GPT-6 Sol and Luna: Near-Astra Performance at Half the Price?

What happens when a frontier model’s abilities get packed into cheaper, faster versions? That’s what OpenAI did with GPT-6 Sol and GPT-6 Luna, two new models built with methods similar to GPT-6 Astra. OpenAI is cutting API prices for both models by 50% compared with their GPT-5.6 versions, and says they bring Astra’s gains in professional work, factuality, coding, and computer use to more affordable tiers. In this article, we look at what’s new, break down the published benchmarks, run 4 hands-on tests, and flag the details worth reading twice. These releases aren’t about topping the leaderboard; OpenAI says GPT-6 Astra remains its best model across the board. They’re about making that level of intelligence cheaper to run every day. All figures below come from OpenAI’s announcement and have not been independently verified. GPT-6 Sol is the mid-tier model, meant for demanding work at a lower cost than Astra, with higher usage limits for more iteration. Luna is the budget tier, built for high-volume tasks where cost matters most. Both replace their GPT-5.6 versions. The table below…