{"schema":"postcutoff/event@1","as_of":"2026-10-08T23:45:00+02:00","url":"https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-10-08-gpt-6-1-sol-ultrafast/","md":"https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-10-08-gpt-6-1-sol-ultrafast/index.md","disclosure":{"written_by":"AI agents (Claude Opus 5.5 in Claude Code)","editor":"Adam Bicz","policy":"https://postcutoff.com/about/"},"license":null,"id":"2026-10-08-gpt-6-1-sol-ultrafast","date":"2026-10-08","date_precision":"day","short_title":"OpenAI ships Ultrafast mode for GPT-6.1 Sol in the API, Codex and ChatGPT Work","deck":null,"takeaway":"On Oct 8, 2026, nine days after promising it \"in the coming days\", OpenAI made its Ultrafast service tier available for GPT-6.1 Sol to all API users (service_tier \"ultrafast\" in the Responses API) and in Codex and ChatGPT Work for Pro $500 and eligible Enterprise and Edu plans.","category":"product","category_label":"Products","importance":3,"confidence":"high","status":{"key":"confirmed","labels":["Confirmed"]},"sources":[{"n":1,"title":"OpenAI API changelog (Oct 8: Ultrafast for GPT-6.1 Sol)","url":"https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/changelog","type":"docs","group":"primary","domain":"developers.openai.com"},{"n":2,"title":"OpenAI docs: Ultrafast mode","url":"https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/guides/ultrafast-mode","type":"docs","group":"primary","domain":"developers.openai.com"},{"n":3,"title":"OpenAI API pricing (Ultrafast tab)","url":"https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/pricing?latest-pricing=ultrafast","type":"docs","group":"primary","domain":"developers.openai.com"},{"n":4,"title":"Codex changelog (Oct 8: GPT-6.1 Sol Ultrafast in Codex and ChatGPT Work)","url":"https://developers.openai.com/codex/changelog","type":"docs","group":"primary","domain":"developers.openai.com"},{"n":5,"title":"OpenAI: Introducing GPT-6.1 Sol (Sept 29)","url":"https://openai.com/index/introducing-gpt-6-1-sol/","type":"official","group":"primary","domain":"openai.com"}],"official":5,"filed":"2026-10-08","updated":"2026-10-08","orgs":["OpenAI"],"title":"OpenAI ships Ultrafast mode for GPT-6.1 Sol in the API, Codex and ChatGPT Work","summary":"On Oct 8, 2026, nine days after promising it \"in the coming days\", OpenAI made its Ultrafast service tier available for GPT-6.1 Sol to all API users (service_tier \"ultrafast\" in the Responses API) and in Codex and ChatGPT Work for Pro $500 and eligible Enterprise and Edu plans. Ultrafast costs six times the standard price: $12 input and $60 output per 1M short-context tokens.","key_facts":["API changelog (Oct 8): 'Added Ultrafast mode for GPT-6.1 Sol in the Responses API. Use gpt-6.1-sol with service_tier: \"ultrafast\" to reduce the time between generated output tokens.' Available to all API users subject to rate limits, with global processing and US and EU data residency","Pricing (per 1M tokens, short context): $12 input, $0.60 cached input, $15 cache writes, $60 output, 6x the standard $2/$0.10/$2.50/$10; long context $24/$1.20/$30/$90. GPT-6 Astra Ultrafast is $60/$300 (OpenAI pricing page)","Ultrafast has separate rate limits from Standard and Fast; OpenAI strongly recommends WebSockets for agentic use (Ultrafast guide)","Codex and ChatGPT Work (Codex changelog, Oct 8): available on Pro $500 and eligible Enterprise and Edu plans; Enterprise access is off by default and must be enabled by workspace owners; US and Europe inference residency","At GPT-6.1 Sol's Sept 29 launch OpenAI promised up to 8x faster token generation in Codex and up to 6x via the API (OpenAI; third-party summaries cite up to ~300 tokens/s)"],"key_numbers":[],"tags":["api","inference-speed","pricing","codex","gpt-6","openai"],"science":null,"body_md":"## What happened\n\nOpenAI introduced Ultrafast as a premium inference tier with GPT-6 Astra and promised a GPT-6.1 Sol version at DevDay (Sept 29).\nIt shipped on Oct 8 in both the API and Codex/ChatGPT Work. In the API anyone can use it; in Codex it is limited to the $500 Pro\nplan and enterprise and education workspaces that enable it.\n\n## Why it matters\n\nSpeed is becoming a priced product dimension: the same model now comes in Standard, Fast (2x) and Ultrafast (6x) tiers. For agentic\ncoding, where runs take many sequential tool calls, faster token generation shortens wall-clock time, which OpenAI sells at a\npremium on its top plan.","disputed":[],"related":[{"id":"2026-09-29-gpt-6-1-sol","url":"https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-09-29-gpt-6-1-sol/","date":"2026-09-29","date_precision":"day","short_title":"OpenAI releases GPT-6.1 Sol","deck":"Near-Astra performance at one-fifth of Astra's price","takeaway":"Near-flagship capability is now available at mid-tier prices, a week after the previous mid-tier model.","category":"model-release","category_label":"Model releases","importance":4,"confidence":"high","status":{"key":"confirmed","labels":["Confirmed"]},"sources":14,"official":10,"filed":"2026-09-29","updated":"2026-10-04","orgs":["OpenAI"]},{"id":"2026-09-29-chatgpt-pro-500-ultrafast","url":"https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-09-29-chatgpt-pro-500-ultrafast/","date":"2026-09-29","date_precision":"day","short_title":"OpenAI adds a $500/month Pro 500 plan and the Ultrafast speed tier, and halves the $200 Pro allowance","deck":null,"takeaway":"Frontier labs have used a $200/month top tier since late 2024, and the 20x-Plus allowance was the norm among them.","category":"business","category_label":"Business","importance":3,"confidence":"high","status":{"key":"confirmed","labels":["Confirmed"]},"sources":18,"official":10,"filed":"2026-09-29","updated":"2026-10-05","orgs":["OpenAI"]}],"people":[],"posts":[],"videos":[],"models":[],"changes":[{"date":"2026-10-08","type":"filed","text":"Created (outcome of upcoming item [GPT-6.1 Sol Ultrafast (up to 8x faster in Codex) promised 'in the coming days'](https://postcutoff.com/upcoming/receipts/#2026-10-02-gpt-6-1-sol-ultrafast); API and Codex changelogs, pricing page and guide read)"}],"provenance":{"agents":[{"model":"Claude Opus 5.5","maker":"Anthropic","tool":"Claude Code"}],"filed":"2026-10-08","run":null,"sources_read":"Outcome of upcoming item [GPT-6.1 Sol Ultrafast (up to 8x faster in Codex) promised 'in the coming days'](/upcoming/receipts/#2026-10-02-gpt-6-1-sol-ultrafast); API and Codex changelogs, pricing page and guide read","updated":"2026-10-08","human_review":null,"version":{"date":"2026-10-08"}},"gaps":[{"model_id":"gpt-6-astra","name":"GPT-6 Astra","cutoff":"2026-04","days_after":161,"in_training_data":false},{"model_id":"claude-opus-5-5","name":"Claude Opus 5.5","cutoff":"2026-06","days_after":100,"in_training_data":false},{"model_id":"gemini-3-8-flash","name":"Gemini 3.8 Flash","cutoff":"2026-03","days_after":191,"in_training_data":false},{"model_id":"grok-4-7","name":"Grok 4.7","cutoff":"2026-05","days_after":130,"in_training_data":false}],"short_url":null}