text model comparison
GPT-6.1 Terra vs GPT-6 Astra
GPT-6.1 Terra and GPT-6 Astra are both current text models, from OpenAI. GPT-6.1 Terra is 90% cheaper per 1M input tokens than GPT-6 Astra, $1 vs $10. On Arena WebDev, GPT-6.1 Terra scores 1673 Elo and GPT-6 Astra 1773 Elo (Arena, measured October 28, 2026). Both accept 1,050,000 tokens of context.
- Higher Arena WebDev
- GPT-6 Astra1773 Elo against 1673 Elo
- Lower price per 1M input tokens
- GPT-6.1 Terra$1 against $10
- Newer release
- GPT-6.1 TerraOct 2026 against Sep 2026
Data verified November 3, 2026 · Dataset 2026-11-03
Side by side
GPT-6.1 Terra and GPT-6 Astra, line by line
Prices in effect today, compared at the same tier wherever both list one. The better value in each row is highlighted.
| Fact | GPT-6.1 Terra | GPT-6 Astra |
|---|---|---|
| Price | ||
| Price per 1M input tokens | $1 (better) | $10 |
| Price per 1M output tokens | $5 (better) | $50 |
| Independent benchmarks | ||
| Arena WebDev | 1673 Elo (#10 of 45) | 1773 Elo (#2 of 45) (better) |
| FrontierMath Tiers 1-3 (v2) | 90.9% (#4 of 42) | 93.7% (#1 of 42) (better) |
| GPQA Diamond | 94.3% (#7 of 41) | 95.8% (#2 of 41) (better) |
| SimpleQA Verified | 57.3% (#15 of 38) | 75.6% (#2 of 38) (better) |
| Arena Text | Not measured | 1476 Elo (#21 of 51) |
| Specs | ||
| Provider | OpenAI | OpenAI |
| Release date | October 26, 2026 | September 3, 2026 |
| Access | API only | API only |
| Context window | 1,050,000 tokens | 1,050,000 tokens |
| Max output | 128,000 tokens | 128,000 tokens |
| Input | text, image | text, image |
| Output | text | text |
Charts
Against every current text model
Where GPT-6.1 Terra and GPT-6 Astra land among the current models of their task, on every independent benchmark, on price and on context.
Where each stands
On Arena WebDev, GPT-6.1 Terra ranks #10 and GPT-6 Astra #2 of 45 current models. Each bar is the share of current models it beats: on score, price and context.
Independent benchmarks
Arena Text
GPT-6.1 Terra: Not scored
GPT-6 Astra:#21of 51
1,476 Elo · ahead of 58%
Arena WebDev
GPT-6.1 Terra:#10of 45
1,673 Elo · ahead of 80%
GPT-6 Astra:#2of 45
1,773 Elo · ahead of 98%
FrontierMath Tiers 1-3 (v2)
GPT-6.1 Terra:#4of 42
90.9% · ahead of 93%
GPT-6 Astra:#1of 42
93.7% · ahead of 98%
GPQA Diamond
GPT-6.1 Terra:#7of 41
94.3% · ahead of 83%
GPT-6 Astra:#2of 41
95.8% · ahead of 98%
SimpleQA Verified
GPT-6.1 Terra:#15of 38
57.3% · ahead of 62%
GPT-6 Astra:#2of 38
75.6% · ahead of 97%
Price and context
Price per 1M input tokens
GPT-6.1 Terra:#21of 52
$1 · cheaper than 59%
GPT-6 Astra:#49of 52
$10 · cheaper than 0%
Price per 1M output tokens
GPT-6.1 Terra:#27of 52
$5 · cheaper than 49%
GPT-6 Astra:#49of 52
$50 · cheaper than 0%
Context window
GPT-6.1 Terra:#1of 64
1.05M tokens · longer than 86%
GPT-6 Astra:#1of 64
1.05M tokens · longer than 86%
Quality against price
GPT-6 Astra scores 1,476 at $20 (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 price: the data
