GPT-4.1 Nano vs GPT-5.6 Terra
Updated October 21, 2026. 58 benchmarks have a result for both. Coding is ranked on the Vibe Coding Index; every other board is shown as published.
vs boards won of 58 shared
Decision reading
Pick GPT-5.6 Terra for coding: it scores 69.0 on the Vibe Coding Index against 8.9 for GPT-4.1 Nano.
Pick GPT-4.1 Nano when output tokens cost 30.0x less.
Model AGPT-4.1 NanoOpenAI8.9/1001 independent benchmarkNo cost per solved taskModel BGPT-5.6 TerraOpenAI69.0/1002 independent benchmarks$0.42 per solved task
- Shared results
- 58
- GPT-4.1 Nano only
- 11
- GPT-5.6 Terra only
- 66
- Like-for-like categories
- 8 of 9
Shared results can support a head-to-head reading. Results only one model has describe coverage, not superiority.
Which one for your work
Each card is decided by one number both models carry. Where only one has it, the card says so and makes no call.
Coding
Vibe Coding Index, four public coding benchmarks
GPT-5.6 Terra
GPT-5.6 Terra scores 69.0 against 8.9.
1 and 2 benchmarks behind the scores
Intelligence
AA Intelligence Index
GPT-5.6 Terra
GPT-5.6 Terra leads, 42.1 against 7.8.
Same board, both measured
Agentic work
AA Agentic Index
No call
Only GPT-5.6 Terra has a AA Agentic Index result, 43.2.
Directional only
Reasoning
GPQA Diamond
GPT-5.6 Terra
GPT-5.6 Terra leads, 90.9% against 50.8%.
Same board, both measured
Math
AIME
No call
Only GPT-4.1 Nano has a AIME result, 26.5%.
Directional only
Knowledge
MMLU Pro
GPT-5.6 Terra
GPT-5.6 Terra leads, 86.7% against 63.5%.
Same board, both measured
Web design
Design Arena: websites
GPT-5.6 Terra
GPT-5.6 Terra leads, 1269 against 973.
Same board, both measured
Long documents
Listed context window
GPT-5.6 Terra
GPT-5.6 Terra takes 1.05M tokens against 1.05M.
Listed by OpenRouter
Everyday cost
1K input + 500 output tokens
GPT-4.1 Nano
GPT-4.1 Nano $0.0003, GPT-5.6 Terra $0.0080 per turn.
List prices
Cost per solved task
One SWE-bench Verified task, solved
No call
Only GPT-5.6 Terra has the number, $0.42.
Directional only
At a glance
- Coding index
- GPT-4.1 Nano 8.9 from 1 benchmark, GPT-5.6 Terra 69.0 from 2 benchmarks.
- Widest category
- Agentic work, 69.0 points apart on average over 1 shared benchmark.
- Widest single gap
- ARC-AGI: GPT-4.1 Nano 0.0% against GPT-5.6 Terra 96.5%, 96.5 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
- Output price
- GPT-4.1 Nano $0.40 against GPT-5.6 Terra $12.00 per million output tokens, 30.0x apart.
- Context window
- GPT-4.1 Nano takes 1.05M tokens, GPT-5.6 Terra 1.05M.
Benchmark by benchmark
First the score: boards each model leads, per category, where both have a result. Then every board, a category to a fold; bars are each result on a 0 to 100 scale, so compare the two in a row, not one row with another.
