, not test results.
| Job | Pick | Runner-up | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Writing and editing | Claude Opus 5.5 | GPT-6 Sol in ChatGPT Plus | Top of the Artificial Analysis listing, mid-range API price, and included on Claude Pro |
| Coding agents | Claude Opus 5.5 in Claude Code | GPT-6.1 Sol in Codex | Both run inside $20 plans; OpenAI estimates 15 to 160 GPT-6.1 Sol local messages per 5 hours in Codex on Plus |
| Hardest long-running work | Claude Fable 5.1 or GPT-6 Astra | Claude Opus 5.5 | Both flagships cost $10 / $50; reserve them for work where a cheaper model fails |
| Research in Google apps | Gemini 4 Argon | Claude Opus 5.5 | Included in Google AI Pro with Deep Research; leads the LMArena text listing |
| Lowest cost at scale | GPT-6 Luna or Claude Haiku 5.5 | Gemini 4 Argon at its intro price | Both cost $0.10 / $0.50 per million tokens for normal prompt sizes |
| Live X context and cheap output | Grok 4.7 | Gemini 4 Argon | $6 per million output tokens under 200K prompts, the lowest output price among these flagships |
| Model | Consumer access as documented on October 23, 2026 |
|---|---|
| GPT-6 Sol and Luna | GPT-6 became the ChatGPT Chat model on October 7, 2026: Sol on Plus, Pro, Business and Enterprise; Luna on Free and Go per OpenAI's October 7 release notes (an OpenAI help article still lists GPT-5.6 Luna). Codex on Free and Go uses GPT-6 Luna. |
| GPT-6 Astra | GPT-6 Pro (Astra) in Chat on Pro $100, Pro $200, Business and Enterprise. Plus gets Astra only in ChatGPT Work and Codex. |
| Claude Opus 5.5 and Fable 5.1 | Opus and Fable are not on Claude Free. Pro uses usage credits for Fable; Max 5x and 20x get up to 50% of weekly limits for Fable. |
| Gemini 4 Argon | Listed on Google AI Pro (€21.99 in Germany, $19.99 in the US). Also available in GitHub Copilot since October 13, 2026. |
| Grok 4.7 | xAI API; Grok apps are part of X Subscription. Check xAI for which tier exposes which model. |
OpenAI retired GPT-5.5 from ChatGPT, ChatGPT Work and Codex on October 14, 2026. In Codex the listed replacements are GPT-6.1 Sol on paid plans and GPT-6 Luna on Free and Go; GPT-5.5 stays available in the API ($5 / $30, no shutdown date listed as of October 23, 2026).
Anthropic replaced Sonnet 5 and Haiku 4.5 at the top of its lineup with Sonnet 5.5 (September 28) and Haiku 5.5 (October 7). Both older models are listed as legacy but still available. Claude Sonnet 4.5 was deprecated on September 30, 2026, with retirement listed for November 30, 2026.
Google made Gemini 4 Argon generally available on October 13, 2026. Its introductory price ends November 30, 2026, after which it doubles to $4 / $20. Budget for the second number if you are planning past November.
xAI lists no Grok 5 on its models page or release notes as of October 23, 2026; Grok 4.7 (September 22) is the current text model.
Choose Claude Opus 5.5 if
you want one model for writing, analysis and coding, and you value the top Artificial Analysis listing at a $4 / $20 price.
Choose GPT-6.1 Sol if
your team already lives in ChatGPT, Codex or the OpenAI API and you want the balanced $2 / $10 tier.
Choose Gemini 4 Argon if
you work in Google apps or want flagship quality at $2 / $10 before December 1, 2026.
Choose Grok 4.7 if
live X context matters or output-heavy jobs make its $6 output price the deciding factor.
Choose Fable 5.1 or GPT-6 Astra if
a cheaper model has already failed on the task. At $10 / $50 they are not a default.
Choose GPT-6 Luna or Haiku 5.5 if
you classify, extract or route at volume. At $0.10 / $0.50 the flagship question does not apply.
Not on the two leaderboards we cite: on October 23, 2026 Claude Opus 5.5 was listed above GPT-6 Astra on Artificial Analysis, and GPT-6 models are not in the LMArena text top five. GPT-6.1 Sol costs half as much as Opus 5.5 per token, so the answer depends on the job and the budget.
Yes. Gemini 4 Argon became generally available on October 13, 2026 and is Google’s flagship model.
On output tokens, Grok 4.7 at $6 per million under 200K prompt tokens. On input, GPT-6.1 Sol, Sonnet 5.5, Gemini 4 Argon (until November 30) and Grok 4.7 all list $2 per million.
OpenAI retired it from ChatGPT, ChatGPT Work and Codex on October 14, 2026. API access was not affected.
Not as of October 23, 2026. xAI’s models page and release notes list Grok 4.7 as the current text model.
Pricing, plan names, and product claims are checked against official vendor pages first. Recommendations are workflow-first: the winning plan is the lowest-cost option that does not bottleneck the weekly job.
Next step
Use the comparator for plan selection, then route repeatable workflows into the Power Guides or Weekly AI Signal instead of collecting more generic AI tips.