OpenAI Ships GPT-6.1 Terra: Cheaper Computer Use, Still Below Sol and Opus 5.5 on Intelligence Index

On the same day Anthropic publicly filed its IPO prospectus, OpenAI released GPT-6.1 Terra—the first Terra update in a bit over three months, and about 27 days after GPT-6.1 Sol on September 29. Marketing stresses “fast, strong computer use at a lower price.” API rates are $1 / $0.05 / $5 per million input / cached-input / output tokens—about 50% and ~58% below the prior Terra generation on input and output, and roughly half of Sol. Artificial Analysis scores 48 on the Intelligence Index at max reasoning (prior 42; Sol 52; Claude Opus 5.5 58). OpenAI’s Terminal-Bench 4.0 completion rises from 21.5% to 50.3%; Agents’ Last Exam hits 60.0% versus Opus 5.5’s 63.2%. Much of the reaction frames it as a mid-tier value drop, not a flagship answer to Opus.

Official benches: computer-use gains, ~1/9 Opus task cost

OpenAI says Terra improves coding, vision and computer use. At ALE’s top reasoning tier it claims near-Opus scores at about one-ninth the task cost. Artificial Analysis puts average cost per task at ~$0.40, down from ~$1.40 (over 70%). On an internal hard factuality set, error rates fall from 53.6% to 16.7% at low reasoning and to 4.3% at max. Terra is the first new model in a 28-day update cadence; it is live via API, and available in ChatGPT Work and Codex for Plus / Pro / Enterprise / Edu—not yet in plain Chat. Versus Sol, subscriptions are said to offer about 2× usage.

Positioning fight: faster/cheaper vs “is that all?”

Researcher Tibo called it OpenAI’s first clear step-up in writing, personality and nuanced user understanding, plus computer use; the launch post claims clearer prose but does not publish dedicated head-to-heads on those three. Demos include image-to-3D; the post also cites blueprint-to-3D, frame-by-frame animation QC with timecodes, form filling and product-to-catalog matching. Sam Altman on X said he especially looks forward to a “new era of computer use.” Critics asked why choose it over Opus 5.5 and said they want something stronger than Astra; some early users reported weaker computer use than Sol and slower-than-advertised speed. An r/codex thread called the launch “free advertising for Claude.” Others note Terra’s API price is ~10× Luna—Luna for cheapest, Sol for stronger, Terra stuck in between. OpenAI’s Ted Sanders on Hacker News: Terra may beat Sol/Astra on technical communication, is close on vision/computer use and faster, but slightly behind on most other tasks—“not a blockbuster release.” For the domestic mid-tier Flash race, see MiniMax M3.1 Flash; recent OpenAI safety notes: sandbox escape and Mythos.

FAQ

Q: What is GPT-6.1 Terra’s API pricing? A: $1 input, $0.05 cached input, $5 output per million tokens—about half of Sol, with ~50% / ~58% cuts vs the prior Terra generation on input / output.

Q: How does it compare to Opus 5.5 and Sol? A: Official ALE is 60.0% vs Opus 5.5’s 63.2% at roughly one-ninth the claimed top-tier task cost; Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index is 48 vs Sol 52 and Opus 5.5 58.

Q: Where can you use it? A: API is open; Plus, Pro, Enterprise and Edu can use it in ChatGPT Work and Codex, not yet in standard Chat conversations.