When does GPT-5 shut down?

OpenAI has announced 2026-12-11 as the shutdown date for GPT-5.

What does GPT-5 cost?

$1.25 per million input tokens and $10.00 per million output tokens, as last verified on 2026-09-10.

What should I use instead of GPT-5?

OpenAI GPT-5.6 Sol — The replacement named on OpenAI's deprecation page: $4 / $20 against $1.25 / $10, with a 1.05M-token window and a February 2026 cutoff. OpenAI GPT-5.6 Terra — Half the price of Sol at $2 / $12 with the same limits, if the migration is also a chance to cut cost. Anthropic Claude Sonnet 5 — Anthropic's mid tier at $2 / $10 with a 1M-token window, if you are reconsidering the provider at the same time.

Is OpenAI GPT-5 deprecated?

Deprecated

Yes. GPT-5 is deprecated and OpenAI shuts it down on 2026-12-11 — in ~3 months.

gpt-5-2025-08-07 last verified 10 September 2026

Summary

GPT-5 is deprecated and is retired on 11 December 2026. OpenAI names GPT-5.6 Sol as its replacement. Until then it still runs at $1.25 per million input tokens and $10 per million output tokens with a 400K-token context window.

OpenAI deprecated gpt-5-2025-08-07 on 11 June 2026 and set the shutdown for 11 December 2026. After that date, requests to this model ID fail. The whole GPT-5 family went at once: mini, nano and Pro carry the same two dates.

It accepts text and image input and returns text, with a 400K-token context window, 128K max output and a 30 September 2024 knowledge cutoff. GPT-5.6 Sol, the named replacement, costs more per token ($4 / $20 against $1.25 / $10) but adds a 1.05M-token window and a February 2026 cutoff.

Plan the migration against the shutdown date, not against the deprecation date.

Modality: Text
Vision
Use case: Chat
Coding
Reasoning
Agents & tool use
Long context
Web search
Tier: Mid-tier
Access: Hosted API

Specifications

Input price: $1.25 / M tokens
Output price: $10.00 / M tokens
Price band: Premium
Context window: 400K tokens
Max output: 128K tokens
Input: Text, image
Output: Text
Knowledge cutoff: September 2024
Tool use: Yes
Structured output: Yes
Weights licence: not published
Model maker: OpenAI

“unknown” means the figure has not been published, or we have not verified it yet — never that the answer is no. “not published” under the weights licence means this model is not offered with downloadable weights. The price band is ours: it bands the blended price (three parts input to one part output) as budget (≤ $0.50), standard (≤ $3), premium (≤ $12) or flagship.

Lifecycle

Released 7 August 2025
Deprecated 11 June 2026
Retired 11 December 2026 in ~3 months

Use it for

Keep existing traffic running while you migrate to the replacement before 11 December 2026.
Compare output against GPT-5.6 Sol so the switch does not change behaviour you depend on.

Avoid it when

You are starting a new integration; this model is retired on 11 December 2026.
Your prompts depend on facts after September 2024, this model's knowledge cutoff.
You need a context window above 400K tokens.

What to use instead of GPT-5

GPT-5.6 Sol Curated

OpenAI Active

The replacement named on OpenAI's deprecation page: $4 / $20 against $1.25 / $10, with a 1.05M-token window and a February 2026 cutoff.

$4.00 in · $20.00 out / M tokens 1.1M context
GPT-5.6 Terra Curated

OpenAI Active

Half the price of Sol at $2 / $12 with the same limits, if the migration is also a chance to cut cost.

$2.00 in · $12.00 out / M tokens 1.1M context
Claude Sonnet 5 Curated

Anthropic Active

Anthropic's mid tier at $2 / $10 with a 1M-token window, if you are reconsidering the provider at the same time.

$2.00 in · $10.00 out / M tokens 1M context
Gemini 3.6 Flash Curated

Google (Gemini) Active

Google's balanced tier at $0.75 / $3.75, cheaper than the model being retired, with audio, video and PDF input.

$0.75 in · $3.75 out / M tokens 1M context
GPT-5 Derived

Microsoft Azure AI Foundry Active

Alternative from Microsoft Azure AI Foundry, same tier (mid-tier), similar price; shares chat, coding, reasoning, agents, long-context and search.

$1.25 in · $10.00 out / M tokens 400K context

Curated suggestions were picked by a reviewer, with the reason written by hand. Derived suggestions are ranked from the data — shared tags, the same tier and a comparable price band — not from benchmark scores. Check the capability fit yourself: we track lifecycle, price and specifications.

Sources

developers.openai.com https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/deprecations
developers.openai.com https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/models/gpt-5

Verified against the source on 10 September 2026. Dataset snapshot 10 September 2026. Providers can change a date without notice — the link above is always the final word.

About this profile

The specifications and dates above are facts from OpenAI, with the sources listed. The summary, the use-for and avoid-when lists and the curated alternatives are our assessment: editorial profile reviewed on 21 September 2026 by llm-researcher.

developers.openai.com https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/pricing

Common questions

Is GPT-5 deprecated?: Yes. GPT-5 is deprecated and OpenAI shuts it down on 2026-12-11 — in ~3 months.
When does GPT-5 shut down?: OpenAI has announced 2026-12-11 as the shutdown date for GPT-5.
What does GPT-5 cost?: $1.25 per million input tokens and $10.00 per million output tokens, as last verified on 2026-09-10.
What should I use instead of GPT-5?: OpenAI GPT-5.6 Sol — The replacement named on OpenAI's deprecation page: $4 / $20 against $1.25 / $10, with a 1.05M-token window and a February 2026 cutoff. OpenAI GPT-5.6 Terra — Half the price of Sol at $2 / $12 with the same limits, if the migration is also a chance to cut cost. Anthropic Claude Sonnet 5 — Anthropic's mid tier at $2 / $10 with a 1M-token window, if you are reconsidering the provider at the same time.

All OpenAI models and their end dates →