---
title: "OpenAI: GPT-5.6 Luna — price, capability and what beats it · Undominated.ai"
canonical: https://undominated.ai/models/openai__gpt-5.6-luna/
description: "OpenAI: GPT-5.6 Luna: $0.200/M in, $1.20/M out. Independent capability scores, context-tier pricing, and alternatives compared under recorded workload and capability requirements."
---

# OpenAI: GPT-5.6 Luna — price, capability and what beats it · Undominated.ai

> OpenAI: GPT-5.6 Luna: $0.200/M in, $1.20/M out. Independent capability scores, context-tier pricing, and alternatives compared under recorded workload and capability requirements.

[Check base rates for this workload](/check/openai__gpt-5.6-luna/) [Cheaper alternatives](/alternatives/openai__gpt-5.6-luna/) [Family](/families/gpt-5-6/) [Compare models](https://undominated.ai/compare/?models=openai%2Fgpt-5.6-luna) Comparison context

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Requirements and prompt length apply in Compare. This page keeps its stated price basis and workload controls.

MODEL PROOF

# GPT-5.6 Luna

OpenAI · 09 Jul 2026 · proprietary

 Balanced Summarise Chat Code gen Agentic

TRADE-OFF

## A stored alternative has an equal-or-higher score and an equal-or-lower price, with capability losses.

 **$0.450** / 1M tokens Balanced · 3 tokens in per 1 out

Base context tier shown; inspect the complete context ladder below.

[GLM 5.3 Flash](/models/z-ai__glm-5.3-flash/) · Δ score 38.6 points · 47% lower measured price

 - 1.1M → 1M context
- no file input

Evidence as of 06 Oct 2026

 [openrouter/models](https://openrouter.ai/api/v1/models) [Vendor cross-check](https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/pricing) [LMArena · cc-by-4.0](https://huggingface.co/datasets/lmarena-ai/leaderboard-dataset) Independent LMArena score 1,431 ± 4.38 · 38,275 votes
 Context window 1.05M
 Maximum output 128K
 Input modalities file, image, text
 Output modalities text
 Published input price $0.200 / 1M tokens
 Published output price $1.20 / 1M tokens
 Pricing kind fixed
 Context tiers Tiered by context

Inspect [complete billing conditions](#billing-details) and endpoint terms below.

Price from OpenAI: the cheapest offer that is serving, at standard delivery and at the maker’s precision or better, at its standard rate.

Cheaper right now: $0.225/M at OpenAI — delivery tier (flex) It does not pass the like-for-like test, so it never sets a rank.

 Every price dimension · USD per million tokens

| Input | $0.200 /M |
| --- | --- |
| Output | $1.20 /M |
| Cached input | $0.020 /M |
| Cache write | $0.250 /M |
| Cache write 1h | Unknown /M |
| Reasoning | Unknown /M |
| Web search | $0.01 /call |
| Batch discount | 50% |

**The headline rate does not apply to a long-context workload.**

 Complete context ladder · 1 tier

| More than 272,000 tokens | $0.400 /M in (2×) $1.80 /M out $0.040 /M cached input $0.500 /M cache write |
| --- | --- |

### Who sells it

The same weights, different shops. Cheapest is not like-for-like when serving precision differs.

 7 provider offers · rates, limits and conditions

Rates are USD per million tokens. Endpoint terms can differ even when the quoted price and precision match. A listed parameter is a provider declaration, not a task-success test.

| Seller | Input | Output | Precision | Uptime (1d) |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Seller OpenAI openai/flex Endpoint terms Cached input /M $0.010 Context limit 1,050,000 tokens Output limit 128,000 tokens Tools Listed by endpoint Reasoning Listed by endpoint Promotional discount None reported Uptime · last 30 minutes 100.00% | Input $0.100 | Output $0.600 | Precision undeclared | Uptime (1d) 99.96% |
| Seller Azure azure Endpoint terms Cached input /M $0.020 Context limit 1,050,000 tokens Output limit 128,000 tokens Tools Listed by endpoint Reasoning Listed by endpoint Promotional discount None reported Uptime · last 30 minutes 99.83% | Input $0.200 | Output $1.20 | Precision undeclared | Uptime (1d) 99.79% |
| Seller OpenAI openai Endpoint terms Cached input /M $0.020 Context limit 1,050,000 tokens Output limit 128,000 tokens Tools Listed by endpoint Reasoning Listed by endpoint Promotional discount None reported Uptime · last 30 minutes 99.99% | Input $0.200 | Output $1.20 | Precision undeclared | Uptime (1d) 99.99% |
| Seller Azure azure/us Endpoint terms Cached input /M $0.022 Context limit 1,050,000 tokens Output limit 128,000 tokens Tools Listed by endpoint Reasoning Listed by endpoint Promotional discount None reported Uptime · last 30 minutes Unknown | Input $0.220 | Output $1.32 | Precision undeclared | Uptime (1d) 99.93% |
| Seller Amazon Bedrock amazon-bedrock/us-east-1 Endpoint terms Cached input /M $0.022 Context limit 1,050,000 tokens Output limit 128,000 tokens Tools Listed by endpoint Reasoning Listed by endpoint Promotional discount None reported Uptime · last 30 minutes 99.95% | Input $0.220 | Output $1.32 | Precision undeclared | Uptime (1d) 99.98% |
| Seller Azure azure/eu Endpoint terms Cached input /M $0.022 Context limit 1,050,000 tokens Output limit 128,000 tokens Tools Listed by endpoint Reasoning Listed by endpoint Promotional discount None reported Uptime · last 30 minutes 100.00% | Input $0.220 | Output $1.32 | Precision undeclared | Uptime (1d) 99.99% |
| Seller OpenAI openai/fast Endpoint terms Cached input /M $0.040 Context limit 1,050,000 tokens Output limit 128,000 tokens Tools Listed by endpoint Reasoning Listed by endpoint Promotional discount None reported Uptime · last 30 minutes 100.00% | Input $0.400 | Output $2.40 | Precision undeclared | Uptime (1d) 100.00% |