| Model | Provider | Blended price per 1M tokens | Arena Text (Elo) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gemini 4 Argon | $4 | 1,520 | |
| Claude Opus 5.5 | Anthropic | $8 | 1,509 |
| Muse Wonder | Meta | $8 | 1,507 |
| Claude Fable 5 | Anthropic | $20 | 1,504 |
| Claude Fable 5.1 | Anthropic | $20 | 1,504 |
| Gemini 3.8 Flash | $1.50 | 1,496 | |
| Muse Spark 1.3 | Meta | $2 | 1,495 |
| Claude Opus 5 | Anthropic | $10 | 1,492 |
| Kimi K3 | Moonshot Kimi | $6 | 1,488 |
| GPT-5.6 Sol | OpenAI | $8 | 1,485 |
| Gemini 3.6 Flash | $3 | 1,483 | |
| GPT-5.5 | OpenAI | $11 | 1,482 |
| Claude Opus 4.8 | Anthropic | $10 | 1,482 |
| Qwen3.8-Max | Alibaba Qwen | $3 | 1,482 |
| GPT-6.1 Sol | OpenAI | $4 | 1,481 |
| GLM-5.3 | Z.ai | $2.15 | 1,481 |
| MiMo-V2.6-Pro | Xiaomi MiMo | $0.54 | 1,480 |
| Claude Sonnet 5.5 | Anthropic | $4 | 1,477 |
| GLM-5.3-Flash | Z.ai | $0.24 | 1,477 |
| GPT-6 Astra | OpenAI | $20 | 1,476 |
| DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash | DeepSeek | $0.52 | 1,476 |
| GPT-5.4 | OpenAI | $5.63 | 1,475 |
| Gemini 3 Flash Preview | $1.13 | 1,473 | |
| Grok 4.20 | xAI | $1.56 | 1,472 |
| GPT-5.6 Terra | OpenAI | $4.50 | 1,467 |
| Grok 4.5 | xAI | $3 | 1,465 |
| DeepSeek-V4-Pro | DeepSeek | $1.98 | 1,465 |
| Claude Sonnet 5 | Anthropic | $4 | 1,462 |
| GPT-6 Sol | OpenAI | $4 | 1,458 |
| Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite | $0.85 | 1,456 | |
| Grok 4.6 | xAI | $3 | 1,455 |
| GPT-5.6 Luna | OpenAI | $0.45 | 1,453 |
| MiMo-V2.6-Flash | Xiaomi MiMo | $0.18 | 1,448 |
| Step 5 Preview | StepFun | $1.43 | 1,448 |
| Grok 4.3 | xAI | $1.56 | 1,442 |
| GPT-6 Luna | OpenAI | $0.20 | 1,441 |
| Grok 4.7 | xAI | $3 | 1,441 |
| Mistral Large 4 | Mistral AI | $1.05 | 1,432 |
| Claude Haiku 5.5 | Anthropic | $0.20 | 1,425 |
| GPT-4.1 | OpenAI | $3.50 | 1,415 |
| Solar Pro 4 | Upstage | $0.52 | 1,388 |
| GPT-4.1 mini | OpenAI | $0.70 | 1,383 |
| GPT-4.1 nano | OpenAI | $0.18 | 1,322 |
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-6 Astra costs 10 times as much as GPT-6.1 Terra, at each provider's listed rates.
10M input and 2M output tokens
GPT-6 Astra costs 10× as much
- GPT-6.1 Terra
- $20
- GPT-6 Astra
- $200
The same, with 9M of the input tokens cached
GPT-6 Astra costs 10× as much
- GPT-6.1 Terra
- $11.45
- GPT-6 Astra
- $119
| Workload or rate | GPT-6.1 Terra | GPT-6 Astra |
|---|---|---|
| Example workloads | ||
| 10M input and 2M output tokens | $20 (better) | $200 |
| The same, with 9M of the input tokens cached | $11.45 (better) | $119 |
| Other listed rates | ||
| 1M input tokens, cached | $0.05 (better) | $1 |
| 1M input tokens, prompts over 272K tokens | $2 | Not listed |
| 1M output tokens, prompts over 272K tokens | $7.50 | Not listed |
Your own bill will differ. These figures use list prices and example workloads. The AI Model Cost Audit reviews your real usage, shortlists models that score as well for each task for less, and estimates the savings.
