Best AI for coding / head-to-head

GPT-5.6 Sol vs GPT-5.6 Terrafor coding

The verdict

Dead heat: 93 each

Same 18 coding tasks, marked blind by three rival labs. Tested 16 Aug 2026.

Where they differed most

The task — Duration parser

Write a Python function parse_duration(s) that converts strings like '1h30m', '45s', '2h', '90m', '1h2m3s' into total seconds. Raise ValueError on anything malformed. Include three assert-based tests, one of which covers a malformed input.

```python
import re

_DURATION_PATTERN = re.compile(
    r"(?:(?P<hours>[0-9]+)h)?"
    r"(?:(?P<minutes>[0-9]+)m)?"
    r"(?:(?P<seconds>[0-9]+)s)?"
)


def parse_duration(s):
    if not isinstance(s, str) or not s:
        raise ValueError("Malformed duration")

    match = _DURATION_PATTERN.fullmatch(s)
    if not match:
        raise ValueError(f"Malformed duration: {s!r}")

    hours = int(match.group("hours") or 0)
    minutes = int(match.group("minutes") or 0)
    seconds = int(match.group("seconds") or 0)

    return hours * 3600 + minu…
```python
import re

_DURATION_RE = re.compile(r"(?:(\d+)h)?(?:(\d+)m)?(?:(\d+)s)?")

def parse_duration(s):
    """Convert a duration like '1h30m' into total seconds."""
    if not isinstance(s, str):
        raise ValueError("Duration must be a string")

    match = _DURATION_RE.fullmatch(s)
    if not match or not any(match.groups()):
        raise ValueError(f"Malformed duration: {s!r}")

    hours, minutes, seconds = (
        int(value) if value is not None else 0
        for value in match.groups()
    )

    return hours * 3600 + minute…

Task by task

TaskGPT-5.6 SolGPT-5.6 Terra
Duration parser108
Find the bug910
SQL without window functions1010
Infinite useEffect1010
Typed debounce910
Leftmost binary search1010
Security review1010
Safe migration99
Fix the code not the test109
Race condition99
Retry with backoff88
Recursive type99
Bash one-liner99
Explain and cost910
Regex with limits99
Callback to async99
Diagnose from a trace98
Idempotency910

Full receipts: GPT-5.6 Sol, GPT-5.6 Terra · judges claude-sonnet-5, gemini-3.1-pro-preview, grok-4.5

Questions people ask

Which is better for coding: GPT-5.6 Sol or GPT-5.6 Terra?

They tied at 93/100 on our coding suite — for this job, pick on price or the product you already use.

How was this tested?

Both models answered the identical published coding tasks. Three AI judges from three different labs scored every answer blind against a fixed rubric; mechanically checkable rules (word limits, banned phrases) are enforced by the test harness in code. The raw outputs and judge verdicts are downloadable.

More coding head-to-heads: GPT-5.6 Luna vs GPT-5.6 Sol · GPT-5.6 Luna vs GPT-5.6 Terra · GLM 5.2 vs GPT-5.6 Sol · GPT-5.3-Codex vs GPT-5.6 Sol · GPT-5.5 vs GPT-5.6 Sol · GPT-5.6 Sol vs Qwen3.7 Max

Full ranking: Best AI for coding · model pages: GPT-5.6 Sol, GPT-5.6 Terra