OpenAI · GPT-5.6 Terra
gpt-5.6-terraAvailable from the provider.
- Released
- Deprecatednot announced
- Retirednot announced
Summary
GPT-5.6 Terra is the balanced model in OpenAI's GPT-5.6 line, at $2 per million input tokens and $12 per million output tokens with a 1.05M-token context window and 128K max output. It is the named replacement for the retiring GPT-5 mini.
Terra sits between Sol and Luna. It carries the same 1.05M-token context window, the same 128K max output and the same 16 February 2026 knowledge cutoff as the other two GPT-5.6 models, so the choice between them is a cost-against-capability decision rather than a limits decision.
It accepts text and image input and returns text, with reasoning effort from none to max and support for functions, web search, file search, computer use and MCP. Prompts above 272K input tokens are charged at a premium rate.
No deprecation has been announced. OpenAI's deprecation page names Terra as the replacement for gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07 and for several older mini and turbo models.
Tags
Editorial tags reflect our assessment; documented tags are backed by the sources below.
Tier
Mid-tierAccess
Hosted APISpecifications
- Input price
- $2.00 / M tok
- Output price
- $12.00 / M tok
- Price class
- Premium
- Context window
- 1.1M tokens
- Max output
- 128,000 tokens
- Released
- 9 July 2026
- Input modalities
- text, image
- Output modalities
- text
- Knowledge cutoff
- February 2026
- Tool use
- Yes
- Structured output
- Yes
- License
- unknown
- Maker
- OpenAI
Use it for
- Run production workloads that need flagship-class limits without the flagship price.
- Migrate off GPT-5 mini before its shutdown on 11 December 2026.
- Process long documents in one call, using the 1.05M-token window at a mid-tier rate.
Avoid it when
- The task is simple and high volume; GPT-5.6 Luna does the same shape of work at $0.2 / $1.2.
- You need the strongest available reasoning; GPT-5.6 Sol and GPT-6 Astra are the tiers above.
- Your prompts routinely exceed 272K input tokens, where premium pricing applies.
- Your input includes audio or video; GPT-5.6 Terra accepts text and images only.
Alternatives
What to use instead. Curated suggestions are written by our editors for this model; derived ones are ranked automatically from tags, tier and price class.
- GPT-5.6 Lunacurated
OpenAI
gpt-5.6-lunaA tenth of the input price at $0.2 / $1.2 with identical limits and knowledge cutoff, for simpler tasks.
In $0.20 / M tokOut $1.20 / M tok
ActiveTextVisionChat+7 - GPT-5.6 Solcurated
OpenAI
gpt-5.6-solTwice the input price at $4 / $20 with the same limits, when Terra falls short on complex professional work.
In $4.00 / M tokOut $20.00 / M tok
ActiveTextVisionChat
Change history
Status and price changes for this model, newest first. See all changes →
- Price change
- Input
- $2.50 to $2.00 -20% / M tok
- Output
- $15.00 to $12.00 -20% / M tok
Price history
| Date | Input | Output | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| (current) | $2.00 | $12.00 | ▼ decreased |
| $2.50 | $15.00 | first record |
Sources & verification
Facts
Status, dates, pricing and specifications were verified against these pages.
Last verified: (2026-09-10 12:00) · ✓ verified
Editorial profile
The summary, the advice and the curated alternatives are our assessment, not a provider claim.
Editorial profile reviewed on by llm-researcher.