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Van Data Team

text model comparison

GPT-5.6 Terra vs GPT-6.1 Terra

GPT-5.6 Terra and GPT-6.1 Terra are both current text models, from OpenAI. GPT-6.1 Terra is 50% cheaper per 1M input tokens than GPT-5.6 Terra, $1 vs $2. Both accept 1,050,000 tokens of context.

Lower price per 1M input tokens
GPT-6.1 Terra$1 against $2
Newer release
GPT-6.1 TerraOct 2026 against Jul 2026

Data verified October 28, 2026 · Dataset 2026-10-28

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Side by side

GPT-5.6 Terra and GPT-6.1 Terra, line by line

Prices in effect today, compared at the same tier wherever both list one. The better value in each row is highlighted.

FactGPT-5.6 TerraGPT-6.1 Terra
Price
Price per 1M input tokens$2$1 (better)
Price per 1M output tokens$12$5 (better)
Independent benchmarks
Arena Text1466 Elo (#27 of 49)Not measured
GPQA Diamond93.3% (#13 of 40)Not measured
FrontierMath Tiers 1-3 (v2)86% (#9 of 40)Not measured
SimpleQA Verified43.2% (#25 of 36)Not measured
Specs
ProviderOpenAIOpenAI
Release dateJuly 9, 2026October 26, 2026
AccessAPI onlyAPI only
Context window1,050,000 tokens1,050,000 tokens
Max output128,000 tokens128,000 tokens
Inputtext, imagetext, image
Outputtexttext

No independent benchmark has scored both models yet. Each rank counts the current models scored on that benchmark.

Scores:Arena · 2026-10-12Epoch AI · 2026-10-12

Charts

Against every current text model

Where GPT-5.6 Terra and GPT-6.1 Terra land among the current models of their task, on every independent benchmark, on price and on context.

Where each stands

Only GPT-5.6 Terra has a current Arena Text score: #27 of 49. Each bar is the share of current models it beats.

GPT-5.6 Terra and GPT-6.1 Terra among the current text models, one row per benchmark, price and context window.

Independent benchmarks

Arena Text

GPT-5.6 Terra:#27of 49

1,466 Elo · ahead of 44%

GPT-6.1 Terra: Not scored

GPQA Diamond

GPT-5.6 Terra:#13of 40

93.3% · ahead of 67%

GPT-6.1 Terra: Not scored

FrontierMath Tiers 1-3 (v2)

GPT-5.6 Terra:#9of 40

86% · ahead of 79%

GPT-6.1 Terra: Not scored

SimpleQA Verified

GPT-5.6 Terra:#25of 36

43.2% · ahead of 31%

GPT-6.1 Terra: Not scored

Price and context

Price per 1M input tokens

GPT-5.6 Terra:#28of 51

$2 · cheaper than 24%

GPT-6.1 Terra:#19of 51

$1 · cheaper than 62%

Price per 1M output tokens

GPT-5.6 Terra:#39of 51

$12 · cheaper than 24%

GPT-6.1 Terra:#26of 51

$5 · cheaper than 50%

Context window

GPT-5.6 Terra:#1of 66

1.05M tokens · longer than 86%

GPT-6.1 Terra:#1of 66

1.05M tokens · longer than 86%

Scores fromArena · 2026-10-12Epoch AI · 2026-10-12

Quality against price

Arena Text · measured October 8, 2026

GPT-5.6 Terra scores 1,466 at $4.50 (blended price per 1M tokens). The line joins the current models no other beats on both price and Arena Text score; hover any point to name it.

Quality against priceArena Text score against price for 41 text models, GPT-5.6 Terra and GPT-6.1 Terra marked.1,2501,3001,3501,4001,4501,5001,550$0.30$1$3$10MOST ATTRACTIVE QUADRANTMedian price $3Median 1,475Blended price per 1M tokens (3 input : 1 output), log scaleArena Text (Elo)GPT-5.6 Terra
Quality against price: the data
Arena Text score against price for 41 text models, GPT-5.6 Terra and GPT-6.1 Terra marked.
ModelProviderBlended price per 1M tokensArena Text (Elo)
Gemini 4 ArgonGoogle$41,525
Claude Opus 5.5Anthropic$81,507
Claude Fable 5Anthropic$201,504
Claude Fable 5.1Anthropic$201,501
Gemini 3.8 FlashGoogle$1.501,497
Muse Spark 1.3Meta$21,494
Claude Opus 5Anthropic$101,490
Kimi K3Moonshot Kimi$61,488
Gemini 3.7 FlashGoogle$1.501,486
GPT-5.6 SolOpenAI$81,485
GPT-6.1 SolOpenAI$41,484
Qwen3.8-MaxAlibaba Qwen$31,483
GPT-5.5OpenAI$111,482
Gemini 3.6 FlashGoogle$31,482
Claude Opus 4.8Anthropic$101,481
MiMo-V2.6-ProXiaomi MiMo$0.541,480
GLM-5.3Z.ai$2.151,478
Claude Sonnet 5.5Anthropic$41,476
GPT-5.4OpenAI$5.631,475
GPT-6 AstraOpenAI$201,475
DeepSeek-V4.1-FlashDeepSeek$0.521,475
GLM-5.3-FlashZ.ai$0.241,475
Gemini 3 Flash PreviewGoogle$1.131,473
Grok 4.20xAI$1.561,472
GPT-5.6 TerraOpenAI$4.501,466
Grok 4.5xAI$31,466
DeepSeek-V4-ProDeepSeek$1.981,465
Claude Sonnet 5Anthropic$41,461
GPT-6 SolOpenAI$41,456
Gemini 3.5 Flash-LiteGoogle$0.851,455
Grok 4.6xAI$31,454
GPT-5.6 LunaOpenAI$0.451,452
MiMo-V2.6-FlashXiaomi MiMo$0.181,451
GPT-6 LunaOpenAI$0.201,443
Grok 4.7xAI$31,443
Grok 4.3xAI$1.561,442
Mistral Large 4Mistral AI$2.061,429
GPT-4.1OpenAI$3.501,415
Solar Pro 4Upstage$0.521,386
GPT-4.1 miniOpenAI$0.701,383
GPT-4.1 nanoOpenAI$0.181,322

