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AI API Limits & Performance Matrix9 min readVerified July 10, 2026

GPT-4 Turbo API Rate Limits, Pricing & Performance (July 2026)

GPT-4 Turbo is not on OpenAI's current pricing table as of July 2026 — it is delisted and superseded by GPT-4.1 (1M context) and the GPT-5 line. Current first-party pricing is not published. Fine-tuning is blocked for new organizations since May 7, 2026; existing org fine-tuning ends January 6, 2027. If you are hitting 429 errors on existing GPT-4 Turbo integrations, the playbook below applies — migration to GPT-5.5 or GPT-4.1 is the recommended long-term fix.

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Deprecated model

Sunsets Fine-tuning deadline: January 6, 2027 (existing orgs only). API endpoint sunset: not announced.

GPT-4 Turbo is not on OpenAI's current pricing table as of July 10, 2026; delisted and superseded by GPT-4.1 (1M context) and the GPT-5 line. Self-serve fine-tuning blocked for new organizations since May 7, 2026; existing org fine-tuning until January 6, 2027. No official removal date announced for API access itself.

Migrate to:GPT-5.5GPT-5.5 is the current OpenAI flagship with 1M context, prompt caching at $0.50/MTok, and published pricing — a direct drop-in replacement for chat/completion use cases.
OpenAIGenerally available

API model string

gpt-4-turbo

Context window

128K tokens

Max output 4K tokens

Knowledge cutoff
April 2024
Released
2023-11
Modalities
text, image in; text out

Last verified July 10, 2026

Rate limits by tier

GPT-4 Turbo is a delisted legacy model — no official per-tier limits are published as of July 10, 2026. Historical dashboard limits (GPT-4-class Tier 1) were approximately 500 RPM / 10,000–30,000 TPM; these may no longer reflect current allocation. All figures must be verified in your OpenAI dashboard.

TierRequirementsRPMTPMRPDConcurrentNotes
FreeNo free production tiernot publishednot publishednot publishednot publishedNo free production access; model is legacy/delisted.
Tier 1~$5 cumulative spendnot published (legacy; verify in dashboard)not publishednot publishednot publishedHistorical GPT-4-class Tier 1 was ~500 RPM / 10K–30K TPM (pre-2026, third-party — verify); model-specific legacy limits may differ.
Tier 2–4$50–$250 cumulative spendnot publishednot publishednot publishednot publishedVerify in dashboard; limits may be lower than current-gen models.
Tier 5~$1,000 cumulative + 30 daysnot publishednot publishednot publishednot publishedManual limit-increase request via Settings → Limits → Request increase; 3–10 business-day response.
EnterpriseContact salesnot publishednot publishednot publishednot publishednot published

Swipe the table sideways to see every limit column.

  • 1.GPT-4 Turbo is delisted from OpenAI's current pricing table — no official per-tier limits are published as of July 10, 2026.
  • 2.Historical dashboard limits (pre-2026) were GPT-4-class: Tier 1 ~500 RPM / 10–30K TPM; these may no longer reflect current allocation.
  • 3.OpenAI's recommended replacement is GPT-5.4, GPT-5.5, or GPT-4.1 (1M context).
  • 4.Self-serve fine-tuning for GPT-4 Turbo blocked for new orgs as of May 7, 2026; existing customers until January 6, 2027.
  • 5.GPT-4 Turbo pricing is not published (delisted) as of July 10, 2026.
  • 6.Historical third-party data (pre-delisting, not current first-party): approximately $10.00 input / $30.00 output per MTok — verify, not current pricing.
  • 7.Batch API eligibility for this legacy model: not confirmed; verify on current OpenAI pricing page.
  • 8.Migration recommendation: GPT-5.5 ($5.00/$30.00/MTok with $0.50/MTok caching) or GPT-4.1 nano ($0.10/$0.40/MTok) — both cheaper than historical GPT-4 Turbo pricing.

Limits verified against the OpenAI docs, July 10, 2026.

gpt-4-turbo vs the alternatives

GPT-4 Turbo (delisted) compared to its live successors GPT-5.5 and legacy GPT-4o.

Aspectgpt-4-turboGPT-5 (GPT-5.5)GPT-4o
Input pricenot published (delisted; hist ~$10.00)$5.00/MTok$2.50/MTok (Azure ref)
Output pricenot published (delisted; hist ~$30.00)$30.00/MTok$10.00/MTok (Azure ref)
Context window128K~1M (922K)128K
Model statuslegacy/delistedga currentlegacy
Knowledge cutoffApr 2024Dec 2025Oct 2023
Pricing availabilitynot publishedpublishedAzure reference
Fine-tuningblocked for new orgs (May 7, 2026)being wound downbeing wound down

Swipe the table sideways to see every model.

Hitting a 429? The playbook

The exact errors you'll see

429 Too Many Requests{"error": {"message": "Rate limit reached for gpt-4-turbo in organization org-xxx on requests per min (RPM): ...", "type": "requests", "code": "rate_limit_exceeded"}}HTTP header Retry-Afterx-ratelimit-limit-requestsx-ratelimit-remaining-requestsx-ratelimit-reset-requestsx-ratelimit-limit-tokensx-ratelimit-remaining-tokensx-ratelimit-reset-tokens

Why it happens & how to fix it

RPM exceeded — GPT-4-class historically had lower starting limits than GPT-3.5 Turbo

Exponential backoff; check exact limit in your dashboard — legacy limits may not match current published tables.

TPM exceeded on 128K context prompts

Reduce prompt length; chunk documents; set conservative max_tokens (GPT-4 Turbo's 4K max output means input management is the primary lever).