Launch price $100, regular price $150
Verdict
When to choose each
GPT-6.1 Terra
Where it leads
- Lower input and output prices, $1 and $5 vs $10 and $50 per 1M tokens
- Cheaper cached input, $0.05 vs $1 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
GPT-6 Astra
Where it leads
- Higher Arena WebDev score, 1773 Elo vs 1673 Elo
- Higher FrontierMath Tiers 1-3 (v2) score, 93.7% vs 90.9%
- Higher GPQA Diamond score, 95.8% vs 94.3%
- Higher SimpleQA Verified score, 75.6% vs 57.3%
Best for
- Frontier reasoning and agentic evaluations where deep-context retrieval accuracy is the binding constraint
- Workloads that can be kept under the long-context threshold, where the effective rate stays at $10 / $50
Watch out for
- Long-context billing is a cliff, not a taper: a request over the long-context threshold is rebilled in full at $20 per million input and $75 per million output, so a prompt that crosses it costs roughly double
- GPT-6 Astra is the first publicly released model OpenAI classifies as crossing the Critical cybersecurity threshold under its own Preparedness Framework, which carries additional deployment safeguards
- Vendor-reported benchmark figures come from OpenAI’s own launch material and its own harness; they are not independently reproduced here
From benchmark to production
Building on GPT-6.1 Terra or GPT-6 Astra?
Public scores rarely hold on your own data. We test both models on your real tasks, then build the agent or pipeline around the one that wins.
AI Model Cost AuditLaunch price $100, regular price $150What the audit includes
FAQ
GPT-6.1 Terra vs GPT-6 Astra FAQ
Which is cheaper, GPT-6.1 Terra or GPT-6 Astra?
GPT-6.1 Terra is 90% cheaper per 1M input tokens than GPT-6 Astra, $1 vs $10. For 10M input and 2M output tokens, GPT-6.1 Terra costs $20 and GPT-6 Astra $200 at standard rates.
Which is cheaper with prompt caching, GPT-6.1 Terra or GPT-6 Astra?
GPT-6.1 Terra charges $0.05 per 1M cached input tokens, 95% below its standard input rate, and GPT-6 Astra $1, 90% below. With 9M of 10M input tokens cached and 2M output tokens, GPT-6.1 Terra costs $11.45 and GPT-6 Astra $119.
Which scores higher on independent benchmarks, GPT-6.1 Terra or GPT-6 Astra?
GPT-6 Astra leads on Arena WebDev, 1773 Elo to 1673 Elo; GPT-6 Astra leads on FrontierMath Tiers 1-3 (v2), 93.7% to 90.9%; GPT-6 Astra leads on GPQA Diamond, 95.8% to 94.3%. Scores are independent evaluations, not either vendor's launch figures.
Which has the larger context window, GPT-6.1 Terra or GPT-6 Astra?
Both accept 1,050,000 tokens of context. Both return up to 128,000 tokens per response.
Further reading
More on GPT-6.1 Terra and GPT-6 Astra
Articles on GPT-6.1 Terra and GPT-6 Astra
- GPT-Rosalind-6: OpenAI's Biology Model and Trusted AccessNovember 1, 2026
- GPT-6.1 Terra: Price, Benchmarks and When to Use ItOctober 27, 2026
- OpenAI Models on Google Cloud: What Changes for AI TeamsOctober 22, 2026
- Gemini 4 Argon Benchmarks: What Independent Tests ShowOctober 1, 2026
- Gemini 4 Pro Leaks: What's Verified and What's HypeOctober 1, 2026
- GDPval-AA Chart Fact-Check: Opus 5.5 vs GPT-6 Astra on CostSeptember 24, 2026
Related comparisons
- Claude Haiku 5.5 vs GPT-6.1 Terra
- Gemini 4 Argon vs GPT-6 Astra
- Claude Sonnet 5.5 vs GPT-6.1 Terra
- GPT-6.1 Sol vs GPT-6 Astra
- Claude Sonnet 5 vs GPT-6.1 Terra
- Claude Sonnet 5.5 vs GPT-6 Astra
- DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash vs GPT-6.1 Terra
- Claude Opus 5.5 vs GPT-6 Astra
- Gemini 3.8 Flash vs GPT-6.1 Terra
- GPT-6 Astra vs GPT-6 Luna
- GPT-6.1 Sol vs GPT-6.1 Terra
- GPT-6 Astra vs GPT-6 Sol
Production evaluation
Choosing between GPT-6.1 Terra and GPT-6 Astra?
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
