# OpenAI rolls out budget-priced mid-tier GPT-6.1 Terra

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/openai-rolls-out-budget-priced-mid-tier-gpt-6-1-terra/
- Published: 2026-10-26T23:08:59+00:00
- Updated: 2026-10-27T02:48:53+00:00
- Original publisher: The Register
- Original article: https://www.theregister.com/ai-and-ml/2026/10/26/openai-rolls-out-budget-priced-mid-tier-gpt-61-terra/5305574
- Topics: AI, Technology

## Key points

- GPT-6.1 Terra adds a lower-cost mid-tier option.
- It costs one tenth as much as GPT-6 Astra.
- Falling prices raise questions about AI business economics.

## Summary

OpenAI has added GPT-6.1 Terra, a mid-tier model positioned between its cheaper Luna models and higher-priced Sol and Astra offerings. It matters to developers because it aims to deliver stronger capabilities than Luna at a lower cost than Sol, especially for high-volume tasks.

Terra costs $1 per million input tokens and $5 per million output tokens, half the listed prices of GPT-6.1 Sol and GPT-5.6 Terra, and a tenth of GPT-6 Astra’s price. OpenAI staff say it is particularly strong in technical communication and fast at vision and computer-use tasks; its knowledge cutoff is 1 June 2026, later than the 30 April cutoff for Astra and Sol. The article also points to falling model prices alongside rising performance, while noting that this trend leaves questions about the industry’s long-term economics.

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.