GPT-5.6 Terra
GPT-5.6 Terra is the middle tier of the GPT-5.6 family, released by OpenAI on Jul 9, 2026 between Sol and Luna; OpenAI compares it to the old mini tier. It costs US$ 2 per million input tokens and US$ 12 per million output, 20% less than at launch. The GPT-6 family has no Terra, and GPT-6.1 Sol now costs the same for input and less for output and cache. No retirement date has been published.
GPT-5.6 Terra in official numbers
Data published by the maker in its documentation and announcement. The source of each item is at the end of the page.
- Maker
- OpenAI
- API identifier
gpt-5.6-terra- Release
- Jul 9, 2026, with GPT-5.6 Sol and GPT-5.6 Luna
- Input
- US$ 2 per million tokens (was US$ 2.50 until Jul 30, 2026)
- Output
- US$ 12 per million tokens (was US$ 15)
- Cache read
- US$ 0.20 per million (10% of input)
- Cache write
- US$ 2.50 per million (1.25x input)
- Above 272 thousand input tokens
- US$ 4 input, US$ 0.40 cache and US$ 18 output, for the whole request
- Batch and Flex
- US$ 1 input and US$ 6 output
- Fast mode
- US$ 4 and US$ 24
- Context window
- 1,050,000 tokens (up to 922 thousand input)
- Max output
- 128 thousand tokens
- Knowledge cutoff
- Feb 16, 2026
- Reasoning
- effort
nonetomax, defaultmedium - Equivalent to
- the mini tier of earlier GPT-5 families, according to OpenAI
- Where it runs
- OpenAI API, ChatGPT Work, Codex and Amazon Bedrock (
openai.gpt-5.6-terra) - Risk
- High in cybersecurity and biology on the Preparedness scale, like Sol
- Retirement
- no date published as of Oct 1, 2026
Where GPT-5.6 Terra does well, where it falls behind and who it is for
Where it does well
- Close to Sol: 50.4% on Agents' Last Exam and 69.6% on DeepSWE, against 52.7% and 72.7% for GPT-5.6 Sol, at half the input price.
- Above GPT-5.5: 77.4 points on the Artificial Analysis Coding Agent Index, against 76.4 for GPT-5.5 and 77.2 for Claude Fable 5, in OpenAI's table.
- Long context: 89.6% on the MRCR v2 test from 256 thousand to 512 thousand tokens, close to Sol's 91.5% and more than double GPT-5.6 Luna's 41.3%.
- Fewer harmful agent actions: 13.5% misaligned outcomes in simulated work environments, without a confirmation policy, against 18.8% for Sol and 19.7% for Luna, in the GPT-6 Astra system card.
- Prompt injection: 0.946 on the search and function-calling evaluation in the GPT-5.6 system card, the family's highest score (Sol 0.910).
Where it falls behind
- Pricier than the next generation's Sol: GPT-6.1 Sol costs the same for input, US$ 10 against US$ 12 for output and half for cache.
- Computer use: 50.2% on OSWorld 2.0, against 62.6% for Sol and 54.8% for Claude Opus 4.8.
- Hard math: 68.3% on FrontierMath Tier 4, below even GPT-5.5 (72.5%).
- Hard software engineering: 63.4% on SWE-Bench Pro, against 80% for Claude Fable 5 in the same table.
- No successor: there is no GPT-6 Terra, and OpenAI's model selection guide no longer mentions Terra.
Who it makes sense for
- Integrations already running on
gpt-5.6-terraand validated: there is no shutdown date, and OpenAI promises at least 6 months' notice. - Teams leaving
gpt-5-mini,o4-miniorgpt-3.5-turbo: it is the target the official replacement table names, with shutdowns on Oct 23, 2026 and Dec 11, 2026. - Documents too long for GPT-5.6 Luna: on the needle test from 256 thousand to 512 thousand tokens, Terra scores more than double.
