GPT · Fast / Budget · 1,050K context window
$0.003000 per call at 6,000 input / 1,500 output tokens.
Per call
$0.003000
10K calls/mo
$30
Cache savings
90% off input
Batch savings
50% off all
Adjust token counts, volume, and discount toggles to model your rag pipeline spend. Prices verified daily against provider pricing pages.
Call GPT 5.6 Luna with the OpenAI Python SDK:
from openai import OpenAI
client = OpenAI()
response = client.chat.completions.create(
model="gpt-5.6-luna",
max_tokens=1500,
messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Your prompt here"}]
)
# Cost: ~$0.003000 per call at standard rates
# Input: $0.20/MTok
# Output: $1.20/MTokPer-call cost for all models scoring 50+ on rag pipeline benchmarks. Hover for details.
Cheapest viable option: Gemini 3 Flash at $0.007500/call (-150% less, 82/100 quality).
Retrieval-augmented calls are dominated by the retrieved passages, not the question. Retrieving eight chunks instead of three roughly triples input cost for an answer that is often no better, so retrieval tuning is cost tuning. The system prompt and instructions are identical on every call, which makes cache reads the first thing to enable.
For GPT 5.6 Luna specifically, that means output tokens cost 6.0x more than input, at $1.20 vs $0.20 per MTok. At this use case’s 6,000/1,500 token split, output accounts for 60% of the $0.003000 per-call cost.
| Direction | $/MTok | Tokens per call |
|---|---|---|
| Input | $0.20 | 6,000 |
| Output | $1.20 | 1,500 |
Caching drops input cost from $0.20 to $0.02/MTok. For repeated system prompts, that saves $0.001080 per call.
Submit requests asynchronously and receive 50% off all token costs. This works best for offline pipelines where latency requirements are flexible.
| Monthly volume | Cost per call | Standard monthly | Cached monthly | You save with caching |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10,000 calls | $0.003000 | $30 | $19.2 | $10.8 |
| 50,000 calls | $0.003000 | $150 | $96 | $54 |
| 100,000 calls | $0.003000 | $300 | $192 | $108 |
| 500,000 calls | $0.003000 | $1,500 | $960 | $540 |
| 1,000,000 calls | $0.003000 | $3,000 | $1,920 | $1,080 |
GPT 5.6 Luna is a solid pick for rag pipeline
Scores 85/100 (rank #4 of 20). Good balance of quality and cost for rag pipeline.
Top-ranked: GPT 5.6 Terra (92/100) at $0.0300/call
GPT 5.6 Luna scores by task type. RAG Pipeline highlighted.
| Task type | Confidence score | Rank out of 20 |
|---|---|---|
| Classification | 91/100 | #1 |
| Extraction | 89/100 | #2 |
| Q&A(current page) | 85/100 | #4 |
| Summarization | 84/100 | #4 |
| Code Generation | 70/100 | #6 |
| Code Review | 68/100 | #6 |
| Reasoning | 63/100 | #6 |
| Creative Writing | 58/100 | #7 |
Confidence scores are a third-party benchmark snapshot from week 29 of 2026. This snapshot is 8 weeks old, so treat the scores as directional and validate against your own evals.
12 models score 80+ on rag pipeline benchmarks, sorted by input rate. Cheapest: Gemini 3 Flash (-150% less, 82/100 quality).
| Model | Provider | Input $/MTok | Output $/MTok | Quality | Per call | vs GPT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gemini 3 Flash | Gemini | $0.50 | $3.00 | 82/100 | $0.007500 | 150% more |
| Claude Haiku 4.5 | Claude | $1.00 | $5.00 | 86/100 | $0.0135 | 350% more |
| Gemini 3.5 Flash | Gemini | $1.50 | $9.00 | 84/100 | $0.0225 | 650% more |
| Claude Sonnet 5 | Claude | $2.00 | $10.00 | 89/100 | $0.0270 | 800% more |
| GPT 5.6 Terra | GPT | $2.00 | $12.00 | 92/100 | $0.0300 | 900% more |
| Gemini 3.1 Pro | Gemini | $2.00 | $12.00 | 87/100 | $0.0300 | 900% more |
| GPT 5.4 | GPT | $2.50 | $15.00 | 91/100 | $0.0375 | 1150% more |
| Claude Sonnet 4.6 | Claude | $3.00 | $15.00 | 88/100 | $0.0405 | 1250% more |
| GPT 5.6 Sol | GPT | $4.00 | $20.00 | 91/100 | $0.0540 | 1700% more |
| Claude Opus 4.8 | Claude | $5.00 | $25.00 | 85/100 | $0.0675 | 2150% more |
| GPT 5.5 | GPT | $5.00 | $30.00 | 90/100 | $0.0750 | 2400% more |
| Claude Fable 5 | Claude | $10.00 | $50.00 | 88/100 | $0.1350 | 4400% more |
Provider
GPT
Tier
Fast / Budget
Context
1,050K tokens
Released
Jul 2026
| Model | Tier | Input $/MTok | Output $/MTok | Context |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GPT 5.5 | Flagship | $5.00 | $30.00 | 1,050K |
| GPT 5.4 | Mid-tier | $2.50 | $15.00 | 1,050K |
| GPT 5.6 Sol | Flagship | $4.00 | $20.00 | 1,050K |
| GPT 5.6 Terra | Mid-tier | $2.00 | $12.00 | 1,050K |
You can compare GPT 5.6 Luna head-to-head against any other model on our model comparison pages, or track how pricing has changed over time on the pricing history tracker.
