# GPT-5.5 Takes AA’s Launch Lead at Double GPT-5.4’s Token Price

Times of AI Desk · 2026-04-23 · Models

[https://timesof.ai/2026/04/openai-gpt-5-5-flagship-launch](https://timesof.ai/2026/04/openai-gpt-5-5-flagship-launch)

> GPT-5.5 launched April 23, with API access added April 24 at $5/$30 per million tokens. Artificial Analysis reported an xhigh Intelligence Index lead, but roughly 40% lower token use limited its measured cost increase to about 20%.

**GPT-5.5 launched in paid ChatGPT and Codex on April 23**, with API access added April 24. OpenAI listed the standard API model at **$5 per million input tokens and $30 per million output tokens**, double GPT-5.4’s launch token prices.

The price comparison alone misses token efficiency. In its April 23 evaluation, **Artificial Analysis** reported that GPT-5.5 at **xhigh** led its Intelligence Index by three points. It also reported roughly 40% fewer tokens than GPT-5.4 across that suite, producing an approximately 20% increase in the total cost of running the index despite doubled unit prices.

## Claims vs checks

OpenAI positioned GPT-5.5 for coding, research, data analysis, documents and computer operation. Its reported **82.7% Terminal-Bench 2.0** result is a vendor evaluation, distinct from Artificial Analysis’s **Terminal-Bench Hard** tests. OpenAI says its evaluations use xhigh effort in a research environment.

Artificial Analysis’s launch review reported leads in Terminal-Bench Hard, GDPval-AA and APEX-Agents-AA. Its AA-Omniscience findings were mixed: stronger knowledge accuracy alongside a higher hallucination rate than the cited Claude and Gemini configurations. A composite lead does not establish superiority on every task.

## Availability

The launch announcement named Plus, Pro, Business and Enterprise for ChatGPT and Codex rollout. GPT-5.5 Pro was offered in ChatGPT to Pro, Business and Enterprise. The April 24 update separately confirmed both API variants.

## Limits

These are launch-window prices and results. Effort settings, test harnesses, and total token use matter; the ranking should not be read as a permanent hierarchy or a measurement of default ChatGPT behavior.

**Correction (October 14, 2026):** Removed unsupported base-retraining conclusions and retrospective Arena figures; distinguished OpenAI’s Terminal-Bench 2.0 result from AA’s Terminal-Bench Hard.

## Sources

- [OpenAI: GPT-5.5 launch, with April 24 API update](https://openai.com/index/introducing-gpt-5-5/)
- [Artificial Analysis: GPT-5.5 launch evaluation (April 23, 2026)](https://artificialanalysis.ai/articles/openai-gpt5-5-is-the-new-leading-AI-model)