When does GPT-5 mini shut down?

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

What does GPT-5 mini cost?

$0.25 per million input tokens and $2.00 per million output tokens, as last verified on 2026-09-10.

What should I use instead of GPT-5 mini?

OpenAI GPT-5.6 Terra — The replacement named on OpenAI's deprecation page, at $2 / $12 against $0.25 / $2, with a 1.05M-token window. OpenAI GPT-5.6 Luna — Cheaper than the model being retired at $0.2 / $1.2, with the same 1.05M-token window and a February 2026 cutoff. Google (Gemini) Gemini 2.5 Flash — Google's price-performance tier at $0.3 / $2.5, close to the current price, with roughly a 1M-token window.

Is OpenAI GPT-5 mini deprecated?

Deprecated

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

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

Summary

GPT-5 mini is deprecated and is retired on 11 December 2026. OpenAI names GPT-5.6 Terra as its replacement. Until then it runs at $0.25 per million input tokens and $2 per million output tokens with a 400K-token context window.

OpenAI deprecated gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07 on 11 June 2026 with a shutdown on 11 December 2026. After that date, requests to this model ID fail.

It accepts text and image input and returns text, with 128K max output and a 31 May 2024 knowledge cutoff, which it shares with GPT-5 nano and which is four months older than the September 2024 cutoff of GPT-5 and GPT-5 Pro. The named replacement, GPT-5.6 Terra, costs eight times as much per input token ($2 against $0.25) but adds a 1.05M-token window and a February 2026 cutoff.

If the price jump is the problem, GPT-5.6 Luna is the cheaper option in the same generation at $0.2 / $1.2, below the price of the model being retired.

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

Specifications

Input price: $0.25 / M tokens
Output price: $2.00 / M tokens
Price band: Standard
Context window: 400K tokens
Max output: 128K tokens
Input: Text, image
Output: Text
Knowledge cutoff: May 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 before 11 December 2026.
Compare output against GPT-5.6 Terra and GPT-5.6 Luna to see which one your workload actually needs.

Avoid it when

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

What to use instead of GPT-5 mini

GPT-5.6 Terra Curated

OpenAI Active

The replacement named on OpenAI's deprecation page, at $2 / $12 against $0.25 / $2, with a 1.05M-token window.

$2.00 in · $12.00 out / M tokens 1.1M context
GPT-5.6 Luna Curated

OpenAI Active

Cheaper than the model being retired at $0.2 / $1.2, with the same 1.05M-token window and a February 2026 cutoff.

$0.20 in · $1.20 out / M tokens 1.1M context
Gemini 2.5 Flash Curated

Google (Gemini) Active

Google's price-performance tier at $0.3 / $2.5, close to the current price, with roughly a 1M-token window.

$0.30 in · $2.50 out / M tokens 1M context
Claude Haiku 4.5 Curated

Anthropic Active

Anthropic's small tier at $1 / $5, four times the input price, with a 200K-token window.

$1.00 in · $5.00 out / M tokens 200K context
GPT-5 mini Derived

Microsoft Azure AI Foundry Active

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

$0.25 in · $2.00 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-mini

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 mini deprecated?: Yes. GPT-5 mini is deprecated and OpenAI shuts it down on 2026-12-11 — in ~3 months.
When does GPT-5 mini shut down?: OpenAI has announced 2026-12-11 as the shutdown date for GPT-5 mini.
What does GPT-5 mini cost?: $0.25 per million input tokens and $2.00 per million output tokens, as last verified on 2026-09-10.
What should I use instead of GPT-5 mini?: OpenAI GPT-5.6 Terra — The replacement named on OpenAI's deprecation page, at $2 / $12 against $0.25 / $2, with a 1.05M-token window. OpenAI GPT-5.6 Luna — Cheaper than the model being retired at $0.2 / $1.2, with the same 1.05M-token window and a February 2026 cutoff. Google (Gemini) Gemini 2.5 Flash — Google's price-performance tier at $0.3 / $2.5, close to the current price, with roughly a 1M-token window.

All OpenAI models and their end dates →