Sonnet 5.5 vs GPT-6.1 Sol | First Impressions

Try the models yourself: https://arena.ai/agent As the first efficiency-optimized models to follow Fable and Astra and Fable, can Claude Sonnet 5.5 and GPT-6.1 Sol still deliver strong results at a fraction of the price? We run them side by side on multiple prompts, tracking what each generation actually costs, compared with Opus, Astra, and Fable. Sol follows instructions more literally, while Sonnet interprets prompts more broadly and brings more dynamism and storytelling, especially in the HTML animations. The takeaway: Sonnet 5.5 or GPT-6.1 Sol can be a sensible daily driver, and you only need to move up when something isn't working. Also, skip max reasoning on Anthropic models. Peter’s prompts: https://github.com/petergpt/3d-prompt-collection 00:00 Intro: GPT-6.1 Sol vs Sonnet 5.5 00:48 Tower of Babel 3D test and costs 04:19 Why Max for Sol and High for Sonnet 05:47 Painting transitions: literal vs. interpretive 07:46 City flyover test 09:33 Pricing vs. Astra and Fable 12:37 Why smaller models are catching up 14:14 Webpage and data-viz UI tests 16:55 Reasoning-level advice: Anthropic vs. OpenAI 19:22 HTML storytelling animations: Trojan horse 21:31 Sisyphus 23:18 First manned balloon flight over Paris 24:56 Educational uses: Golden Gate Bridge 26:29 The tortoise and the hare 28:42 Conclusion: good, cheap daily drivers #arenaai #llm #anthropic #openai