| Category | GPT-4.1 Nano | Bars | GPT-5.6 Terra | Ties |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coding | 0 | 6 | ||
| Intelligence | 0 | 2 | ||
| Agentic work | 0 | 1 | ||
| Reasoning | 0 | 11 | ||
| Math | 0 | 3 | ||
| Knowledge | 0 | 10 | ||
| Web design | 0 | 6 | ||
| General | 0 | 19 | ||
| All shared boards | 0 | 58 |
CodingLike-for-likeFour of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index06
| Benchmark | GPT-4.1 Nano | GPT-5.6 Terra | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aider polyglot | 8.9% | Not measured | Only GPT-4.1 Nano measured |
| LiveBench coding | Not measured | 86.2% | Only GPT-5.6 Terra measured |
| LMArena WebDev | Not measured | 1522 | Only GPT-5.6 Terra measured |
| AA Coding Index | 11.1 | 76.7 | GPT-5.6 Terra |
| LiveCodeBench (Vals AI) | 42.7% | 85.9% | GPT-5.6 Terra |
| SWE-bench Verified (Vals AI) | Not measured | 95.4% | Only GPT-5.6 Terra measured |
| Terminal-Bench 4 (Vals AI) | Not measured | 22.7% | Only GPT-5.6 Terra measured |
| Vibe Code Bench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 74.6% | Only GPT-5.6 Terra measured |
| Code migration (Vals AI) | Not measured | 47.8% | Only GPT-5.6 Terra measured |
| ProgramBench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 0.5% | Only GPT-5.6 Terra measured |
| IOI (Vals AI) | Not measured | 87.6% | Only GPT-5.6 Terra measured |
| Terminal-Bench 2.1 (Vals AI) | Not measured | 77.5% | Only GPT-5.6 Terra measured |
| Vibe Code Bench 1-100 (Vals AI) | Not measured | 14.8% | Only GPT-5.6 Terra measured |
| SkillsBench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 58.9% | Only GPT-5.6 Terra measured |
| CyberBench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 72.1% | Only GPT-5.6 Terra measured |
| LiveCodeBench (Artificial Analysis run) | 32.6% | Not measured | Only GPT-4.1 Nano measured |
| SciCode | Not measured | 55.0% | Only GPT-5.6 Terra measured |
| Terminal-Bench Hard (Artificial Analysis run) | 3.8% | 62.9% | GPT-5.6 Terra |
| FrontierCode | Not measured | 41.3% | Only GPT-5.6 Terra measured |
| WeirdML | 19.0% | 78.3% | GPT-5.6 Terra |
| ALE-Bench | Not measured | 1951.4 | Only GPT-5.6 Terra measured |
| LMArena Text: coding | 1306 | 1485 | GPT-5.6 Terra |
| LMArena Text: software and IT | 1305 | 1482 | GPT-5.6 Terra |
| LMArena WebDev: React | Not measured | 1513 | Only GPT-5.6 Terra measured |
| LMArena WebDev: HTML | Not measured | 1526 | Only GPT-5.6 Terra measured |
| LMArena WebDev: from an image | Not measured | 1541 | Only GPT-5.6 Terra measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 12 boards here | |||
IntelligenceLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index02
| Benchmark | GPT-4.1 Nano | GPT-5.6 Terra | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Intelligence Index | 7.8 | 42.1 | GPT-5.6 Terra |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 129.5 | 160.1 | GPT-5.6 Terra |
Agentic workLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index01
| Benchmark | GPT-4.1 Nano | GPT-5.6 Terra | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Agentic Index | Not measured | 43.2 | Only GPT-5.6 Terra measured |
| Design Arena: agents building web apps | Not measured | 1120 | Only GPT-5.6 Terra measured |
| Design Arena: agents building full-stack apps | Not measured | 1061 | Only GPT-5.6 Terra measured |
| Design Arena: agents building mobile apps | Not measured | 1112 | Only GPT-5.6 Terra measured |
| Design Arena: agents building Android apps | Not measured | 1066 | Only GPT-5.6 Terra measured |
