GPT-5.6 Luna Max vs GPT-5.6 Terra Max: which is cheaper?

GPT-5.6 Terra Max leads the intelligence index 32.3 to 23.8. GPT-5.6 Luna Max costs 90% less on blended price. Benchmarks, sample bills, speed and a verdict.

Metric	GPT-5.6 Luna (Max)	GPT-5.6 Terra (Max)
Intelligence Index	23.8	32.3
Input price (per 1M tokens)	$0.20	$2.00
Output price (per 1M tokens)	$1.20	$12.00
Output speed (tokens/s)	125	116
Time to first token	108s	3.4 min
Release date	2026-07-09	2026-07-09

Metric

GPT-5.6 Luna (Max)

GPT-5.6 Terra (Max)

Intelligence Index

23.8

32.3

Input price (per 1M tokens)

$0.20

$2.00

Output price (per 1M tokens)

$1.20

$12.00

Output speed (tokens/s)

125

116

Time to first token

108s

3.4 min

Release date

2026-07-09

Two OpenAI models meet here: GPT-5.6 Luna (Max) and GPT-5.6 Terra (Max). The sharpest difference is price: GPT-5.6 Luna Max costs $1.20 per million output tokens, against $12.00 for GPT-5.6 Terra Max. What follows is built entirely from tracked data, so where the catalogue is silent, this page says so instead of guessing.

Cost: GPT-5.6 Luna Max is cheaper

The list prices are $0.20 in and $1.20 out for GPT-5.6 Luna Max, and $2.00 in and $12.00 out for GPT-5.6 Terra Max, per million tokens. For output tokens, GPT-5.6 Terra Max is 10 times the price of GPT-5.6 Luna Max.

A reference job of 1 million input tokens and 200,000 output tokens costs $0.44 with GPT-5.6 Luna Max and $4.40 with GPT-5.6 Terra Max, so GPT-5.6 Luna Max saves $3.96. Scale it up to extracting fields from 20,000 pages of 1,500 tokens into 150-token records and the bill is $9.60 for GPT-5.6 Luna Max against $96.00 for GPT-5.6 Terra Max. On a 3:1 blend of input to output tokens, that works out to $0.45 versus $4.50 per million.

Which is newer

GPT-5.6 Luna Max and GPT-5.6 Terra Max share a release date: July 9, 2026. OpenAI released them together, so neither is an older generation.

Throughput and time to first token

Measured output speed is 125 tokens per second for GPT-5.6 Luna Max and 116 tokens per second for GPT-5.6 Terra Max. Throughput is close to level. The wait for the first token averages 108 seconds on GPT-5.6 Luna Max against 3.4 minutes on GPT-5.6 Terra Max. GPT-5.6 Terra Max waits 1.9 times as long before its first token. A first-token wait of that length suits background work better than live conversation.

For a 400-token response, first token plus generation comes to roughly 111 seconds on GPT-5.6 Luna Max and 3.5 minutes on GPT-5.6 Terra Max.

Benchmark scores

The catalogue puts GPT-5.6 Luna Max at 23.8 and GPT-5.6 Terra Max at 32.3 on its intelligence index. That is a wide gap for an aggregate score.

Across the 109 active models with an intelligence score in the catalogue, GPT-5.6 Luna Max ranks 70th and GPT-5.6 Terra Max ranks 46th.

Specialist coding and math indexes are missing for both, so treat the overall score as the only capability signal here.

Cost per point of intelligence

Dividing the blended price by the intelligence index gives a rough cost per point: $0.019 for GPT-5.6 Luna Max and $0.14 for GPT-5.6 Terra Max, per million tokens. GPT-5.6 Luna Max delivers each index point for 86% less; whether GPT-5.6 Terra Max's extra 8.5 points are worth the premium depends on how often your tasks need them.

Quick answers

Is GPT-5.6 Terra Max better than GPT-5.6 Luna Max?

Not across the board: GPT-5.6 Terra Max scores higher on the intelligence index, 32.3 to 23.8; GPT-5.6 Luna Max is 90% cheaper on blended price; and GPT-5.6 Luna Max reaches its first token sooner.

Was this comparison tested by hand?

The figures are the recorded benchmark, price and speed data in Franklin AI's model catalogue. This page is written from that data automatically; neither model was tested by hand for it.

Are GPT-5.6 Luna Max and GPT-5.6 Terra Max from the same company?

Both are OpenAI models, listed as separate models in the catalogue. GPT-5.6 Luna Max was released on July 9, 2026 and GPT-5.6 Terra Max on July 9, 2026.

Which is cheaper, GPT-5.6 Luna Max or GPT-5.6 Terra Max?

GPT-5.6 Luna Max is cheaper on a blended basis. GPT-5.6 Luna Max lists $0.20 per million input tokens and $1.20 per million output tokens; GPT-5.6 Terra Max lists $2.00 and $12.00. For 1 million input and 200,000 output tokens that is $0.44 against $4.40.

Which model has lower latency?

Their output speeds are close: 125 tokens per second for GPT-5.6 Luna Max and 116 tokens per second for GPT-5.6 Terra Max. GPT-5.6 Luna Max reaches its first token sooner (108 seconds against 3.4 minutes).

Final whistle

GPT-5.6 Luna Max is the stronger all-round pick on this data, while GPT-5.6 Terra Max makes sense in narrower cases. Pick GPT-5.6 Terra Max if you need the higher overall score (32.3 against 23.8). Pick GPT-5.6 Luna Max if cost matters ($1.20 against $12.00 per million output tokens) and users are waiting on the first word.

Where the numbers come from

The scores, speed and prices in this comparison come from independent third-party model evaluations that Franklin AI syncs each day, and the article was written from a snapshot of them. For the latest results, open the GPT-5.6 Luna (Max) and GPT-5.6 Terra (Max) pages. The AI Benchmark methodology explains how that data is collected and shown.