Choose AionLabs: Aion-1.0 if…
- cost matters at scale — it is 38% cheaper on a typical 3:1 input/output mix ($460 vs $700 a month for 50,000 support chats)
AionLabs: Aion-1.0 vs OpenAI: GPT-5.6 Sol Pro
Neither wins outright: AionLabs: Aion-1.0 is the pick when cost matters at scale, OpenAI: GPT-5.6 Sol Pro when you need to fit long inputs in one request.
Key numbers
| Spec | AionLabs: Aion-1.0 | OpenAI: GPT-5.6 Sol Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Aion Labs | OpenAI |
| Input price (per 1M tokens) | $4.00 | $4.00 |
| Output price (per 1M tokens) | $8.00 | $20.00 |
| Blended price (3:1 input/output) | $5.00 | $8.00 |
| Cheaper than … of all models we track | 10% | 7% |
| Context window | 131K tokens (~197 pages) | 1.1M tokens (~1,575 pages) |
| Larger context than … of all models | 23% | 92% |
| Max output per response | 33K tokens (~24,600 words) | 128K tokens (~96,000 words) |
| Input types | text | file, image, text |
| Output types | text | text |
| Free variant | No | No |
| Listed since | 2025-02-04 | 2026-07-09 |
Advertisement
What it costs for real workloads
Monthly cost at list price for five common workloads. Token counts per unit are stated so you can scale them to your own traffic. A workload that does not fit a model's context window is marked rather than priced.
| Workload (per month) | AionLabs: Aion-1.0 | OpenAI: GPT-5.6 Sol Pro | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Customer-support chatbot 50,000 conversations — each a 6-turn conversation (1,500 in / 400 out tokens) | $460 | $700 | AionLabs: Aion-1.0 saves $240 |
| RAG search over documents 20,000 questions — each a question answered from ~8 retrieved passages (6,000 in / 500 out tokens) | $560 | $680 | AionLabs: Aion-1.0 saves $120 |
| Coding / tool-using agent 2,000 tasks — each a multi-step task with tool calls and file context (60,000 in / 6,000 out tokens) | $576 | $720 | AionLabs: Aion-1.0 saves $144 |
| Batch summarisation 10,000 documents — each a 6,000-word report summarised to a page (8,000 in / 600 out tokens) | $368 | $440 | AionLabs: Aion-1.0 saves $72.00 |
| Long-document analysis 500 documents — each a 150-page contract or codebase read in one pass (100,000 in / 2,000 out tokens) | $208 | $220 | AionLabs: Aion-1.0 saves $12.00 |
Capabilities side by side
| Capability | AionLabs: Aion-1.0 | OpenAI: GPT-5.6 Sol Pro | What it lets you do |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tool / function calling | — | ✓ Yes | call your APIs and run agent loops |
| Structured output (JSON schema) | — | ✓ Yes | return JSON that validates against your schema |
| Reasoning / thinking mode | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes | spend extra tokens thinking before answering hard problems |
| Image input | — | ✓ Yes | read screenshots, charts and scanned pages |
| Audio input | — | — | take speech or audio directly |
| File / PDF input | — | ✓ Yes | accept documents without your own parsing step |
| Image output | — | — | generate images, not just text |
| Built-in web search | — | ✓ Yes | answer from live web results |
| Seed (reproducible sampling) | — | ✓ Yes | repeat a generation for tests and evals |
| Log-probabilities | — | — | read token confidence for classification and scoring |
From each model's published parameters and input/output types. “—” means not advertised, not proven absent.
Price history
- AionLabs: Aion-1.0: price unchanged since we started tracking it on 2026-03-10.
- OpenAI: GPT-5.6 Sol Pro: input price raised 50% ($2.00 → $4.00/1M), output price raised 50% ($10.00 → $20.00/1M) on 2026-10-15 (5 price changes since 2026-08-06).
| Date | Model | Input / 1M | Output / 1M |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-10-15 | OpenAI: GPT-5.6 Sol Pro | $4.00 | $20.00 |
| 2026-10-05 | OpenAI: GPT-5.6 Sol Pro | $2.00 | $10.00 |
| 2026-09-29 | OpenAI: GPT-5.6 Sol Pro | $4.00 | $20.00 |
| 2026-08-22 | OpenAI: GPT-5.6 Sol Pro | $2.00 | $10.00 |
| 2026-08-18 | OpenAI: GPT-5.6 Sol Pro | $2.50 | $15.00 |
Which should you choose?
