Model Comparison
MAI-Thinking-1 vs GPT-5.5 InstantWhich is better in 2026?
GPT-5.5 Instant shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks.
Verdict: MAI-Thinking-1 vs GPT-5.5 Instant — which is better?
MAI-Thinking-1 (by Microsoft) and GPT-5.5 Instant (by OpenAI) are two of the AI models people compare most. Here is how they stack up on benchmarks, price and capabilities, and which one to pick in 2026.
MAI-Thinking-1 outperforms in 1 benchmarks (AIME 2025), while GPT-5.5 Instant is better at 2 benchmarks (GPQA, HealthBench Professional). GPT-5.5 Instant shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks.
Choose MAI-Thinking-1 if…
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Jun 2026
Choose GPT-5.5 Instant if…
- you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 2 of 3 shared benchmarks
Performance Benchmarks
Comparative analysis across standard metrics
MAI-Thinking-1 outperforms in 1 benchmarks (AIME 2025), while GPT-5.5 Instant is better at 2 benchmarks (GPQA, HealthBench Professional).
GPT-5.5 Instant shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks.
Arena Performance
Human preference votes
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Only GPT-5.5 Instant specifies input context (400,000 tokens). Only GPT-5.5 Instant specifies output context (128,000 tokens).
Input Capabilities
Supported data types and modalities
GPT-5.5 Instant supports multimodal inputs, whereas MAI-Thinking-1 does not.
GPT-5.5 Instant can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.
MAI-Thinking-1
GPT-5.5 Instant
License
Usage and distribution terms
Both models are licensed under proprietary licenses.
Both models have usage restrictions defined by their respective organizations.
Proprietary
Closed source
Proprietary
Closed source
Release Timeline
When each model was launched
MAI-Thinking-1 was released on 2026-06-02, while GPT-5.5 Instant was released on 2026-05-05.
MAI-Thinking-1 is 1 month newer than GPT-5.5 Instant.
Jun 2, 2026
1 months ago
4w newerMay 5, 2026
2 months ago
Knowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
GPT-5.5 Instant has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2025-08-31, while MAI-Thinking-1's cutoff date is not specified.
We can confirm GPT-5.5 Instant's training data extends to 2025-08-31, but cannot make a direct comparison without MAI-Thinking-1's cutoff date.
—
Aug 2025
Outputs Comparison
Key Takeaways
MAI-Thinking-1
View detailsMicrosoft
Detailed Comparison
Interactive Arena
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against MAI-Thinking-1 and GPT-5.5 Instant side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
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FAQ
Common questions about MAI-Thinking-1 vs GPT-5.5 Instant.