OpenAI releases GPT-6.1 Terra at $1 input and $5 output per million tokens, half of GPT-6.1 Sol, with a 1.05M-token context
The GPT-6 family gets a cheaper mid-tier model aimed at visual reasoning, computer use and writing. This covers price, context and how long prompts are billed.
// Key points
- Released on October 26 as gpt-6.1-terra on Responses and Chat Completions. OpenAI describes it as fast and efficient, for visual reasoning, precise computer use and clear, natural writing.
- Standard pricing is $1 input, $0.05 cached input and $5 output per million tokens; on the same pricing page gpt-6.1-sol is $2 and $10. Batch and Flex are 50% lower, and Fast mode is 2x Standard.
- Context window of 1,050,000 tokens, up to 128,000 output tokens, and a June 1, 2026 knowledge cutoff.
- Prompts over 272K input tokens are billed at 2x input and cache rates and 1.5x output for the whole request. Cache writes cost $1.25 per million for 30-minute retention and $2.50 for 12-hour retention.
Builder's takeNext to the 12-hour prompt caching in the 10-21 issue, OpenAI keeps slicing its price tiers finer. I would move part of PandaClaws' rewriting and caption calls, which do not need the strongest reasoning, to Terra and compare quality and unit cost against Sol on my own samples. Keep long documents under 272K tokens, or the whole request is billed at a premium. My post on evaluating model releases covers how to run that test.
// Background · from #OpenAI
Full timeline →- Oct 27 GPT-6.1 Terra is generally available on Amazon Bedrock the same day; OpenAI's evaluation has it finishing tasks over 3x faster than GPT-6 Astra
- Oct 27 GPT-6.1 Terra arrives in GitHub Copilot at provider list pricing, enabled automatically under the default model policy
- Oct 27 AWS lays out prompt caching for OpenAI models on Bedrock: combine implicit and explicit breakpoints, with a 1,024-token minimum prefix