- Codex on ChatGPT's Free and Go plans, which have access to Terra, according to OpenAI's help center.
When to pick another model
- New projects: GPT-6.1 Sol costs the same or less on every line of the price table and is the middle tier OpenAI recommends today.
- High-volume classification, extraction and summaries: GPT-6 Luna costs US$ 0.10 and US$ 0.50, one twentieth of Terra's input price.
- Interface automation and computer use: on OSWorld 2.0, Sol scored 62.6% against Terra's 50.2%.
- Tasks where GPT-5.6 Luna ties: on Agents' Last Exam, Luna scores 50.3% against Terra's 50.4%, at a tenth of the price.
What OpenAI published at launch
Terra came out on Jul 9, 2026 as the balanced tier of the GPT-5.6 family. OpenAI described it as a lower-cost model with performance competitive with GPT-5.5, and the documentation says it roughly corresponds to the old mini tier.
The launch price was US$ 2.50 input and US$ 15 output. On Jul 30 it fell 20%, to US$ 2 and US$ 12, on the same day Luna became 80% cheaper.
In the announcement table, Terra does not lead any of the eleven tests below, but beats GPT-5.5 on nine. According to OpenAI, it lands just above Claude Fable 5 on the Artificial Analysis coding agent index, at about a quarter of the estimated cost.
| GPT-5.6 Terra OpenAI | GPT-5.6 Sol OpenAI | GPT-5.5 OpenAI | Claude Fable 5 Anthropic | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Agents' Last Exam professional agent work |
50.4% | 52.7% | 46.9% | 40.5% |
| GDPval-AA v2 office work, Elo |
1,593 | 1,747.8 | 1,493.7 | 1,759.6 |
| AA Coding Agent Index v1.1 coding agent |
77.4 | 80 | 76.4 | 77.2 |
| SWE-Bench Pro software engineering |
63.4% | 64.6% | 59.4% | 80% |
| DeepSWE v1.1 long-horizon engineering |
69.6% | 72.7% | 67% | 69.7% |
| Terminal-Bench 2.1 terminal work |
87.4% | 88.8% | 85.6% | 83.1% |
| BrowseComp browsing |
87.5% | 90.4% | 84.4% | not published |
| OSWorld 2.0 computer use |
50.2% | 62.6% | 47.5% | not published |
| MRCR v2, 256K to 512K long context |
89.6% | 91.5% | 81.5% | not published |
| FrontierMath Tier 4 hard math |
68.3% | 83% | 72.5% | 87.8% |
| Toolathlon tool use |
53.1% | 58% | 55.6% | 61.7% |
Table from the GPT-5.6 announcement, Jul 9, 2026. The dot marks the best in each row. "Not published" cells are tests where OpenAI did not show Fable 5.
Terra between Sol and Luna
Within the family, Terra costs half of Sol for input and 60% for output. Luna costs a tenth of Terra and comes close to it on several tests. The gap shows up in long context and computer use, where Terra is well ahead.
| GPT-5.6 Sol | GPT-5.6 Terra | GPT-5.6 Luna | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Input and output today | US$ 4 and US$ 20 | US$ 2 and US$ 12 | US$ 0.20 and US$ 1.20 |
| Cache read | US$ 0.40 | US$ 0.20 | US$ 0.02 |
| Launch price | US$ 5 and US$ 30 | US$ 2.50 and US$ 15 | US$ 1 and US$ 6 |
| Equivalent old tier | unsuffixed | mini | nano |
| Agents' Last Exam | 52.7% | 50.4% | 50.3% |
| DeepSWE v1.1 | 72.7% | 69.6% | 67.2% |
| OSWorld 2.0 | 62.6% | 50.2% | 45.6% |
| MRCR v2, 256K to 512K | 91.5% | 89.6% | 41.3% |
OpenAI pricing page (Oct 1, 2026), model pages and the GPT-5.6 announcement table. Sol price is the promotional one. The dot marks the best in each score row.
