Is OpenAI GPT-5 nano deprecated?
Yes. GPT-5 nano is deprecated and OpenAI shuts it down on 2026-12-11 — in ~3 months.
Summary
GPT-5 nano is deprecated and is retired on 11 December 2026. OpenAI names GPT-5.6 Luna as its replacement. At $0.05 per million input tokens and $0.4 per million output tokens it is the cheapest of the profiled Anthropic, OpenAI and Google models, and no OpenAI replacement matches that price.
OpenAI deprecated gpt-5-nano-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 a 400K-token context window, 128K max output and a 31 May 2024 knowledge cutoff. OpenAI positioned it for summarisation and classification.
The migration has a real cost impact: GPT-5.6 Luna, the named replacement, charges $0.2 per million input tokens, four times this model's rate. If cost is the binding constraint, Google's Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite at $0.1 / $0.4 is the closest active model on price among the three core providers.
- Modality
- Use case
- Tier
- Access
Specifications
- Input price
- $0.05 / M tokens
- Output price
- $0.40 / M tokens
- Price band
- Budget
- 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
- Deprecated
- Retired in ~3 months
Use it for
- Keep high-volume classification and summarisation running while you migrate before 11 December 2026.
- Benchmark candidate replacements against it on both quality and cost per thousand calls.
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.
- The task needs multi-step reasoning rather than classification or summarisation.
What to use instead of GPT-5 nano
-
GPT-5.6 Luna Curated
The replacement named on OpenAI's deprecation page, at $0.2 / $1.2 against $0.05 / $0.4, so four times the input price.
$0.20 in · $1.20 out / M tokens 1.1M context
-
Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Curated
The closest active model on price among the three core providers at $0.1 / $0.4, with roughly a 1M-token window.
$0.10 in · $0.40 out / M tokens 1M context
-
GPT-5.4 nano Curated
Stays with OpenAI at $0.2 / $1.25 and keeps the 400K-token window, but with an August 2025 knowledge cutoff.
$0.20 in · $1.25 out / M tokens 400K context
-
Claude Haiku 4.5 Curated
Anthropic's small tier at $1 / $5, twenty times the input price, so only worth it if quality is the deciding factor.
$1.00 in · $5.00 out / M tokens 200K context
-
GPT-5 nano Derived
Alternative from Microsoft Azure AI Foundry, same tier (small), similar price; shares chat, coding, reasoning, agents, long-context and search.
$0.05 in · $0.40 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-nano
Verified against the source on . Dataset snapshot . 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 by llm-researcher.
- developers.openai.com https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/pricing
Common questions
- Is GPT-5 nano deprecated?
- Yes. GPT-5 nano is deprecated and OpenAI shuts it down on 2026-12-11 — in ~3 months.
- When does GPT-5 nano shut down?
- OpenAI has announced 2026-12-11 as the shutdown date for GPT-5 nano.
- What does GPT-5 nano cost?
- $0.05 per million input tokens and $0.40 per million output tokens, as last verified on 2026-09-10.
- What should I use instead of GPT-5 nano?
- OpenAI GPT-5.6 Luna — The replacement named on OpenAI's deprecation page, at $0.2 / $1.2 against $0.05 / $0.4, so four times the input price. Google (Gemini) Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite — The closest active model on price among the three core providers at $0.1 / $0.4, with roughly a 1M-token window. OpenAI GPT-5.4 nano — Stays with OpenAI at $0.2 / $1.25 and keeps the 400K-token window, but with an August 2025 knowledge cutoff.