THE TICKER · HEAD-TO-HEAD · CHECKED DAILY · LAST CHANGE 2026-07-11
GPT-5.6 VS GPT-5.5
OpenAI vs OpenAI, in USD per million tokens, verified daily against public list prices. Same jobs, both meters running.
THE VERDICT
1.0x
Effectively a tie: for the same job (a 1,000-token prompt with a 3,000-token reply), GPT-5.6 and GPT-5.5 bill within 5% of each other. Pick on quality, latency or taste — price won't settle this one.
SIDE BY SIDE
SAME JOB, BOTH BILLS
| Scenario | GPT-5.6 | GPT-5.5 | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| A typical prompt | $0.03 | $0.03 | — |
| A 20-turn conversation | $0.14 | $0.14 | — |
| Summarizing a 10-page document | $0.14 | $0.14 | — |
| One agent run | $0.37 | $0.37 | — |
| A code review request | $0.12 | $0.12 | — |
Output sizes use the same editorial ratios as the Burn Calculator. Estimates, not invoices — and price is not a benchmark: the cheaper model is only a bargain if it does the job.
SETTLE IT WITH YOUR OWN PROMPT
Paste a real prompt into the Burn Calculator and see what it costs on GPT-5.6, GPT-5.5 and the other 10 models on the board — plus how much of it is waste either way.