GPT-5.5 (medium)
Analysis Summary
OpenAI GPT-5.5 medium has world-class measured reasoning, strong coding performance, and high results on long-context and instruction-following tasks. Its coding and agentic results together make it suitable for demanding knowledge work, although the agentic result is not at the leading edge of the broader field. The entry does not list vision or function calling, so this evaluation is grounded in its measured text capabilities rather than assumed integrations.
For agency workflows, it is a strong candidate for complex analysis, software engineering assistance, and carefully controlled client-facing content. Its instruction-following and long-context profile support structured briefs and substantial source material. Listed pricing of $5 per million input tokens and $30 per million output tokens makes it expensive for bulk automation, so use should be concentrated on tasks where stronger reasoning can reduce review effort or improve the deliverable.
Adopt it for high-value work that benefits from deeper analysis, and pair it with lower-cost models for routine volume. Validate outputs as usual, particularly when task execution depends on tools not listed here.
Assessed September 23, 2026
Editorial notes
GPT-5.5 medium delivers world-class reasoning, strong coding, and good long-context and instruction-following results; its listed token prices favor consequential work over high-volume routine traffic.
The DFO score ranks models on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index and is refreshed as new models launch. The write-up and verdict are our own. Feedback?
DFO Verdict
GPT-5.5 medium delivers world-class reasoning, strong coding, and good long-context and instruction-following results; its listed token prices favor consequential work over high-volume routine traffic.
Benchmarks
Artificial Analysis data refreshed Oct 8, 2026. Arena ratings from the Oct 2, 2026 text leaderboard, with style control. Bars: magenta = reasoning, ink = coding and agents, cyan = instructions and long context.
Artificial Analysis no longer lists this model, so its indexes are converted from their older scale to stay comparable.
How GPT-5.5 (medium) compares
GPT-5.5 (medium) ranks #37 of 435 AI models we track for overall intelligence, #67 of 198 for coding, #50 of 181 for agentic tasks. At $5.00 per million input tokens it is cheaper than 5% of comparable models.
Dark bar = input · light bar = output, scaled to the priciest peer.
1M tokens ≈ 8 full-length novels or ~2,500 pages of business documents in a single request.
Pricing
| Token Type | Cost per 1M tokens | Cost per 1K tokens |
|---|---|---|
| Input | $5.00 | $0.005000 |
| Output | $30.00 | $0.030000 |
What would GPT-5.5 (medium) cost your business?
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A website chatbot handling around 100 customer conversations a day, a few short messages each.
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These numbers get smaller with the right architecture.
We route routine calls to cheap models and save GPT-5.5 (medium) for the hard ones. Most clients cut their estimate by 60-80%.
Talk to our teamFrequently asked questions about GPT-5.5 (medium)
How much does GPT-5.5 (medium) cost?
GPT-5.5 (medium) costs $5.00 per million input tokens and $30.00 per million output tokens.
Is GPT-5.5 (medium) good for coding?
On our coding benchmark index, GPT-5.5 (medium) ranks #67 of 198 models, placing it in the broader range of the field for code generation and debugging.
Who created GPT-5.5 (medium)?
GPT-5.5 (medium) is developed by OpenAI and was released on April 23, 2026.