OpenAI’s DevDay blitz: always-on “Dots” agents, GPT-6.1 Sol, and a $500/month plan
Bottom line (updated November 10, 2026): DevDay’s real story is price, not spectacle: GPT-6.1 Sol brings near-Astra performance at one-fifth of Astra’s token price, while Dots and the $500 Pro 500 plan are enterprise plays most subscribers will never need. Most readers should care about Sol — and note it does not appear in regular ChatGPT chats.
Published September 30, 2026. OpenAI packed its DevDay developer conference with more than 20 announcements, headlined by Dots — always-on AI agents that work across your apps to pursue goals with minimal supervision — alongside a cheaper flagship-adjacent model and a new top-tier subscription.
What was announced
- Dots: autonomous agents aimed squarely at enterprise customers. They run on GPT-6 Astra, plug into Slack and Microsoft Teams, and use Codex and ChatGPT Work to do research, data analysis, document prep, and software development. OpenAI stresses custom rules: Dots must ask permission before sensitive actions like password changes or data deletion, and they run on dedicated cloud infrastructure with limited data retention for regulated industries.
- GPT-6.1 Sol: an upgrade to GPT-6 Sol that OpenAI says nearly matches GPT-6 Astra’s intelligence on agentic coding, computer use, and professional work — at one-fifth of Astra’s token price. Cached input drops to $0.10 per million tokens.
- ChatGPT Space: a shared workspace where teams collaborate alongside Dots, described as resembling a shared Google Doc.
- A $500/month plan for power users who need far more usage than current tiers allow.
Verified pricing and the gotcha most coverage missed
OpenAI’s pricing puts GPT-6.1 Sol (API model gpt-6.1-sol) at $2 per million input tokens and $10 per million output, with cached input at $0.10 — one-fifth of GPT-6 Astra’s $10 / $50. The new top plan is formally Pro 500 at $500 a month, which OpenAI describes as 25 times the Plus usage allowance and the only Pro tier that includes the Ultrafast speed tier.
The documented gotcha: OpenAI’s help centre confirms GPT-6.1 Sol is a ChatGPT Work and Codex model and is not available in regular ChatGPT conversations. Dots carry their own limits too — Pro users in the EEA, Switzerland and the UK are excluded for now, and managed workspaces need an admin to switch them on, though the first dot is included at no extra charge. If you are weighing OpenAI against the field, see our Microsoft Copilot vs ChatGPT comparison, our GitHub Copilot review for the coding side, and our Augment Code review for agent-style code work.
The enterprise land grab
Dots is OpenAI’s answer to Meta’s agentic push — and investors noticed. Software stocks wobbled on the news, with Salesforce and ServiceNow dipping as analysts weighed how autonomous agents might eat into traditional SaaS seats.
Why it matters
For subscribers, the practical takeaway is GPT-6.1 Sol: near-flagship capability at a fraction of the price is exactly the kind of release that changes which plan is worth paying for. Anthropic launched its rival the same week — see our Sonnet 5.5 coverage. Whether Sol really does match Astra on everyday professional work — if it does, the expensive tiers get a lot harder to justify. Try before you subscribe.
Sources: Barron’s, 9to5Mac, The UniTimes.