OpenAI releases GPT-6.1 Terra at $1 input and $5 output per 1M tokens

OpenAI released GPT-6.1 Terra (gpt-6.1-terra) on October 26, 2026, according to its API changelog. OpenAI calls it fast and efficient, and pitches it for visual reasoning, precise computer use and natural writing. Standard prices are $1 per 1M input tokens and $5 per 1M output tokens: half of GPT-6.1 Sol’s price, and half of GPT-5.6 Terra’s input price.

What it costs

OpenAI’s pricing page lists these standard rates per 1M tokens for prompts up to 272K tokens:

Model	Input	Cached input	Output
gpt-6.1-terra	$1.00	$0.05	$5.00
gpt-5.6-terra	$2.00	$0.20	$12.00
gpt-6.1-sol	$2.00	$0.10	$10.00
gpt-6-luna	$0.10	$0.01	$0.50

The model page adds the fine print. Prompts over 272K input tokens are billed at 2x the input and cache rates and 1.5x the output rate for the whole request. Cache writes cost $1.25 per 1M tokens for 30-minute retention and $2.50 for 12-hour retention. Batch and Flex are 50% cheaper than Standard, regional processing adds 10% where offered, and fast mode costs 2x Standard.

What you get

• A 1,050,000-token context window, with up to 128,000 output tokens.
• Text and image input, text output. No audio or video.
• Reasoning effort from none to max; the default is medium.
• The Responses, Chat Completions and Batch endpoints. Tool calling, including computer use, web search and MCP, needs the Responses API.
• A June 1, 2026 knowledge cutoff. Fine-tuning is not supported.

AWS says the model went live on Amazon Bedrock the same day. Vercel and Netlify also added it to their AI gateways on October 26.

What to do

If you run GPT-5.6 Terra today, OpenAI’s migration advice is to compare both models on your own images and workflows at the same reasoning effort. When reasoning effort is not none, remove temperature, top_p and top_logprobs from requests. OpenAI’s pages do not say whether or when GPT-5.6 Terra will be retired, and OpenAI has published no benchmark figures for the new model on these pages.

To see how Terra’s price compares with Claude, Gemini and others, use our AI model price comparison, or estimate a monthly bill with the token cost calculator.