GPT-6.1 Sol Isn't in ChatGPT Chat. OpenAI Put It at Work

Source: GPT-6.1 Sol launch resources – OpenAI Academy · 2026-10-10; OpenAI launches GPT-6.1 Sol, says it nearly matches GPT-6 Astra and costs less – TechCrunch · 2026-10-10

What launched on September 29

TechCrunch reports that OpenAI announced GPT-6.1 Sol at DevDay, about a week after GPT-6 Sol. From launch day it was available to Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise and Edu users in ChatGPT Work and Codex. TechCrunch also notes the model is not yet in Chat. OpenAI's Academy page uses the same split: Sol is in ChatGPT Work and Codex on "supported paid plans" and in the API. Online Tech Tips points out that OpenAI gave no date for Sol to reach regular Chat. It adds that access still depends on your plan, your client and your workspace settings, so being on a listed plan doesn't guarantee you'll see Sol everywhere.

Source: OpenAI launches GPT-6.1 Sol, says it nearly matches GPT-6 Astra and costs less – TechCrunch · 2026-10-10; GPT-6.1 Sol launch resources – OpenAI Academy · 2026-10-10; GPT-6.1 Sol Is Here, but Can You Use It in ChatGPT? – Online Tech Tips · 2026-10-10

Source: GPT-6.1 Sol launch resources – OpenAI Academy · 2026-10-10

This is OpenAI's own access rule, and it explains much of the confusion at work. If your company or school is on Enterprise or Edu, Sol stays hidden in Work and Codex until an admin enables it. OpenAI's page also tells admins to review Sol access separately from the workspace's default starting model. Changing the default model doesn't turn Sol on.

Source: GPT-6.1 Sol launch resources – OpenAI Academy · 2026-10-10

Source: GPT-6.1 Sol launch resources – OpenAI Academy · 2026-10-10; OpenAI launches GPT-6.1 Sol – TechCrunch · 2026-10-10; GPT-6.1 Sol model page – OpenAI Developers · 2026-10-10

The $2/$10 price is for the API, not your subscription

OpenAI's developer pricing page lists gpt-6.1-sol at $2 per million input tokens and $10 per million output tokens on the Standard tier, with cached input at $0.10. Prompts over 272K input tokens cost more: 2x for input and cache, and 1.5x for output, applied to the whole request. These are pay-as-you-go developer rates. They don't change what you pay for a ChatGPT plan, and they don't mean Sol is cheaper inside ChatGPT. OpenAI also sells faster tiers: Fast costs 2x Standard and Ultrafast costs 6x.

Source: API pricing – OpenAI Developers · 2026-10-10; GPT-6.1 Sol model page – OpenAI Developers · 2026-10-10

"Near-Astra" is OpenAI's claim

OpenAI describes Sol as offering "near-Astra performance" for coding, computer use and professional work at a lower cost. TechCrunch attributes the benchmark results to OpenAI itself. That includes the drop in factual-error rate from 11.4% to 7.7% at low reasoning effort. OpenAI's own Academy page still recommends Astra "for the hardest scientific research," and its model page suggests testing Sol against Astra on your own tasks.

Source: GPT-6.1 Sol model page – OpenAI Developers · 2026-10-10; OpenAI launches GPT-6.1 Sol – TechCrunch · 2026-10-10; GPT-6.1 Sol launch resources – OpenAI Academy · 2026-10-10

What about Sol Ultrafast?

At launch, OpenAI's Academy page said "Sol Ultrafast is coming later." OpenAI's developer docs now list an ultrafast service tier for gpt-6.1-sol in the Responses API, priced at 6x Standard. RuntimeWire reports that Ultrafast began rolling out on October 8. According to that report, in Codex and ChatGPT Work it's limited to the top Pro tier and to eligible Enterprise and Edu plans, and Enterprise admins must enable it. OpenAI's ChatGPT help pages wouldn't load for us, so we couldn't confirm the ChatGPT-side eligibility directly. If you have Plus, don't plan around Ultrafast.

Source: GPT-6.1 Sol launch resources – OpenAI Academy · 2026-10-10; GPT-6.1 Sol model page – OpenAI Developers · 2026-10-10; OpenAI adds GPT-6.1 Sol Ultrafast at six times standard API prices – RuntimeWire · 2026-10-10

Our take: leaving Sol out of Chat is a deliberate push toward Work

Put OpenAI's best value model in Work and Codex and leave it out of Chat, and you're telling people where you want them to spend their time. That's a product decision, not a technical limit. It annoys Plus users most: they're told they're eligible, then they open the app they use every day and Sol isn't there. In our opinion, the near-Astra pitch is underrated for coding and agent work and overrated as a reason to change your plan. Until someone independent repeats OpenAI's results, judge Sol on your own tasks. If you mostly chat, you've lost nothing yet. If you build things, open Codex and try Sol today.

Source: GPT-6.1 Sol launch resources – OpenAI Academy · 2026-10-10

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