OpenAI cuts GPT-6.1 Terra input price to $1 per million tokens

OpenAI released GPT-6.1 Terra on October 26, setting the input token price at $1 per million and the output token price at $5 per million. This represents a 50% reduction in per-token costs compared to its predecessor, GPT-5.6 Terra, which was priced at $2 per million input tokens and $12 per million output tokens.

Independent Benchmark Rankings

Artificial Analysis, an independent AI testing firm, scored GPT-6.1 Terra at 48 on its Intelligence Index at maximum effort. This is an increase from the score of 42 recorded for GPT-5.6 Terra. Despite the improvement, two Anthropic models currently rank higher on the same index. Claude Opus 5.5 leads with a score of 58, followed by Claude Sonnet 5.5 with 56 points.

Other top-performing models include Google’s Gemini 4 Argon and OpenAI’s own GPT-6 Astra, both of which scored 53 points on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index. Artificial Analysis also calculated the cost per task for GPT-6.1 Terra at $0.40, down from $1.40 for GPT-5.6 Terra. The firm noted that GPT-6.1 Terra guesses on 38% of questions it cannot answer, a significant decrease from the 88% guess rate observed in GPT-5.6 Terra.

Market Positioning and Financial Context

OpenAI is positioning GPT-6.1 Terra for high-volume applications, such as processing incoming invoices, rather than for the most complex coding tasks. The company stated that for those complex tasks, GPT-6.1 Sol and GPT-6 Astra remain the better choices. OpenAI claims that Terra costs about nine times less per task than Anthropic’s Opus 5.5 on its own Agents’ Last Exam, a comparison that pits a mid-range model against a higher-end competitor.

The release coincided with significant financial developments for OpenAI’s rival, Anthropic. Anthropic publicly filed its S-1 on October 26, announcing plans to list on the Nasdaq under the ticker ANT. The filing reported revenue of $16.29 billion for the first half of 2026. Anthropic’s market debut is expected in mid-November.

OpenAI has taken a different approach to capital markets. CEO Sam Altman has ruled out a public listing for the company this year. Instead, OpenAI is raising private capital. The Financial Times reported that OpenAI lowered its valuation target for its current funding round to $1.25 trillion. Given the price cut, OpenAI would need to sell roughly 3.5 times as many tasks to keep revenue from GPT-6.1 Terra work flat compared to the previous generation, according to calculations based on Artificial Analysis data.