### Independent scores

| LMArena Elo | 1431 xhigh |
| --- | --- |

LMArena Elo under CC BY 4.0. Absence of another board is not a score of zero.

### Capability

| Context window | 1M |
| --- | --- |
| Max output | 128K |
| Input modes | file, image, text |
| Tool use | yes |
| Reasoning | optional |
| Knowledge cutoff | 2026-02-16 |
| Open weights | no |

### Provenance

| Price source | [openrouter.ai](https://openrouter.ai/api/v1/models) |
| --- | --- |
| Fetched | 2026-10-06 |
| Quality data | verified |
| Cross-checked | [vendor page](https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/pricing) |

## Our take

 editorial — not a measurement

Luna is a candidate for recurring extraction, retrieval and summarisation work. Evaluate it on your actual inputs and compare the selected-tier price with alternatives. The API model and a ChatGPT subscription are different products: a chat-plan placement or allowance does not establish this model’s capability or API entitlement.

### Strengths

 - Tools, structured outputs and cached-input pricing are listed
- The accepted table includes batch and context-tier information

### Weaknesses

 - Long prompts can select a different rate
- Low token prices do not establish acceptable task quality

### Reach for it when

 - High-volume extraction and summarisation evaluations
- Retrieval workflows with repeated context

### Avoid it if

 - It fails the quality threshold in your own evaluations
- You require downloadable weights

Sources: [developers.openai.com](https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/pricing) · [chatgpt.com](https://chatgpt.com/pricing/)

GPT-5.6 Luna is a fast, cost-efficient model in OpenAI's GPT-5.6 series. It is suited for high-volume, latency-sensitive tasks such as chat, classification, and lightweight agentic workflows, providing capable reasoning for...

## Questions this page answers

 What does GPT-5.6 Luna cost?

$0.200/M in, $1.20/M out in this catalogue, as of the fetch date on this page. That is the API row, not a subscription.

 Does GPT-5.6 Luna have an independent quality score?

GPT-5.6 Luna has an LMArena score in this catalogue.

 What beats GPT-5.6 Luna?

GLM 5.3 Flash has an equal-or-higher measured score and an equal-or-lower price, with capability trade-offs.

 Does this page use Artificial Analysis scores for GPT-5.6 Luna?

No. Artificial Analysis figures are not published here. Quality on this page is LMArena Elo where a score exists; otherwise the row is unrated.

MODEL MONUMENT

## Save or share this proof

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OpenAI: GPT-5.6 Luna. Balanced workload. Alternative has a trade-off. Evidence as of 06 Oct 2026.

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## Related

 - Higher score and cheaper, with a named trade [GLM 5.3 Flash](/models/z-ai__glm-5.3-flash/)
- Side by side [GPT-5.6 Terra](/compare/openai__gpt-5.6-luna--vs--openai__gpt-5.6-terra/)
- Nearby on the capability axis [DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423](/models/deepseek__deepseek-v4-flash/)
- Same vendor [GPT-5.1](/models/openai__gpt-5.1/)
- OpenAI models [OpenAI](/providers/openai/)
- Where this model appears [disagreement](/disagreement/)
- Nearby on the capability axis [GLM 4.5](/models/z-ai__glm-4.5/)
- Same vendor [GPT-6 Astra](/models/openai__gpt-6-astra/)
- Where this model appears [cliffs](/cliffs/)
- Nearby on the capability axis [MiniMax M3](/models/minimax__minimax-m3/)
- Same vendor [GPT-6.1 Sol](/models/openai__gpt-6.1-sol/)
- Where this model appears [spreads](/spreads/)

## Badge

The verdict as one SVG, for a README or a docs page. It states this model's dominance status at the balanced workload on the LMArena lens, with the date it was computed, and it is rebuilt with the catalogue — so it changes when the verdict changes, including to one you would rather it did not.

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## Continue your investigation

 - [Explore model families](/families/)
- [Compare a shortlist](/compare/)
- [Check a model](/check/)
- [Understand the evidence](/methodology/)
