How to Route GPT-5.6 Sol, Terra, and Luna by Task Type to Cut API Costs

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OpenAI's GPT-5.6 family comprises three pricing tiers as of August 28, 2026: Sol at $4/$20 per million tokens, Terra at $2/$12, and Luna at $0.20/$1.20 for input and output respectively. At 100,000 tasks of typical size, choosing Luna over Sol can reduce costs from roughly $6,200 to $340, making model selection a significant engineering decision. A Python routing approach assigns models based on task consequence and ambiguity rather than prompt length, since short prompts can conceal complex reasoning needs. Luna suits high-volume, verifiable tasks like classification and extraction, Terra handles everyday coding and document analysis, while Sol is reserved for ambiguous or high-stakes decisions. For multi-stage workflows, the recommended pattern chains Luna for intake, Terra for drafting, and Sol only where unresolved complexity or high consequence demands it.

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ProgrammingDEV Community ·

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ProgrammingDEV Community ·

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