| Design Arena: agents building games | Not measured | 1082 | Only GPT-5.6 Terra measured |
| Design Arena: HTML slides | Not measured | 1108 | Only GPT-5.6 Terra measured |
| Design Arena: PowerPoint slides | Not measured | 1130 | Only GPT-5.6 Terra measured |
| LiveBench research | Not measured | 60.4% | Only GPT-5.6 Terra measured |
| LiveBench browser | Not measured | 84.0% | Only GPT-5.6 Terra measured |
| LiveBench long agentic | Not measured | 48.4% | Only GPT-5.6 Terra measured |
| SREBench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 9.5% | Only GPT-5.6 Terra measured |
| Finance Agent (Vals AI) | Not measured | 54.4% | Only GPT-5.6 Terra measured |
| Tax Agent Bench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 30.0% | Only GPT-5.6 Terra measured |
| Legal Research Bench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 41.4% | Only GPT-5.6 Terra measured |
| Excel Modeling Benchmark (Vals AI) | Not measured | 66.2% | Only GPT-5.6 Terra measured |
| Terminal-Bench-Science (Vals AI) | Not measured | 10.0% | Only GPT-5.6 Terra measured |
| τ²-Bench Telecom | 17.3% | 86.3% | GPT-5.6 Terra |
| APEX-Agents | Not measured | 58.2% | Only GPT-5.6 Terra measured |
| BALROG | Not measured | 53.2% | Only GPT-5.6 Terra measured |
| Vending-Bench 2 | Not measured | $7,343 | Only GPT-5.6 Terra measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 18 boards here | |||
ReasoningLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index011
| Benchmark | GPT-4.1 Nano | GPT-5.6 Terra | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond | 50.8% | 90.9% | GPT-5.6 Terra |
| LiveBench reasoning | Not measured | 90.6% | Only GPT-5.6 Terra measured |
| MMMU Pro (Vals AI) | 55.0% | 86.5% | GPT-5.6 Terra |
| GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run) | 51.2% | 92.5% | GPT-5.6 Terra |
| Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run) | 3.8% | 42.9% | GPT-5.6 Terra |
| GPQA Diamond (Epoch AI run) | 48.9% | 93.3% | GPT-5.6 Terra |
| ARC-AGI | 0.0% | 96.5% | GPT-5.6 Terra |
| ARC-AGI-2 | 0.0% | 83.9% | GPT-5.6 Terra |
| SimpleBench | Not measured | 48.9% | Only GPT-5.6 Terra measured |
| Chess puzzles | 0.0% | 47.0% | GPT-5.6 Terra |
| Mystery game puzzles | Not measured | 35.0% | Only GPT-5.6 Terra measured |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts | 1286 | 1469 | GPT-5.6 Terra |
| LMArena Text: expert | 1271 | 1496 | GPT-5.6 Terra |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts in English | 1293 | 1465 | GPT-5.6 Terra |
| LMArena Vision: diagrams | Not measured | 1295 | Only GPT-5.6 Terra measured |
| LMArena Vision: homework | Not measured | 1312 | Only GPT-5.6 Terra measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 5 boards here | |||
MathLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index03
| Benchmark | GPT-4.1 Nano | GPT-5.6 Terra | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AIME | 26.5% | Not measured | Only GPT-4.1 Nano measured |
| MATH 500 (Vals AI) | 80.2% | Not measured | Only GPT-4.1 Nano measured |
| MGSM (Vals AI) | 69.3% | Not measured | Only GPT-4.1 Nano measured |
| AA Math Index | 24.0 | Not measured | Only GPT-4.1 Nano measured |
| AIME 2025 (Artificial Analysis run) | 24.0% | Not measured | Only GPT-4.1 Nano measured |
| OTIS Mock AIME | 28.9% | 99.7% | GPT-5.6 Terra |
| FrontierMath, tiers 1 to 3 | Not measured | 86.0% | Only GPT-5.6 Terra measured |
| FrontierMath, tier 4 | Not measured | 70.7% | Only GPT-5.6 Terra measured |
| ProofBench | Not measured | 74.0% | Only GPT-5.6 Terra measured |
