OpenAI cuts GPT-5.6 prices
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OpenAI said Thursday it is cutting prices for two GPT-5.6 models after improving the efficiency of the systems that serve them.
Why it matters: Price cuts often come months after a model launches. OpenAI is reducing prices just three weeks after introducing GPT-5.6.
The big picture: OpenAI claims it can now deliver substantially more intelligence per dollar through efficiency improvements.
- Cheaper Chinese open-weight models have also increased pressure on OpenAI and Anthropic to prove that their models justify their higher costs.
Driving the news: OpenAI will lower the price of GPT-5.6 Luna — the fastest and lowest cost version of the new model — by roughly 80%. Luna will now cost 20 cents per million input tokens and $1.20 per million output tokens.
- OpenAI says it will reduce the price of GPT-5.6 Terra — the mid-range version — by 20%. Use of that version will now cost $2 per million input tokens and $12 per million output tokens.
- The most powerful version — GPT-5.6 Sol — won't see a price cut.
State of play: OpenAI is in a heated battle with Anthropic and others for who can provide the best models. But lately customers seem much more interested in price.
- OpenAI and Anthropic have both adjusted pricing, rate limits and other usage policies as newer reasoning models consume far more tokens during longer-running agentic tasks.
