OpenAI adds a cheaper, faster ChatGPT model for work tasks and computer use

What changes for users

GPT-6.1 Terra is available from today to all Plus, Pro, Enterprise and Edu users in ChatGPT Work and Codex, and developers can call it through the API as gpt-6.1-terra. OpenAI prices it at $1 per million input tokens, $0.05 per million cached input tokens and $5 per million output tokens — well below the company's top-end models.

What it is good at

OpenAI describes Terra as "a fast, efficient model that combines detailed visual reasoning and precise computer use alongside clearer, more natural writing," adding that it "excels at the communication and computer-based tasks that fill the workday." In OpenAI's own comparison, Terra matches the older GPT-6 Astra at roughly one-tenth the price per token, and completes tasks more than three times faster on average than Astra and GPT-6.1 Sol.

Why the price matters

Cheaper tokens make it practical to let a model run longer, multi-step jobs — reading screens, filling in forms, drafting replies — without the bill climbing as fast. For teams that abandoned long automated workflows because of cost, the lower per-token price is the part that changes behaviour.