OpenAI: GPT-5.6 Luna (batch) vs Poolside: Laguna S 2.1 (free)
Based on weekly OpenRouter usage tracked by AI Tier List, OpenAI: GPT-5.6 Luna (batch) ranks #3 overall — ahead of Poolside: Laguna S 2.1 (free) at #10. Poolside: Laguna S 2.1 (free) is cheaper on input tokens at Free/1M vs $0.10/1M for OpenAI: GPT-5.6 Luna (batch). OpenAI: GPT-5.6 Luna (batch) offers the larger context window at 1.1M tokens.
OpenAI: GPT-5.6 Luna (batch) vs Poolside: Laguna S 2.1 (free): which should you use?
Choose OpenAI: GPT-5.6 Luna (batch) if…
- It sees more real traffic — #3 overall on OpenRouter's weekly ranking, against #10 for Poolside: Laguna S 2.1 (free).
- Bigger context window — 1.1M vs 262K tokens.
- It accepts file, image input, which Poolside: Laguna S 2.1 (free) does not.
Choose Poolside: Laguna S 2.1 (free) if…
- Cheaper to read — Free vs $0.10 per 1M input tokens, which is what dominates long-prompt and RAG workloads.
- Cheaper to write — Free vs $0.60 per 1M output tokens, the line item that decides generation-heavy costs.
- It is the newer model — released Jul 2026 against Jul 2026.
Spec Comparison
| Spec | OpenAI: GPT-5.6 Luna (batch) | Poolside: Laguna S 2.1 (free) |
|---|---|---|
| Author | openai | poolside |
| Input price (per 1M tokens) | $0.10 | Free |
| Output price (per 1M tokens) | $0.60 | Free |
| Context window | 1.1M | 262K |
| Input modalities | file, image, text | text |
| Output modalities | text | text |
| AA Intelligence | — | — |
| AA Coding | — | — |
| AA Agentic | — | — |
| Released | Jul 2026 | Jul 2026 |
What OpenAI: GPT-5.6 Luna (batch) and Poolside: Laguna S 2.1 (free) actually cost to run
On a read-heavy job — 1M tokens in, 100K out — OpenAI: GPT-5.6 Luna (batch) costs $0.16 and Poolside: Laguna S 2.1 (free) costs $0.00.
Flip the shape — 100K in, 1M out — and it becomes $0.61 for OpenAI: GPT-5.6 Luna (batch) versus $0.00 for Poolside: Laguna S 2.1 (free).
Both figures are the published per-token rates multiplied out; caching and batch discounts are not included.
Usage Rank by Task
| Task | OpenAI: GPT-5.6 Luna (batch) | Poolside: Laguna S 2.1 (free) |
|---|---|---|
| Overall | #3 | #10 |
| Multi-step Planning | #6 | — |
| Tool Dispatch | #4 | — |
| Web Search | #9 | — |
| Agent Workflows | #7 | — |
| Classification & Tagging | #3 | — |
| Debugging | #7 | — |
| DevOps Config | #6 | — |
| File Read/Write | #6 | — |
| Frontend UI | #5 | — |
| Code Implementation | #5 | — |
| Repo Analysis | #5 | — |
| Code Review & Security | #5 | — |
| SQL & Database | #5 | — |
| Content Writing | #8 | — |
About OpenAI: GPT-5.6 Luna (batch) and Poolside: Laguna S 2.1 (free)
OpenAI: GPT-5.6 Luna (batch)
Built by openai · released Jul 2026 · 1.1M-token context
GPT-5.6 Luna is a fast, cost-efficient model in OpenAI's GPT-5.6 series. It is suited for high-volume, latency-sensitive tasks such as chat, classification, and lightweight agentic workflows, providing capable reasoning for...
Poolside: Laguna S 2.1 (free)
Built by poolside · released Jul 2026 · 262K-token context
Laguna S 2.1 is the latest coding agent model from Poolside. Laguna S 2.1 is a 118B total parameter model with 8B active parameters, scoring 70.2% on Terminal-Bench 2.1 and...
Related comparisons
- OpenAI: GPT-5.6 Luna (batch) vs DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731
- OpenAI: GPT-5.6 Luna (batch) vs Tencent: Hy3
- OpenAI: GPT-5.6 Luna (batch) vs DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423
- Poolside: Laguna S 2.1 (free) vs DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731
- Poolside: Laguna S 2.1 (free) vs Tencent: Hy3
- Poolside: Laguna S 2.1 (free) vs DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423
Get notified when OpenAI: GPT-5.6 Luna (batch) or Poolside: Laguna S 2.1 (free) moves
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FAQ
Which is better, OpenAI: GPT-5.6 Luna (batch) or Poolside: Laguna S 2.1 (free)?
Based on weekly OpenRouter usage tracked by AI Tier List, OpenAI: GPT-5.6 Luna (batch) ranks #3 overall — ahead of Poolside: Laguna S 2.1 (free) at #10. Poolside: Laguna S 2.1 (free) is cheaper on input tokens at Free/1M vs $0.10/1M for OpenAI: GPT-5.6 Luna (batch). OpenAI: GPT-5.6 Luna (batch) offers the larger context window at 1.1M tokens.
Which is cheaper, OpenAI: GPT-5.6 Luna (batch) or Poolside: Laguna S 2.1 (free)?
Poolside: Laguna S 2.1 (free) is cheaper at Free per 1M input tokens. Output pricing: OpenAI: GPT-5.6 Luna (batch) $0.60, Poolside: Laguna S 2.1 (free) Free.
Is OpenAI: GPT-5.6 Luna (batch) still ahead of Poolside: Laguna S 2.1 (free) right now?
Yes. For the week of 2026-08-10, OpenAI: GPT-5.6 Luna (batch) ranks #3 overall on OpenRouter usage against #10 for Poolside: Laguna S 2.1 (free). Ranks refresh weekly, and the verdict on this page flips if they cross.
Usage ranks are weekly data aggregated by OpenRouter. Prices are USD per 1M tokens.