Is GPT-5.6 Terra still worth using in 2026?
For a new project, it is hard to justify. OpenAI did not release a Terra in generation 6, and GPT-6.1 Sol, the current middle tier, costs the same for input, less for output and half for cache. GPT-6 Sol also ties or comes in below Terra on every line of the price table.
OpenAI did not include Terra in the GPT-6 family performance charts. The direct official comparisons sit in the safety reports: on HealthBench Professional, Terra scores 57.7, against 64.2 for 6.1 Sol; on agents, it has 13.5% misaligned outcomes, against 3.4% for Astra.
For teams already using it, there is no rush: the deprecations page shows no date for Terra and still lists it as the replacement for gpt-5-mini and o4-mini. OpenAI's reasoning guide also still mentions it as a cheaper option.
| GPT-5.6 Terra | GPT-6.1 Sol | GPT-6 Sol | GPT-6 Luna | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Input | US$ 2 | US$ 2 | US$ 2 | US$ 0.10 |
| Output | US$ 12 | US$ 10 | US$ 10 | US$ 0.50 |
| Cache read | US$ 0.20 | US$ 0.10 | US$ 0.20 | US$ 0.01 |
| Cache write | US$ 2.50 | US$ 2.50 | US$ 2.50 | US$ 0.125 |
| Above 272 thousand tokens input and output |
US$ 4 and US$ 18 | US$ 4 and US$ 15 | US$ 4 and US$ 15 | US$ 0.20 and US$ 0.75 |
| Batch and Flex input and output |
US$ 1 and US$ 6 | US$ 1 and US$ 5 | US$ 1 and US$ 5 | US$ 0.05 and US$ 0.25 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Feb 16, 2026 | Apr 30, 2026 | Apr 20, 2026 | May 18, 2026 |
| Accepts effort none | yes | no | yes | yes |
| HealthBench Professional length-adjusted |
57.7 | 64.2 | 60.8 | 60.8 |
OpenAI documentation, pricing page and model pages, checked on Oct 1, 2026. HealthBench from table 7 of the GPT-6.1 Sol safety report; the dot marks the best in that row only.
What changes when swapping Terra for a GPT-6 model
OpenAI's migration guide lists points that break integrations:
- GPT-6.1 Sol does not accept
noneeffort (OpenAI says to uselow) and only calls tools through the Responses API. - GPT-6 Sol keeps
none, but on Chat Completions it only calls functions at that effort. - With effort other than
none,temperature,top_pandtop_logprobsgo away. - Reasoning saved in the 5.6 family does not carry over to 6, because OpenAI only allows reuse within the same family.
- 6.1 Sol is rated Critical in cybersecurity and uses GPT-6 Astra's safeguards; Terra is High, with the GPT-5.6 package.
Examples of using GPT-5.6 Terra
A whole set of contracts goes into a single request. Terra scored 89.6% on OpenAI's needle test between 256 thousand and 512 thousand tokens; above 272 thousand input tokens, the whole request moves to US$ 4 input and US$ 18 output.
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07 shuts down on Dec 11, 2026, and the official table points to Terra as the replacement. It is worth running the same tasks on GPT-6.1 Sol, which costs the same for input and less for output, and choosing by the result.
An agent that sends emails and changes company systems asks for approval before sensitive actions. In OpenAI's test, the confirmation policy cut Terra's misaligned outcomes from 13.5% to 5.7%.
Where GPT-5.6 Terra stands out and where it falls behind, by the numbers
GPT-5.6 Terra has published results on 28 tests compiled by Epoch AI. The yardstick here is its generation: its position among the models released between Oct 12, 2025 and Oct 7, 2026 that took the same test. Against the whole archive, which includes 2023 models, a recent release lands near the top of almost everything, and that says nothing.
Where it stands out
Tests where it sits in the top third of its own generation.