See how GPT 5.6 Luna costs change across different workload types.
Code Generation
$0.005200/call
Unit Test Generation
$0.006600/call
SQL Generation
$0.001500/call
API Generation
$0.007800/call
Code Refactoring
$0.005600/call
Code Review
$0.003400/call
PR Review
$0.005200/call
Security Review
$0.004200/call
Bug Detection
$0.003400/call
Document Summarization
$0.003200/call
PDF Summarization
$0.004800/call
Meeting Notes
$0.004000/call
Email Summarization
$0.001200/call
Chatbot
$0.001600/call
Customer Support Bot
$0.001800/call
FAQ Bot
$0.001260/call
Data Extraction
$0.002000/call
JSON Extraction
$0.001560/call
Invoice Parsing
$0.001120/call
Resume Parsing
$0.001460/call
Chain of Thought
$0.006600/call
Legal Analysis
$0.006800/call
Math Reasoning
$0.003900/call
Financial Analysis
$0.006400/call
Content Moderation
$0.000220/call
Sentiment Analysis
$0.000220/call
Categorization
$0.000340/call
Intent Detection
$0.000180/call
Copywriting
$0.002500/call
Blog Writing
$0.009800/call
Marketing Copy
$0.003760/call
Product Descriptions
$0.001900/call
A typical rag pipeline call using GPT 5.6 Luna costs about $0.003000 per call. This estimate uses 6,000 input tokens and 1,500 output tokens at standard rates. Standard rates are $0.20 per million input tokens and $1.20 per million output tokens.
GPT 5.6 Luna scores 85 out of 100 on rag pipeline benchmarks overall. It ranks #4 across all 20 models in our cross-provider registry. The highest-ranked model for this task is GPT 5.6 Terra from GPT. That model scores 92/100 on this task type. Confidence scores are a third-party benchmark snapshot from week 29 of 2026. This snapshot is 8 weeks old, so treat the scores as directional and validate against your own evals.
The most affordable model for rag pipeline above 80/100 quality is Gemini 3 Flash. It comes from Gemini at $0.50 per million input tokens. Output costs $3.00 per million tokens with a quality score of 82/100. Switching from GPT 5.6 Luna to Gemini 3 Flash saves about -150% per API call.
Three strategies lower GPT 5.6 Luna costs for this task type effectively. Prompt caching gives a 90% discount on input tokens when reusing system prompts. The batch API gives 50% off all tokens for asynchronous processing workloads. Prompt optimization reduces token counts through more concise instructions and context windows. Combining caching with batching brings your cost from $0.003000 to about $0.000150 per call.
GPT has 4 other models alongside GPT 5.6 Luna today: GPT 5.5 at $5.00/$30.00 per million tokens (flagship), GPT 5.4 at $2.50/$15.00 per million tokens (mid-tier), GPT 5.6 Sol at $4.00/$20.00 per million tokens (flagship), GPT 5.6 Terra at $2.00/$12.00 per million tokens (mid-tier). The right choice depends on whether your rag pipeline workload prioritizes quality, cost, or speed.
GPT 5.6 Luna supports a context window of 1,050K tokens per API call. This sets the maximum combined length of your input prompt and generated response. For rag pipeline, typical calls use 6,000 input and 1,500 output tokens. That is well within this limit, leaving room for longer prompts or multi-turn conversations.
This calculator estimates costs based on published rates only. Connect your API usage to see where your money goes and which models drive your spend.