THE TICKER · HEAD-TO-HEAD · CHECKED DAILY · LAST CHANGE 2026-08-14
GPT-5.6 TERRA VS GPT-5 MINI
OpenAI vs OpenAI, in USD per million tokens, cross-checked daily against the public pricing dataset. Same jobs, both meters running.
GPT-5.6 Terra costs 6.1x more than GPT-5 Mini for the same job — a 1,000-token prompt with a 3,000-token reply runs $0.04 vs $0.0063. At 1,000 runs a day, that gap is $952.50 a month for identical traffic.
SIDE BY SIDE
| GPT-5.6 Terra → | GPT-5 Mini → | |
|---|---|---|
| Vendor | OpenAI | OpenAI |
| Input / MTok | $2.00 | $0.250 |
| Output / MTok | $12.00 | $2.00 |
| Output multiple | 6.0x | 8.0x |
| 1K prompt + 3K reply | $0.04 | $0.0063 |
SAME JOB, BOTH BILLS
| Scenario | GPT-5.6 Terra | GPT-5 Mini | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| A typical prompt | $0.01 | $0.0019 | 6.1x |
| A 20-turn conversation | $0.06 | $0.0090 | 6.2x |
| Summarizing a 10-page document | $0.05 | $0.0084 | 6.5x |
| One agent run | $0.15 | $0.02 | 6.0x |
| A code review request | $0.05 | $0.0079 | 6.1x |
Output sizes use the same editorial ratios as the Burn Calculator. Estimates, not invoices — and price is not a benchmark: the cheaper model is only a bargain if it does the job.
SETTLE IT WITH YOUR OWN PROMPT
Paste a real prompt into the Burn Calculator and see what it costs on GPT-5.6 Terra, GPT-5 Mini and the other 18 models on the board — plus how much of it is waste either way.