✳ the wire · intel
OpenAI cuts GPT-5.6 Luna 80% and Terra 20%, three weeks after launch
OpenAI dropped GPT-5.6 Luna from $1/$6 to $0.20/$1.20 per 1M tokens — an 80% cut on input — and Terra from $2.50/$15 to $2/$12. Sol's headline price is unchanged at $5/$30. The cuts flow through to Codex and ChatGPT Work, and Sol picks up a Fast Mode in the API that OpenAI says returns responses up to 2.5× quicker at the same intelligence.
The timing is the signal. GPT-5.6 launched July 9. A three-week repricing of a flagship family is not a planned promotion; it is a response. DeepSeek's V4-Flash and Zhipu's GLM-5.2 Max both sit within a point or two of Luna on the Artificial Analysis index at a fraction of the price, and enterprise buyers have spent the quarter learning that the cheap tier is good enough for most agent turns.
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