GPT-5.6 Terra Max vs GPT-6 Luna Max compared

GPT-5.6 Terra Max leads the intelligence index 32.3 to 27.9. GPT-6 Luna Max costs 96% less on blended price. Compare price, speed, latency and a clear verdict.

Metric	GPT-5.6 Terra (Max)	GPT-6 Luna (Max)
Intelligence Index	32.3	27.9
Input price (per 1M tokens)	$2.00	$0.10
Output price (per 1M tokens)	$12.00	$0.50
Output speed (tokens/s)	116	121
Time to first token	3.4 min	2.0 min
Release date	2026-07-09	2026-09-22

Metric

GPT-5.6 Terra (Max)

GPT-6 Luna (Max)

Intelligence Index

32.3

27.9

Input price (per 1M tokens)

$2.00

$0.10

Output price (per 1M tokens)

$12.00

$0.50

Output speed (tokens/s)

116

121

Time to first token

3.4 min

2.0 min

Release date

2026-07-09

2026-09-22

Two OpenAI models meet here: GPT-5.6 Terra (Max) and GPT-6 Luna (Max). Price separates them more than anything else; on a blended basis GPT-5.6 Terra Max costs 23 times as much as GPT-6 Luna Max. This page is written automatically from catalogue numbers only: benchmark scores, list prices and measured speed.

Token pricing and a sample bill

The list prices are $2.00 in and $12.00 out for GPT-5.6 Terra Max, and $0.10 in and $0.50 out for GPT-6 Luna Max, per million tokens. For output tokens, GPT-5.6 Terra Max is 24 times the price of GPT-6 Luna Max.

Take 1 million input tokens and 200,000 output tokens: that comes to $4.40 on GPT-5.6 Terra Max and $0.20 on GPT-6 Luna Max. A bigger example, a support assistant answering 10,000 conversations of 2,000 input and 500 output tokens each, costs $100 on GPT-5.6 Terra Max and $4.50 on GPT-6 Luna Max: a gap of $95.50. On a 3:1 blend of input to output tokens, that works out to $4.50 versus $0.20 per million.

Which is newer

GPT-6 Luna Max arrived on September 22, 2026, about 2 months after GPT-5.6 Terra Max (July 9, 2026).

Reasoning and overall scores

On the intelligence index, GPT-5.6 Terra Max scores 32.3 against 27.9 for GPT-6 Luna Max. It is a meaningful gap rather than a rounding difference.

For context, that places GPT-5.6 Terra Max 46th and GPT-6 Luna Max 62nd out of 109 scored models still on offer.

For coding or maths work specifically, the catalogue has no dedicated index on either side yet.

Cost per point of intelligence

Per point of intelligence index, GPT-5.6 Terra Max costs $0.14 of blended price per million tokens and GPT-6 Luna Max $0.0072. GPT-5.6 Terra Max costs 19 times as much per point, which is the price of its lead.

Throughput and time to first token

Once a response is under way, GPT-5.6 Terra Max produces roughly 116 tokens per second against 121 tokens per second for GPT-6 Luna Max. There is little to choose between them on raw output speed. The wait for the first token averages 3.4 minutes on GPT-5.6 Terra Max against 2.0 minutes on GPT-6 Luna Max. In an interactive app, GPT-6 Luna Max will feel noticeably more responsive. Waits that long are felt on every chat-style request, though they matter less for batch jobs.

For a 1,500-token response, first token plus generation comes to roughly 3.6 minutes on GPT-5.6 Terra Max and 2.2 minutes on GPT-6 Luna Max.

Quick answers

Is GPT-6 Luna Max better than GPT-5.6 Terra Max?

Not across the board: GPT-5.6 Terra Max scores higher on the intelligence index, 32.3 to 27.9; GPT-6 Luna Max is 96% cheaper on blended price; and GPT-6 Luna Max reaches its first token sooner.

Are GPT-5.6 Terra Max and GPT-6 Luna Max from the same company?

Both are OpenAI models, listed as separate models in the catalogue. GPT-5.6 Terra Max was released on July 9, 2026 and GPT-6 Luna Max on September 22, 2026.

Is GPT-6 Luna Max cheaper than GPT-5.6 Terra Max?

GPT-6 Luna Max is cheaper on a blended basis. GPT-5.6 Terra Max lists $2.00 per million input tokens and $12.00 per million output tokens; GPT-6 Luna Max lists $0.10 and $0.50. For 1 million input and 200,000 output tokens that is $4.40 against $0.20.

Which is faster, GPT-5.6 Terra Max or GPT-6 Luna Max?

Their output speeds are close: 116 tokens per second for GPT-5.6 Terra Max and 121 tokens per second for GPT-6 Luna Max. GPT-6 Luna Max reaches its first token sooner (2.0 minutes against 3.4 minutes).

Where do these numbers come from?

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.

Final whistle

The verdict: GPT-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-6 Luna Max if cost matters ($0.50 against $12.00 per million output tokens) and users are waiting on the first word. Pick GPT-5.6 Terra Max if you need the higher overall score (32.3 against 27.9).

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 Terra (Max) and GPT-6 Luna (Max) pages. The AI Benchmark methodology explains how that data is collected and shown.