| MATH level 5 | 70.0% | Not measured | Only GPT-4.1 Nano measured |
| LMArena Text: math | 1274 | 1465 | GPT-5.6 Terra |
| LMArena Text: mathematical work | 1274 | 1478 | GPT-5.6 Terra |
| Neither model has a result on the other 1 board here | |||
KnowledgeLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index010
| Benchmark | GPT-4.1 Nano | GPT-5.6 Terra | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| MMLU Pro | 63.5% | 86.7% | GPT-5.6 Terra |
| LegalBench (Vals AI) | 61.1% | 85.1% | GPT-5.6 Terra |
| CorpFin (Vals AI) | 42.1% | 65.3% | GPT-5.6 Terra |
| TaxEval (Vals AI) | 60.8% | 76.2% | GPT-5.6 Terra |
| MortgageTax (Vals AI) | 52.8% | 67.3% | GPT-5.6 Terra |
| MedQA (Vals AI) | 68.2% | Not measured | Only GPT-4.1 Nano measured |
| MedCode (Vals AI) | Not measured | 43.4% | Only GPT-5.6 Terra measured |
| MMLU Pro (Artificial Analysis run) | 65.7% | Not measured | Only GPT-4.1 Nano measured |
| SimpleQA Verified | 6.0% | 43.2% | GPT-5.6 Terra |
| LMArena Text: science | 1297 | 1452 | GPT-5.6 Terra |
| LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare | 1276 | 1430 | GPT-5.6 Terra |
| LMArena Text: legal and government | 1300 | 1461 | GPT-5.6 Terra |
| LMArena Text: business and finance | 1267 | 1448 | GPT-5.6 Terra |
| Neither model has a result on the other 4 boards here | |||
Web designLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index06
| Benchmark | GPT-4.1 Nano | GPT-5.6 Terra | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Design Arena: websites | 973 | 1269 | GPT-5.6 Terra |
| Design Arena: UI components | 916 | 1259 | GPT-5.6 Terra |
| Design Arena: game dev | 971 | 1230 | GPT-5.6 Terra |
| Design Arena: data viz | 891 | 1240 | GPT-5.6 Terra |
| Design Arena: 3D | 925 | 1135 | GPT-5.6 Terra |
| Design Arena: all code categories | 963 | 1241 | GPT-5.6 Terra |
| Design Arena: SVG | Not measured | 1220 | Only GPT-5.6 Terra measured |
| Design Arena: ASCII art | Not measured | 1177 | Only GPT-5.6 Terra measured |
| LiveBench design | Not measured | 76.0% | Only GPT-5.6 Terra measured |
GeneralLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index019
| Benchmark | GPT-4.1 Nano | GPT-5.6 Terra | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| LiveBench data analysis | Not measured | 79.3% | Only GPT-5.6 Terra measured |
| Public Benefits Bench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 62.4% | Only GPT-5.6 Terra measured |
| SAGE (Vals AI) | Not measured | 47.0% | Only GPT-5.6 Terra measured |
| MedScribe (Vals AI) | Not measured | 82.9% | Only GPT-5.6 Terra measured |
| Vals Multimodal Index | Not measured | 65.1% | Only GPT-5.6 Terra measured |
| IFBench | 32.0% | 71.2% | GPT-5.6 Terra |
| Long context reasoning (AA-LCR) | 20.3% | 83.0% | GPT-5.6 Terra |
| DTBench | 52.5% | 93.3% | GPT-5.6 Terra |
| LMCA | 5.5% | 54.9% | GPT-5.6 Terra |
| Fiction.LiveBench | 25.0% | Not measured | Only GPT-4.1 Nano measured |
| Surface Evolver Bench | Not measured | 83.8% | Only GPT-5.6 Terra measured |
| Furniture assembly | Not measured | 54.2% | Only GPT-5.6 Terra measured |
| LMArena Text | 1285 | 1448 | GPT-5.6 Terra |
| LMArena Text: instruction following | 1266 | 1456 | GPT-5.6 Terra |
| LMArena Text: creative writing | 1260 | 1413 | GPT-5.6 Terra |
| LMArena Vision | 1063 | 1271 | GPT-5.6 Terra |
| LMArena Text: English | 1303 | 1449 | GPT-5.6 Terra |
| LMArena Text: non-English | 1260 | 1441 | GPT-5.6 Terra |
| LMArena Text: Chinese | 1270 | 1514 | GPT-5.6 Terra |
| LMArena Text: German | 1288 | 1460 | GPT-5.6 Terra |
| LMArena Text: Japanese | 1198 | 1454 | GPT-5.6 Terra |
