GPT-6.1 Sol Ultrafast: Price, Speed and When It's Worth It

Jonhisking · October 9, 2026

GPT-6.1 Sol Ultrafast is a much faster mode for GPT-6.1 Sol. OpenAI started rolling it out on October 8, 2026 in the API, Codex and ChatGPT Work. API pricing is $12 per million input tokens and $60 per million output tokens: 500% more than standard GPT-6.1 Sol ($2 / $10) and 20% more than GPT-6 Astra ($10 / $50). Here is how fast it is, what a real request costs, and when it is worth it.

What GPT-6.1 Sol Ultrafast is

OpenAI describes Ultrafast as near-Astra intelligence at speeds up to 700% faster than standard Sol. WinCentral reported a figure of about 300 tokens per second. Both are OpenAI's claim and press reports; real speed depends on request length and load.

OpenAI presents Ultrafast as a processing mode of GPT-6.1 Sol, not a new model. You pick the same model and choose a mode with a different speed and price.

Pricing: Standard vs Fast vs Ultrafast

Price per million tokens, from OpenAI's pricing page.

• Fast costs 100% more than Standard (per OpenAI's model page).
• Ultrafast costs 500% more than Standard. Cached input rises by the same share, to $0.60.
• Prompts over 272,000 input tokens get a surcharge on the whole request. The pricing table shows $24 input and $90 output on what appears to be the Ultrafast row, but the table does not name the mode, so treat that as an estimate.

What it costs in practice

A typical request of 2,000 input tokens and 500 output tokens, no caching:

A coding agent step re-reads the earlier conversation, so most input is cached. With 50,000 input tokens, 45,000 of them cached, and 1,000 output tokens:

Arithmetic: Ultrafast = 5,000 new input × $12 + 45,000 cached × $0.60 + 1,000 output × $60, all per million tokens. For agent work, Ultrafast and Astra cost almost the same (about 1% apart). At the same price, the choice is whether you need Astra's intelligence or 6.1 Sol's speed.

Where and who can use it

• API: choose the Ultrafast mode on GPT-6.1 Sol. OpenAI's docs describe a WebSocket connection, with an HTTP option as well.
• Codex and ChatGPT Work: available on Pro 500, usage-based Enterprise (admins must enable it) and credit-based Edu plans. Not on Pro 100, Pro 200 or Plus.
• Regions: all supported regions, including US and EU data residency.

Pros and cons

Pros

• Much less waiting. Long code or documents arrive up to 700% faster, per OpenAI.
• Near-Astra performance at an Astra-like price: on cache-heavy agent work the cost is almost the same as Astra.
• Built for work someone is watching. OpenAI's examples are debugging outages, agents navigating apps and live experiences.

Cons

• Expensive. At 500% more than standard GPT-6.1 Sol, using it for work that can wait just costs more.
• Pro 500 in ChatGPT: individuals need the $500 a month plan to use it in Codex and Work.
• Speed is a "up to" claim. Measure it on your own tasks before relying on it.

When to use Ultrafast

• Use it: when a person is waiting on the result, for live chat or voice products, during incidents where minutes matter, or for long agent runs you need to finish quickly.
• Skip it: for overnight batch jobs, bulk summarizing or classification, and products where response time barely matters. Standard mode or the Batch API is far cheaper there.

FAQ

How much does GPT-6.1 Sol Ultrafast cost? In the API, $12 per million input tokens, $0.60 cached input and $60 output: 500% more than standard GPT-6.1 Sol.

Can I use it on ChatGPT Plus or Pro 100? No. In Codex and ChatGPT Work it is available on Pro 500, usage-based Enterprise and credit-based Edu plans. In the API you pay per token on any account.

How is it different from GPT-6 Astra? Astra is the smarter flagship model; Ultrafast is a faster mode of 6.1 Sol. On cache-heavy agent work the two cost almost the same, so choose by whether intelligence or speed matters more.

Calculate it with your own prompt

Paste a prompt into the token counter to see its cost on GPT-6.1 Sol and 30+ other models. To decide between a plan and the API for Codex, see ChatGPT Pro 100 vs 200 vs 500 and the coding agent cost calculator.

Prices checked October 9, 2026. Pricing and availability change often; check OpenAI's pricing page before you rely on them.

Sources

• OpenAI Developer Community: Ultrafast rolling out for GPT-6.1 Sol (October 8, 2026)
• OpenAI API pricing
• OpenAI: GPT-6.1 Sol model page
• OpenAI: GPT-6 Astra model page
• WinCentral: GPT-6.1 Sol Ultrafast speed report

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