Cost

What each costs

Example workloads at each provider's listed rates, then every other rate either one lists. The cheaper figure in each row is highlighted.

The same work, priced

For 10M input and 2M output tokens, GPT-5.6 Terra costs 2.2 times as much as GPT-6.1 Terra, at each provider's listed rates.

What GPT-5.6 Terra and GPT-6.1 Terracost for the same work, at each provider's listed rates.

  • 10M input and 2M output tokens

    GPT-5.6 Terra costs 2.2× as much

    GPT-5.6 Terra
    $44
    GPT-6.1 Terra
    $20

  • The same, with 9M of the input tokens cached

    GPT-5.6 Terra costs 2.4× as much

    GPT-5.6 Terra
    $27.80
    GPT-6.1 Terra
    $11.45
Workload or rateGPT-5.6 TerraGPT-6.1 Terra
Example workloads
10M input and 2M output tokens$44$20 (better)
The same, with 9M of the input tokens cached$27.80$11.45 (better)
Other listed rates
1M input tokens, cached$0.20$0.05 (better)
1M input tokens, prompts over 272K tokensNot listed$2
1M output tokens, prompts over 272K tokensNot listed$7.50

Verdict

When to choose each

GPT-5.6 Terra

Where it leads

No measured lead over GPT-6.1 Terra in this data.

Best for

  • Balanced long-context API evaluations
  • Reasoning-heavy work that does not depend on broad factual recall

Watch out for

  • Not in the pinned LiveBench snapshot; its independent scores here come from Epoch AI's own GPQA Diamond, FrontierMath and SimpleQA Verified runs
Full GPT-5.6 Terra profile

GPT-6.1 Terra

Where it leads

  • Lower input and output prices, $1 and $5 vs $2 and $12 per 1M tokens
  • Cheaper cached input, $0.05 vs $0.20 per 1M tokens

Best for

  • Computer-use and tool-calling agents at half GPT-6.1 Sol's price
  • High-volume reasoning work that stays under the 272K long-context threshold

Watch out for

  • Prompts over 272,000 input tokens bill the whole request at $2 input and $7.50 output per 1M tokens
  • Reads text and images only: audio and video input are not supported
  • Released on 26 October 2026, so no independent benchmark score is recorded here yet
Full GPT-6.1 Terra profile

From benchmark to production

Building on GPT-5.6 Terra or GPT-6.1 Terra?

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FAQ

GPT-5.6 Terra vs GPT-6.1 Terra FAQ

Which is cheaper, GPT-5.6 Terra or GPT-6.1 Terra?

GPT-6.1 Terra is 50% cheaper per 1M input tokens than GPT-5.6 Terra, $1 vs $2. For 10M input and 2M output tokens, GPT-5.6 Terra costs $44 and GPT-6.1 Terra $20 at standard rates.

Which is cheaper with prompt caching, GPT-5.6 Terra or GPT-6.1 Terra?

GPT-5.6 Terra charges $0.20 per 1M cached input tokens, 90% below its standard input rate, and GPT-6.1 Terra $0.05, 95% below. With 9M of 10M input tokens cached and 2M output tokens, GPT-5.6 Terra costs $27.80 and GPT-6.1 Terra $11.45.

Which has the larger context window, GPT-5.6 Terra or GPT-6.1 Terra?

Both accept 1,050,000 tokens of context. Both return up to 128,000 tokens per response.

Further reading

More on GPT-5.6 Terra and GPT-6.1 Terra

Articles on GPT-5.6 Terra and GPT-6.1 Terra

Related comparisons

Production evaluation

Choosing between GPT-5.6 Terra and GPT-6.1 Terra?

Public benchmarks narrow the shortlist. We run both on your own tasks, data and cost limits, then build the routing and review controls to run the winner in production.

  • A head-to-head evaluation on your real workload
  • Routing between models by cost and difficulty
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