| LMArena Text: Korean | Not measured | 1427 | Only GPT-5.6 Terra measured |
| LMArena Text: French | Not measured | 1466 | Only GPT-5.6 Terra measured |
| LMArena Text: Spanish | Not measured | 1451 | Only GPT-5.6 Terra measured |
| LMArena Text: Russian | 1261 | 1452 | GPT-5.6 Terra |
| LMArena Text: Polish | Not measured | 1446 | Only GPT-5.6 Terra measured |
| LMArena Text: multi-turn | 1277 | 1453 | GPT-5.6 Terra |
| LMArena Text: longer queries | 1283 | 1454 | GPT-5.6 Terra |
| LMArena Text: writing and language | 1261 | 1431 | GPT-5.6 Terra |
| LMArena Text: entertainment and media | 1243 | 1418 | GPT-5.6 Terra |
| LMArena Vision: English | 1101 | 1272 | GPT-5.6 Terra |
| LMArena Vision: Chinese | Not measured | 1337 | Only GPT-5.6 Terra measured |
| LMArena Vision: reading text | Not measured | 1278 | Only GPT-5.6 Terra measured |
| LMArena Vision: humor | Not measured | 1236 | Only GPT-5.6 Terra measured |
| LMArena Vision: creative writing | Not measured | 1248 | Only GPT-5.6 Terra measured |
| LMArena Document | Not measured | 1472 | Only GPT-5.6 Terra measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 10 boards here | |||
Image generationNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | GPT-4.1 Nano | GPT-5.6 Terra | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Neither model has a result on 5 boards here | |||
What each workload costs
Three fixed token mixes at each model's listed price, so per-token rates become a bill.
Chat turn
1K input + 500 output tokens
GPT-4.1 Nano$0.0003Fits in one request
GPT-5.6 Terra$0.0080Fits in one request
GPT-4.1 Nano costs less
Repository review
50K input + 3K output tokens
GPT-4.1 Nano$0.0062Fits in one request
GPT-5.6 Terra$0.136Fits in one request
GPT-4.1 Nano costs less
Agent loop
200K input + 10K output tokens
GPT-4.1 Nano$0.024Fits in one request
GPT-5.6 Terra$0.520Fits in one request
GPT-4.1 Nano costs less
Listed OpenRouter rates, without cache or batch discounts. A workload that does not fit a model's context window would need splitting.
Specification differences
The leading value in a row is marked; a row with a missing value names no leader. Our two rows are marked in red.
| Specification | OpenAI GPT-4.1 Nano | OpenAI GPT-5.6 Terra |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | OpenAI | OpenAI |
| Weights | No public weights listed | No public weights listed |
| Released | April 14, 2025 | July 9, 2026 |
| Context window | 1.05M | 1.05M |
| Input $/Mtok | $0.10 | $2.00 |
| Output $/Mtok | $0.40 | $12.00 |
| Coding index | 8.9 | 69.0 |
| Independent measurements behind it | 1 | 2 |
| Cost per solved task | Not computable | $0.42 |
| Source | OpenRouter listing | OpenRouter listing |
Questions
Is GPT-4.1 Nano better than GPT-5.6 Terra for coding?
Pick GPT-5.6 Terra for coding: it scores 69.0 on the Vibe Coding Index against 8.9 for GPT-4.1 Nano. Pick GPT-4.1 Nano when output tokens cost 30.0x less.
Which is cheaper, GPT-4.1 Nano or GPT-5.6 Terra?
GPT-4.1 Nano costs $0.10 per million input tokens and $0.40 per million output tokens; GPT-5.6 Terra costs $2.00 and $12.00. Cost per solved task is known for GPT-5.6 Terra only.
Which has the bigger context window, GPT-4.1 Nano or GPT-5.6 Terra?
GPT-5.6 Terra, with 1.05M tokens against 1.05M.
How many benchmarks is the GPT-4.1 Nano vs GPT-5.6 Terra comparison based on?
58 benchmarks have a result for both models as of October 21, 2026. GPT-4.1 Nano's coding index rests on 1 independent benchmark and GPT-5.6 Terra's on 2. Where only one model has a result, the page says so instead of naming a winner.