Deprecations / Migrate

Migrate off GPT-3.5 Turbo

Deprecated

GPT-3.5 Turbo is deprecated and shuts down on 23 Oct 2026. OpenAI's official replacement is GPT-5.6 Terra. The cheapest comparable model we track is Llama 3.1 8B Instruct (Meta) at $0.022 per 1M tokens blended.

Last verified: 26 Sep 2026 · sourced from official provider documentation

What changes

GPT-3.5 Turbo → GPT-5.6 Terra

Moving to GPT-5.6 Terra means 6.0× more expensive ($0.75 → $4.50 /1M blended) and a larger context window (16K → 1.1M).

SpecGPT-3.5 TurboGPT-5.6 Terra
StatusDeprecatedGA
Blended price /1M$0.75$4.50
Input / output /1M$0.5 / $1.50$2 / $12
Context window16K1.1M
Max output4096128.000
Modalitytexttext, image
Knowledge cutoff1 Sep 202116 Feb 2026

API string was gpt-3.5-turbo-0125 → switch to gpt-5.6-terra. See GPT-5.6 Terra's full spec sheet →

Cheapest alternatives

Budget-friendly replacements for GPT-3.5 Turbo

Generally-available models that match GPT-3.5 Turbo's capabilities (and at least half its 16K context), ranked by blended price. Every number is computed from official catalog prices.

ModelBlended /1MInput / outputContext
Llama 3.1 8B Instruct
Meta
$0.022$0.02 / $0.03128K
Amazon Nova Micro
Amazon
$0.061$0.035 / $0.14128K
Command R7B
Cohere
$0.066$0.037 / $0.15128K
FAQ

Migrating off GPT-3.5 Turbo

What replaces GPT-3.5 Turbo?

OpenAI's recommended migration for GPT-3.5 Turbo is GPT-5.6 Terra. The cheapest comparable model in our catalog is Llama 3.1 8B Instruct (Meta) at $0.022/1M blended.

When is GPT-3.5 Turbo shut down?

GPT-3.5 Turbo is deprecated and scheduled to shut down on 23 Oct 2026 (deprecated 22 Apr 2026). Migrate before that date to avoid a 404.

What is the cheapest alternative to GPT-3.5 Turbo?

Llama 3.1 8B Instruct (Meta) is the cheapest generally-available alternative we track that matches GPT-3.5 Turbo's capabilities, at $0.02 per 1M input and $0.03 per 1M output tokens ($0.022/1M blended).

Browse the full deprecation watch → or see GPT-3.5 Turbo's full spec sheet →