Where it falls behind
Tests where it sits in the bottom half of its own generation.
See all 28 tests, one by one
| Test | Score | In its generation | Overall | Test record |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond | 93.3% | #17 / 81 | #17 / 173 | 96.4% Gemini 4 Argon |
| AIME 2024 and 2025 (OTIS) | 99.7% | #13 / 82 | #13 / 168 | 100.0% GPT-5.5 |
| Dtbench | 93.3% | #26 / 70 | #26 / 148 | 98.9% Claude Opus 5.5 |
| Lmca | 54.95 | #11 / 70 | #11 / 121 | 68.23 Claude Opus 5.5 |
| CritPt | 30.0% | #9 / 79 (tied with 1) | #9 / 112 | 32.3% GPT-5.6 Sol |
| WeirdML | 78.3% | #11 / 55 | #11 / 112 | 93.6% GPT-6 Astra |
| SciCode | 55.0% | #25 / 76 (tied with 2) | #26 / 104 | 66.9% Claude Opus 5.5 |
| Frontiermath Tiers 1 3 V2 | 86.0% | #10 / 66 (tied with 1) | #10 / 86 | 93.7% GPT-6 Astra |
| ARC-AGI 2 | 83.9% | #13 / 51 | #13 / 83 | 95.0% GPT-6 Astra |
| ALE-Bench | 1,951 | #8 / 65 | #8 / 82 | 2,951 GPT-6 Astra |
| WebDev Arena | 1,521 | #35 / 76 | #35 / 82 | 1,820 Claude Opus 5.5 |
| ARC-AGI | 96.5% | #10 / 51 (tied with 1) | #10 / 81 | 98.5% Claude Fable 5 |
| SimpleQA Verified | 43.2% | #37 / 64 | #41 / 81 | 76.0% Gemini 4 Argon |
| Chess puzzles | 47.0% | #21 / 65 (tied with 1) | #22 / 80 | 76.0% GPT-6 Astra |
| Game puzzles | 35.0% | #19 / 61 (tied with 1) | #20 / 77 | 84.0% GPT-6 Astra |
| ProofBench | 74.0% | #14 / 69 | #15 / 74 | 100.0% Claude Fable 5.1 |
| SimpleBench | 48.9% | #30 / 38 | #38 / 74 | 81.9% Claude Fable 5 |
| Frontiermath Tier 4 V2 | 70.7% | #13 / 56 | #13 / 67 | 100.0% GPT-6.1 Sol |
| Vending Bench 2 | 7,343 | #14 / 49 | #15 / 57 | 15,515 GPT-6 Astra |
| Apex Agents | 58.2% | #14 / 49 | #14 / 50 | 82.4% Gemini 4 Argon |
| FrontierCode | 41.3% | #23 / 43 | #23 / 43 | 54.6% Claude Opus 5.5 |
| Gdp Pdf | 24.7% | #12 / 36 | #13 / 37 | 35.0% GPT-6.1 Sol |
| Furniture Assembly | 54.2% | #10 / 33 | #10 / 34 | 83.3% Claude Opus 5.5 |
| BALROG | 53.2% | #6 / 10 | #6 / 32 | 68.3% GPT-6 Astra |
| Blueprint Bench 2 | 30.8% | #16 / 31 | #16 / 31 | 54.4% Gemini 4 Argon |
| DeepSWE | 69.6% | #6 / 26 | #6 / 26 | 74.1% GPT-6 Astra |
| Surface Evolver Bench | 83.8% | #6 / 23 | #6 / 24 | 95.0% Claude Fable 5 |
| CursorBench | 41.3% | #12 / 16 | #12 / 16 | 57.8% Claude Opus 5.5 |
For each test, the model's best effort level counts, as in the ranking. Source of the scores: Epoch AI, under CC BY 4.0.
