GPT-5.1 High vs GPT-5.6 Luna

    Comparison

    As of August 20, 2026, GPT-5.6 Luna is 88% cheaper per million tokens than GPT-5.1 High. GPT-5.1 High is $1.25 / $10.00 per million input/output tokens versus GPT-5.6 Luna at $0.20 / $1.20. Source: https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/pricing

    Source: OpenAI API pricing (https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/pricing)

    GPT-5.1 High

    OpenAI

    $11.25blended / 1M

    Input

    $1.25

    Output

    $10.00

    400K ctx|Proprietary
    88%
    cheaper
    Better value

    GPT-5.6 Luna

    OpenAI

    $1.40blended / 1M

    Input

    $0.20

    Output

    $1.20

    1.1M ctx|Proprietary
    Save $9.85 per million tokens by choosing GPT-5.6 Luna over GPT-5.1 High.

    GPT-5.1 High vs GPT-5.6 Luna comparison

    Token pricing, specs, and benchmarks side by side

    Metric
    GPT-5.1 High
    GPT-5.6 Luna
    Provider
    Provider
    OpenAI
    OpenAI
    License
    Proprietary
    Proprietary
    Release Date
    2025-11-12
    2026-07-09
    Pricing (per 1M tokens)
    Input Price+525%
    $1.25
    $0.20
    Output Price+733%
    $10.00
    $1.20
    Blended (1M + 1M)
    $11.25
    $1.40
    Model Details
    Context Window
    400K
    1.1M
    Max Output Tokens
    128K
    128K
    Knowledge Cutoff
    N/A
    2026-02-16
    Throughput
    80 tok/s
    48.45216448188169 tok/s
    Benchmarks
    88.1%
    92.3%
    63.6%
    67.2%
    67.2%
    43.3%
    52.5%
    1522.94
    83.3%
    41.7%
    59.5%
    53.4%
    78.4%
    78.6%
    99.6%
    40%
    85.0%
    0.2%
    63.1%
    64.2%
    4.9%
    20.6%
    83.9%
    67.1%
    33.2%
    12.4%
    39.8%
    22.7%
    55.8%
    72.9%
    22.4%
    51.2%
    72.0%
    30.4%
    42.4%
    84.4%
    86.0%
    41.3%
    1.7%
    45.6%
    41.9%
    44.2%
    46.8%
    60.5%
    76.2%
    Benchmark Wins
    GPT-5.1 High 3|3 GPT-5.6 Luna

    Verdict

    GPT-5.1 High vs GPT-5.6 Luna: the bottom line

    Both models are closely matched on benchmarks. GPT-5.6 Luna has the pricing advantage, making it the better value unless GPT-5.1 High's specific capabilities are critical to your workflow.

    GPT-5.1 High vs GPT-5.6 Luna FAQ

    Which is cheaper, GPT-5.1 High or GPT-5.6 Luna?

    As of August 20, 2026, GPT-5.6 Luna is 88% cheaper on blended LLM API pricing. GPT-5.6 Luna costs $0.20 per million input tokens and $1.20 per million output tokens ($1.40 blended 1M-in + 1M-out). GPT-5.1 High costs $1.25 / $10.00 per million tokens ($11.25 blended). Sources: https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/pricing and https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/pricing. The cheapest LLM for your app still depends on how many output tokens you generate.

    How much does GPT-5.1 High vs GPT-5.6 Luna cost per million tokens?

    GPT-5.1 High OpenAI API pricing is $1.25 input and $10.00 output per million tokens via OpenAI. GPT-5.6 Luna OpenAI API pricing is $0.20 input and $1.20 output per million tokens via OpenAI. Use those four numbers, not ChatGPT Plus or Claude Pro subscription prices, when you are comparing APIs.

    Which is better for coding, GPT-5.1 High or GPT-5.6 Luna?

    GPT-5.6 Luna has a published SWE-bench Verified score of 93%. GPT-5.1 High does not have that eval on this page yet.

    What is the context window for GPT-5.1 High vs GPT-5.6 Luna?

    GPT-5.1 High supports a 400K token context window, while GPT-5.6 Luna supports 1M tokens. GPT-5.6 Luna offers a larger context window. Filling a larger window bills more input tokens, so the cheaper-per-million model can still cost more on long documents.

    Which model performs better on benchmarks, GPT-5.1 High or GPT-5.6 Luna?

    GPT-5.1 High and GPT-5.6 Luna are tied across 6 shared benchmarks. Check the table for category-level strengths. Check the comparison table for GPQA Diamond, SWE-bench, MMLU, HLE, and the other evals we track. Token price and benchmark score together are the usual LLM comparison, not either number alone.

    Is GPT-5.1 High or GPT-5.6 Luna better for production use?

    Both GPT-5.1 High and GPT-5.6 Luna are production API models. For cost-sensitive production traffic, GPT-5.6 Luna has better economics on the blended 1M-in + 1M-out scale. For maximum capability, weight the benchmark table for your domain. Many production stacks route cheap models for drafts and a frontier model for the hard turn, which is usually cheaper than sending everything to the expensive API.

    Can I switch between GPT-5.1 High and GPT-5.6 Luna in my app?

    Yes. Call GPT-5.1 High through OpenAI and GPT-5.6 Luna through OpenAI with separate API keys, or through a gateway that already wraps both. Keep prompts in tokens, not characters, when you estimate the invoice. AnotherWrapper templates can swap providers without rewriting auth and billing.

    How accurate is this GPT-5.1 High vs GPT-5.6 Luna pricing data?

    List rates are the latest published OpenAI API pricing and OpenAI API pricing, quoted per million tokens. Official rate sheets: https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/pricing and https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/pricing. Prompt caching, batch APIs, and committed-use discounts can change the invoice. Benchmark scores are from official publications and independent evals, updated as new numbers land.

    What is the output token limit for GPT-5.1 High and GPT-5.6 Luna?

    GPT-5.1 High supports up to 128K output tokens per request, while GPT-5.6 Luna supports up to 128K output tokens. Output tokens are usually the expensive half of API pricing, so a higher max output cap is a capability, not a discount.

    Which model has better throughput, GPT-5.1 High or GPT-5.6 Luna?

    GPT-5.1 High runs at approximately 80 tokens/second while GPT-5.6 Luna runs at 48.45216448188169 tokens/second. GPT-5.1 High is faster in raw throughput. Throughput (tokens per second) and time-to-first-token are why two models with the same per-million-token price can still feel different in chat and agents.

    How do I switch the models in this GPT-5.1 High vs GPT-5.6 Luna comparison?

    Use the model pickers at the top of this LLM comparison. Search any model in the index and the URL updates. Open GPT-5.1 High or GPT-5.6 Luna from the sidebar for the single-model API pricing page, or go back to the LLM pricing table to sort by cheapest blended cost.

    GPT-5.1 High vs GPT-5.6 Luna pricing

    This comparison covers API pricing, context window, throughput, and benchmark scores. GPT-5.1 High costs $1.25/M input and $10.00/M output. GPT-5.6 Luna costs $0.20/M input and $1.20/M output.

    Rank both on the LLM leaderboard, SWE-bench, and Humanity's Last Exam.

    The index

    All Large Language Models

    280 models across 33 providers. Search or jump to a lab — every model page stays linked here.

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