OpenAI · 3 September 2026
OpenAI’s newest frontier model is built to carry difficult work from the first instruction to a finished result.
One model, many tools
Astra can move between code, browsers, scientific analysis and professional documents inside one multi-step workflow.
OpenAI describes these as integrated capabilities—not separate model variants.
The API lists a 1,050,000-token context window and up to 128,000 output tokens.
$10 per million input tokens and $50 per million output tokens. Cached input costs $1 per million.
Prompts above 272K input tokens trigger higher long-context rates.
Agent upgrade
Async tools let independent work continue while a tool runs. Mid-turn steering can add corrections without restarting the whole response.
Tool calling requires OpenAI’s Responses API.
Closest new rival
Both list 128K maximum output and the same $10/$50 headline API price.
Benchmark report
OpenAI comparison, maximum effort; harness and safeguards affect scores.
But not every test
Results with tools where stated. No benchmark proves a universal winner.
Important safety context
OpenAI places Astra at its Critical cybersecurity threshold and adds monitoring that can pause agent work for review.
OpenAI also disclosed reduced monitorability in some adversarial evaluations.
Our assessment
Full comparison and sources on LinuxPanda