What to compare GPT-5.6 Terra with
The models from other labs closest in capability and released in the same period, at most two per lab. Click any of them to see its page.
| Model | Lab | ECI | ELO | LiveBench | Release |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GPT-5.6 Terra | OpenAI | 159.43 | 1,515 | 77.9 | Jul 9, 2026 |
| Claude Haiku 5.5 | Anthropic | 158.98 | n/a | 72.1 | Oct 7, 2026 |
| Claude Opus 4.8 | Anthropic | 158.26 | 1,507 | 76.2 | May 28, 2026 |
| Kimi K3 | Moonshot | 157.42 | 1,528 | 79.2 | Jul 16, 2026 |
| Gemini 3.7 Flash | Google DeepMind | 157.22 | 1,551 | 78.8 | Aug 13, 2026 |
| Gemini 3.8 Flash | Google DeepMind | 157.20 | 1,551 | 75.8 | Sep 2, 2026 |
| Qwen 3.8 Max | Alibaba | 156.88 | 1,536 | 78.5 | Aug 2, 2026 |
GPT-5.6 Terra or Claude Haiku 5.5?
Claude Haiku 5.5 is the model from another lab closest to GPT-5.6 Terra in capability. Across the 16 tests both took, this is the score:
| Test | GPT-5.6 Terra | Claude Haiku 5.5 |
|---|---|---|
| Vending Bench 2 | 7,343 | 3,602 |
| SimpleQA Verified | 43.2% | 23.8% |
| Frontiermath Tier 4 V2 | 70.7% | 46.3% |
| CritPt | 30.0% | 22.6% |
| ProofBench | 74.0% | 89.0% |
| CursorBench | 41.3% | 48.4% |
| Chess puzzles | 47.0% | 55.0% |
| Game puzzles | 35.0% | 30.0% |
| Frontiermath Tiers 1 3 V2 | 86.0% | 75.1% |
| Furniture Assembly | 54.2% | 47.5% |
Unweighted score: each test counts one point, whether math or coding. The dot marks who did better on each row.
What GPT-5.6 Terra costs to deliver each task
Price per token is what is on the price sheet; cost per task is what lands on the invoice, because it depends on how many tokens the model spends. Each point is an effort level, published by whoever ran the test and compiled by Epoch AI. The further up and to the left, the more score per dollar.
ARC-AGI 2
The score scale does not start at zero.
ARC-AGI
The score scale does not start at zero.
CursorBench
The score scale does not start at zero.
Other models from OpenAI
The models from the same lab closest in time, newest first.
| Model | Release | ECI | ELO | LiveBench | Access |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GPT-6 Sol | Sep 22, 2026 | 162.55 | n/a | 79.3 | API access |
| GPT-6 Luna | Sep 22, 2026 | 156.31 | n/a | 72.0 | API access |
| GPT-6 Astra | Sep 3, 2026 | 166.41 | n/a | 82.2 | API access |
| GPT-5.6 Sol | Jul 9, 2026 | 161.73 | 1,527 | 81.1 | API access |
| GPT-5.6 Terra | Jul 9, 2026 | 159.43 | 1,515 | 77.9 | API access |
| GPT-5.6 Luna | Jul 9, 2026 | 156.33 | 1,478 | 73.6 | API access |
| GPT-5.5 Instant | May 5, 2026 | 142.45 | 1,456 | n/a | API access |
| GPT-5.5 Pro | Apr 23, 2026 | 161.97 | n/a | n/a | API access |
| GPT-5.5 | Apr 23, 2026 | 158.95 | 1,533 | 80.2 | API access |
Have you used GPT-5.6 Terra? Rate it
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What people ask about GPT-5.6 Terra
How much does GPT-5.6 Terra cost?
US$ 2 per million input tokens and US$ 12 per million output, since the 20% cut on Jul 30, 2026; at launch it was US$ 2.50 and US$ 15. Cache reads cost US$ 0.20 and cache writes US$ 2.50. Above 272 thousand input tokens, the whole request moves to US$ 4 and US$ 18. Batch and Flex are half price, and Fast mode costs double.