Choose OpenAI: GPT-5.6 Sol Pro if…
- you need to fit long inputs in one request — 1.1M tokens is roughly 1,575 pages, against 197
- you need tool / function calling — to call your APIs and run agent loops; AionLabs: Aion-1.0 does not advertise it
- you need structured output (JSON schema) — to return JSON that validates against your schema; AionLabs: Aion-1.0 does not advertise it
- you need image input — to read screenshots, charts and scanned pages; AionLabs: Aion-1.0 does not advertise it
- you need file / PDF input — to accept documents without your own parsing step; AionLabs: Aion-1.0 does not advertise it
- you need built-in web search — to answer from live web results; AionLabs: Aion-1.0 does not advertise it
- you need seed (reproducible sampling) — to repeat a generation for tests and evals; AionLabs: Aion-1.0 does not advertise it
- you generate long outputs in one go — up to 128K tokens (about 96,000 words) per response
- you want the newer model — released 2026-07-09, 17 months after the other
Frequently asked questions
Is AionLabs: Aion-1.0 better than OpenAI: GPT-5.6 Sol Pro?
Neither wins outright: AionLabs: Aion-1.0 is the pick when cost matters at scale, OpenAI: GPT-5.6 Sol Pro when you need to fit long inputs in one request. In short: AionLabs: Aion-1.0 when cost matters at scale; OpenAI: GPT-5.6 Sol Pro when you need to fit long inputs in one request, you need tool / function calling, you need structured output (JSON schema), you need image input, you need file / PDF input, you need built-in web search, you need seed (reproducible sampling), you generate long outputs in one go, you want the newer model.
Which is cheaper, AionLabs: Aion-1.0 or OpenAI: GPT-5.6 Sol Pro?
AionLabs: Aion-1.0 is cheaper: $5.00 vs $8.00 per 1M tokens at a typical 3:1 input/output mix, 38% less. For 50,000 support conversations a month that is $460 against $700.
How much do AionLabs: Aion-1.0 and OpenAI: GPT-5.6 Sol Pro cost per million tokens?
AionLabs: Aion-1.0 costs $4.00 per 1M input tokens and $8.00 per 1M output tokens; OpenAI: GPT-5.6 Sol Pro costs $4.00 input and $20.00 output. Output tokens are billed separately, so long answers shift the gap.
Which has the bigger context window, AionLabs: Aion-1.0 or OpenAI: GPT-5.6 Sol Pro?
OpenAI: GPT-5.6 Sol Pro: 1.1M tokens, about 1,575 pages, against 131K (about 197 pages) for AionLabs: Aion-1.0.
Do AionLabs: Aion-1.0 and OpenAI: GPT-5.6 Sol Pro support function calling and JSON output?
Tool calling — AionLabs: Aion-1.0: not advertised, OpenAI: GPT-5.6 Sol Pro: yes. JSON-schema structured output — AionLabs: Aion-1.0: not advertised, OpenAI: GPT-5.6 Sol Pro: yes.
Can AionLabs: Aion-1.0 or OpenAI: GPT-5.6 Sol Pro read images?
Only OpenAI: GPT-5.6 Sol Pro accepts image input; AionLabs: Aion-1.0 is text-only for input.
Is AionLabs: Aion-1.0 or OpenAI: GPT-5.6 Sol Pro free to use?
No free variant is listed for either; both are pay-per-token.
What is the maximum output length of AionLabs: Aion-1.0 and OpenAI: GPT-5.6 Sol Pro?
AionLabs: Aion-1.0 can write up to 33K tokens (about 24,600 words) per response; OpenAI: GPT-5.6 Sol Pro up to 128K (about 96,000 words).
When were AionLabs: Aion-1.0 and OpenAI: GPT-5.6 Sol Pro released?
AionLabs: Aion-1.0 was listed on 2025-02-04; OpenAI: GPT-5.6 Sol Pro on 2026-07-09.
Has the price of AionLabs: Aion-1.0 or OpenAI: GPT-5.6 Sol Pro changed?
AionLabs: Aion-1.0: price unchanged since we started tracking it on 2026-03-10. OpenAI: GPT-5.6 Sol Pro: input price raised 50% ($2.00 → $4.00/1M), output price raised 50% ($10.00 → $20.00/1M) on 2026-10-15 (5 price changes since 2026-08-06).
About the two models
AionLabs: Aion-1.0
Aion-1.0 is a multi-model system designed for high performance across various tasks, including reasoning and coding. It is built on DeepSeek-R1, augmented with additional models and techniques such as Tree of Thoughts (ToT) and Mixture of Experts (MoE). It is Aion Lab's most powerful reasoning model.
Full AionLabs: Aion-1.0 specs →OpenAI: GPT-5.6 Sol Pro
GPT-5.6 Sol Pro is the same underlying model as [GPT-5.6 Sol](https://openrouter.ai/openai/gpt-5.6-sol), served with `reasoning.mode` set to `pro` for higher-quality responses on complex tasks. **Cost note:** pro mode spends far more...
Full OpenAI: GPT-5.6 Sol Pro specs →