OpenAI's GPT-6.1 Sol nearly matches its flagship on demanding work at about a fifth of the cost. The shift worth watching is which assistants your clients now rely on.
On 29 September 2026, OpenAI used its DevDay event to release GPT-6.1 Sol, an upgrade to the GPT-6 Sol model it shipped a week earlier. The claim behind it is straightforward: the new model gets close to GPT-6 Astra, OpenAI's flagship, on agentic coding, computer use and professional work, while costing roughly one-fifth of Astra's standard prices. OpenAI announced it at its DevDay 2026 recap, with the pricing and comparison figures reported by unite.ai alongside the wider trade press.
A near-flagship model priced like a workhorse
The pricing is the point. In the API, GPT-6.1 Sol costs $2 per million input tokens and $10 per million output tokens, against $10 and $50 for the Astra flagship. Cached input drops to $0.10 per million tokens, roughly 95% below the standard input rate, which rewards repeated work over the same material. On OpenAI's own software-engineering tests the model matches Astra at around a fifth of the cost, and on computer-use tasks it lands within about 2.1 points of Astra at roughly a seventh of the cost per task, according to figures reported by The Next Web. Those comparisons are OpenAI's own, so read them as the maker's claims rather than independent testing.
Access is unusually immediate for a release of this size. Developers can call the model now through the API under the id gpt-6.1-sol. ChatGPT Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise and Edu users also have it from the announcement, but only inside ChatGPT Work and Codex, not yet in the general ChatGPT chat most people use day to day. OpenAI flagged a faster Ultrafast version as coming soon.
A cheaper flagship matters, but it is not a dial you turn
For a professional-services firm, this is not a ranking change and not a setting on your website. There is nothing here to switch on. What a cheaper near-flagship does is widen affordable access to strong AI help for coding, computer use and professional work, so the assistants your clients and staff already use quietly get more capable for the same money. When good answers get cheaper to produce, they tend to show up in more products and on more questions, including the questions buyers ask when they are weighing up firms like yours.
That is why being named well in those answers still deserves attention, even though it is an emerging area rather than a settled part of search. Being recognised by ChatGPT and the assistants like it is not something you control directly. The steady response is the one that has held all year: keep the public facts about your firm clear, accurate and easy to quote, so an assistant fielding a buyer's question has something correct to say about you. That is the ground on which earning AI recommendations and your firm's AI visibility are built.
Frequently asked questions
Does OpenAI's GPT-6.1 Sol release at DevDay 2026 require any change to my firm's website?
OpenAI's GPT-6.1 Sol is a model and pricing update for developers and ChatGPT users, not a change to search rankings or a setting on your website. There is nothing to switch on. The sensible response is to keep the public facts about your firm accurate and easy to quote.
What is new in OpenAI's GPT-6.1 Sol, released on 29 September 2026?
GPT-6.1 Sol is an upgrade to the GPT-6 Sol model OpenAI released a week earlier. OpenAI says it comes close to its GPT-6 Astra flagship on agentic coding, computer use and professional work, while costing roughly one-fifth of Astra's standard token prices. A faster Ultrafast version was flagged as coming soon.
How much does OpenAI's GPT-6.1 Sol cost compared with the Astra flagship?
GPT-6.1 Sol is priced in the API at $2 per million input tokens and $10 per million output tokens, against $10 and $50 for the Astra flagship. Cached input falls to $0.10 per million tokens, roughly 95% below the standard input rate. OpenAI says the model matches Astra on its software-engineering tests at around a fifth of the cost.
Can my firm's team use GPT-6.1 Sol today?
GPT-6.1 Sol is available now to developers through the API under the id gpt-6.1-sol. ChatGPT Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise and Edu users also have it from the announcement, but only inside ChatGPT Work and Codex, not yet in the general ChatGPT chat most people use day to day.
Will OpenAI's GPT-6.1 Sol release change whether buyers find my firm in AI answers?
GPT-6.1 Sol will not change whether buyers find your firm directly, and not through rankings. A cheaper near-flagship makes capable AI assistance more affordable, so the assistants buyers use tend to answer more questions in more places. Being named in those answers is an emerging area rather than a settled ranking factor, so the useful step is to keep clear, accurate, quotable pages about your firm.