What is the difference between GPT-5.6 Terra, Sol and Luna?
They are the three tiers of the GPT-5.6 family. Sol is the flagship, Terra is the balanced lower-cost model and Luna is the fastest and cheapest. OpenAI compares Sol to the old unsuffixed model, Terra to mini and Luna to nano.
Is there a GPT-6 Terra?
No. As of Oct 1, 2026, the GPT-6 family has GPT-6 Astra, GPT-6 Sol, GPT-6.1 Sol and GPT-6 Luna, and no official OpenAI page mentions a GPT-6 Terra. In the GPT-5.6 announcement, OpenAI said each tier advances on its own cadence.
Will GPT-5.6 Terra be retired?
No date has been published. OpenAI's deprecations page does not list Terra and still names it as the replacement for models that shut down on Oct 23, 2026 and Dec 11, 2026. OpenAI promises at least 6 months' notice for generally available models.
Can I use Terra in ChatGPT?
Not in regular Chat conversations. It appears in ChatGPT Work and Codex, depending on the plan, and in Codex it is also available on the Free and Go plans. Developers use it through the OpenAI API.
Where does GPT-5.6 Terra rank among AI models?
In the ROO3 AI Benchmark, ordered by the Epoch AI ECI, GPT-5.6 Terra ranks #12 out of 267 models, with an ECI of 159.43. The ECI is a composite index that combines several hard benchmarks into a single scale. The position changes when a new model comes out, and the page is refreshed six times a day.
Is GPT-5.6 Terra better than Claude Haiku 5.5?
Across the 16 tests both models took and Epoch AI compiled, GPT-5.6 Terra comes out ahead on 10, behind on 5 and tied on 1. It is a test-by-test count with no weighting: a win in math counts the same as a win in coding. To choose between the two, look at the tests that resemble your own use.
What is GPT-5.6 Terra best at?
Against models of the same generation (released up to 9 months before and up to 3 months after it), the best relative results of GPT-5.6 Terra are: CritPt (#9 of 79); ALE-Bench (#8 of 65); Lmca (#11 of 70). The yardstick is its position among the models of that period that took the same test.
Where do the numbers on this page come from?
From the same three sources as the ranking, all openly licensed: Epoch AI (ECI and individual tests, CC BY 4.0), Arena (human-preference ELO, CC BY 4.0) and LiveBench (overall average, CC BY-SA 4.0). ROO3 does not measure any model. When the page shows a figure published by the maker itself, it appears in the written analysis, labeled as the maker's, and never enters the ranking.
Where each number comes from
- OpenAI, GPT-5.6 announcement
- OpenAI, GPT-5.6 Terra model page (documentation)
- OpenAI, API pricing
- OpenAI, API changelog (launch and Jul 30, 2026 price cut)
- OpenAI, GPT-5.6 system card
- OpenAI, GPT-6 Astra system card (table 8, including GPT-5.6 Terra)
- OpenAI, GPT-6.1 Sol safety report (table 7, including GPT-5.6 Terra)
- OpenAI, API deprecations
- OpenAI, latest model guide (migration)
- OpenAI, reasoning guide
- OpenAI, models on Amazon Bedrock (documentation)
- OpenAI Help Center, GPT-5.6 and GPT-6 Pro in ChatGPT
Epoch AI, "AI Benchmarking Hub". Published at epoch.ai. Data under the CC BY 4.0 licence, reordered by roo3.co.
The Arena (LMArena) leaderboard, from the public lmarena-ai/leaderboard-dataset on Hugging Face, under the CC BY 4.0 licence. We are not affiliated with the Arena.
LiveBench, by the LiveBench team, published at livebench.ai under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license. The overall average is recomputed by roo3.co with the same formula as the website (average of the categories), and those numbers stay under CC BY-SA 4.0. We are not affiliated with LiveBench.
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