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GPT-6.1 Terra: what OpenAI's new model does, what it costs, and the catch
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GPT-6.1 Terra is OpenAI's new fast, lower-cost model for computer use, reading images and everyday writing. OpenAI released it on October 26, 2026, for paid ChatGPT plans and the API, at half the API price of GPT-6.1 Sol. Here's what GPT-6.1 Terra does, what it costs, and the catch.
What GPT-6.1 Terra is for
OpenAI pitches Terra at everyday computer work: drafting proposals, interpreting technical drawings, filling out forms and editing videos. Its developer example is reading incoming invoices and entering the details into accounting software.
It replaces GPT-5.6 Terra. For the hardest coding jobs, OpenAI says GPT-6.1 Sol and GPT-6 Astra are still the better choice.
What OpenAI claims it improves
These are OpenAI's own test results, not independent ones:
- On its Agents' Last Exam benchmark of professional computer tasks, Terra scores 15 percentage points higher than GPT-5.6 Terra at medium effort, at about one-third the cost.
- On OpenAI's test of prompts designed to cause mistakes, the error rate at low effort fell from 53.6% to 16.7%.
Where you can use it
In ChatGPT, Terra is available to Plus, Pro, Enterprise and Edu users in ChatGPT Work and Codex. OpenAI says the same plan allowance covers more tasks with Terra than with GPT-6.1 Sol. Developers call it in the API as gpt-6.1-terra, and AWS made it available on Amazon Bedrock the same day.
What GPT-6.1 Terra costs
OpenAI's API pricing page lists GPT-6.1 Terra at $1 per million input tokens, $0.05 per million cached input tokens and $5 per million output tokens. That's half of GPT-6.1 Sol ($2 and $10) and a tenth of GPT-6 Astra ($10 and $50). Batch and Flex processing cut Terra to $0.50 and $2.50, while Fast mode doubles it to $2 and $10. Prompts over 272,000 input tokens bill at $2 input and $7.50 output.
There's no separate ChatGPT fee: it comes with the paid plans listed above.
Details checked on October 27, 2026. Prices change, so check OpenAI's pricing pages before you build on them.
The catch: free and Go users are left out
OpenAI's launch post lists Plus, Pro, Enterprise and Edu, so Free and Go users don't get GPT-6.1 Terra. On those plans, ChatGPT's pricing page still shows only limited access to the older GPT-5.6 Terra in Work and Codex on desktop. Outside a paid plan, the pay-per-token API is the only way in.
Who should care
Plus subscribers using Work or Codex for forms and documents should get more out of their allowance. For API builders, half the per-token price of GPT-6.1 Sol is the bigger news. For other recent model launches, see our Gemini 4 Argon pricing post and Claude Duet post, read how HubSpot added AI spend caps, or browse the tools directory.
FAQ
Is GPT-6.1 Terra free in ChatGPT?
No. OpenAI lists it for Plus, Pro, Enterprise and Edu users in ChatGPT Work and Codex, not the Free or Go plans.
How much does GPT-6.1 Terra cost in the API?
$1 per million input tokens, $0.05 per million cached input tokens and $5 per million output tokens at standard speed, with Batch and Flex at half that.
Is GPT-6.1 Terra better than GPT-6.1 Sol?
It's cheaper and, OpenAI says, over three times faster, but OpenAI still recommends Sol or GPT-6 Astra for the most complex coding tasks.
Sources
- Introducing GPT-6.1 Terra (OpenAI, October 26, 2026)
- API pricing (OpenAI, checked October 27, 2026)
- ChatGPT pricing (OpenAI, checked October 27, 2026)
- OpenAI GPT-6.1 Terra on Amazon Bedrock (AWS, October 26, 2026)