GPT-6.1 Terra: OpenAI cuts API prices while improving mid-range model performance

OpenAI has released GPT-6.1 Terra, a mid-range model that cuts API prices in half compared with GPT-5.6 Terra. The model is aimed at everyday work tasks including drafting proposals, interpreting technical drawings, filling out forms, and AI-driven software control.

The article says GPT-6.1 Terra is available for Plus, Pro, Enterprise, and Edu users in ChatGPT Work and Codex, as well as through the API. For teams evaluating model costs, the headline change is straightforward: OpenAI is pushing Terra as a stronger price-to-performance option rather than only a cheaper model.

The reported API pricing is $1 per million input tokens and $5 per million output tokens, compared with $2 and $12 for GPT-5.6 Terra. Cached inputs fall to $0.05 per million tokens, described as a quarter of the previous rate.

Artificial Analysis calls GPT-6.1 Terra a new benchmark for intelligence per dollar. At maximum reasoning effort, it reportedly gains 6 points on the Intelligence Index over GPT-5.6 Terra while costing less than a third per task, listed as $0.40 versus $1.40.

OpenAI emphasizes GPT-6.1 Terra’s strength in automated software control. On Agents’ Last Exam, the article says Terra matches GPT-6 Astra’s performance at one-tenth the token price and finishes more than three times faster than GPT-6 Astra and GPT-6.1 Sol.

The model also improves across visual reasoning and coding benchmarks cited in the article. On Terminal-Bench 4.0, GPT-6.1 Terra solves 50.3 percent of tasks at maximum reasoning effort, up from 21.5 percent for GPT-5.6 Terra, though OpenAI still recommends GPT-6.1 Sol and GPT-6 Astra for the most demanding coding tasks.

GPT-6.1 Terra meets OpenAI’s “Critical” cybersecurity threshold under the company’s Preparedness Framework and inherits safeguards from GPT-6 Astra. The article says the model is more likely than its predecessor to stay within assigned boundaries and disclose restrictions to users.

For indirect prompt injection attacks, where malicious instructions are hidden in third-party content, Terra’s defense rate is listed at 98.8 percent, up from 96.2 percent for GPT-5.6 Terra. The takeaway for deployers is that lower pricing does not remove the need for careful controls, especially when using models for agentic software tasks.