Legacy model deprioritized in OpenAI's request queue

Migrate to GPT-5.5 (gpt-5.5) or GPT-4.1 (gpt-4.1) — current-gen models receive higher capacity allocation.

Fine-tuned GPT-4 Turbo jobs no longer startable for new orgs (May 7, 2026)

Migrate fine-tuning to a supported model before the January 6, 2027 deadline for existing orgs.

Organization-shared limits exhausted by multiple services on one API key

Isolate GPT-4 Turbo traffic to a separate API key; monitor per-key usage in the dashboard.

Retry strategy

Honor the Retry-After header on every 429 response. Implement exponential backoff with jitter starting at 1 second, doubling each retry up to 60 seconds. OpenAI uses rolling 60-second windows — not fixed clock resets — so waits are typically short. Plan migration to GPT-5.5 as the long-term resolution.

retry.ts
1import OpenAI, { RateLimitError } from "openai";
2
3const client = new OpenAI({ apiKey: process.env.OPENAI_API_KEY });
4
5async function chatWithRetry(
6 messages: OpenAI.Chat.ChatCompletionMessageParam[],
7 maxRetries = 6
8): Promise<string> {
9 let attempt = 0;
10 while (attempt <= maxRetries) {
11 try {
12 const response = await client.chat.completions.create({
13 model: "gpt-4-turbo", // migrate to "gpt-5.5" or "gpt-4.1" — same API shape
14 messages,
15 max_tokens: 1024,
16 });
17 return response.choices[0].message.content ?? "";
18 } catch (err) {
19 if (err instanceof RateLimitError) {
20 const retryAfter = Number(err.headers?.["retry-after"] ?? 0);
21 const jitter = Math.random() * 1000;
22 const backoff = retryAfter > 0
23 ? retryAfter * 1000
24 : Math.min(1000 * 2 ** attempt, 60_000) + jitter;
25 console.warn(`429 — retrying in ${(backoff / 1000).toFixed(1)}s (attempt ${attempt + 1}/${maxRetries})`);
26 await new Promise(r => setTimeout(r, backoff));
27 attempt++;
28 } else {
29 throw err;
30 }
31 }
32 }
33 throw new Error("Max retries reached");
34}

How to raise your limits

The ladder from the starter tier to enterprise — what each rung takes, and what it unlocks.

1

Legacy Tier 1

Automatic

~$5 cumulative spend

Unlocks: Historical GPT-4-class limits (dashboard is authoritative — legacy limits may differ from current published tables)

2

Tier 2–4

Automatic

$50–$250 cumulative spend

Unlocks: Higher limits; verify in dashboard as legacy limits may not scale identically to current models

3

Tier 5

Automatic; manual limit-increase request thereafter (3–10 business-day response)

$1,000 cumulative + 30 days; then Settings → Limits → Request increase

Unlocks: Manual limit-increase form available at Tier 5

4

Migrate to GPT-5.5 (recommended)

Immediate

Change model parameter to gpt-5.5 — same OpenAI API shape

Unlocks: Current-gen capacity + 1M context + prompt caching at $0.50/MTok + published pricing

5

Migrate to GPT-4.1

Immediate

Change model parameter to gpt-4.1

Unlocks: 1M context window with current-gen support and likely lower input price

Cut your token spend

Migrate to GPT-5.5 or GPT-4.1

GPT-4.1 offers 1M context; GPT-5.5 adds $0.50/MTok prompt caching and Dec 2025 knowledge cutoff

Change model: "gpt-4-turbo" to model: "gpt-5.5" or model: "gpt-4.1" — the API request/response shape is identical. Migration is the single highest-impact optimization available.

Set max_tokens explicitly

GPT-4 Turbo's 4K max output means you rarely hit output caps; input token management is the primary lever

Set max_tokens to your actual needed output length; avoid leaving it at default which may over-reserve TPM quota.

Chunk large documents

Keeps individual requests under per-request TPM estimate

Split 128K-context inputs into smaller chunks rather than sending a single maximum-context request; reduces TPM pressure per call.

Use Batch API if eligible

50% off input and output; dedicated pool not competing with live RPM quota

Verify GPT-4 Turbo Batch eligibility on the current OpenAI pricing page — legacy models may be excluded. Use for offline classification or summarization.

Monitor fine-tuning migration timeline

Avoid Jan 6, 2027 hard deadline for existing org fine-tuned GPT-4 Turbo models

Audit all fine-tuned GPT-4 Turbo checkpoints; plan migration to a supported model before the deadline.

Consolidate API calls within 128K context

Reduces total request count, cutting RPM pressure

GPT-4 Turbo has strong instruction-following; consolidate what previously required multiple calls into one larger prompt within the 128K limit.

Frequently asked questions

Is GPT-4 Turbo still available?

The GPT-4 Turbo API endpoint (gpt-4-turbo) remains callable as of July 2026, but it is delisted from OpenAI's current pricing table. No official shutdown date has been announced for API access. Fine-tuning is blocked for new organizations since May 7, 2026.

What are the GPT-4 Turbo API rate limits?

OpenAI does not publish per-tier rate limits for GPT-4 Turbo as of July 10, 2026 (delisted model). Historical GPT-4-class Tier 1 was approximately 500 RPM / 10,000–30,000 TPM — but these figures are from pre-2026 third-party trackers and may no longer reflect current allocation. Check your actual limits in the OpenAI dashboard.

What is the GPT-4 Turbo price per token?

GPT-4 Turbo pricing is not published (delisted) as of July 2026. Historical third-party data (pre-delisting) showed approximately $10.00 input / $30.00 output per MTok — but these are not current first-party figures. OpenAI recommends GPT-5.5 ($5.00/$30.00/MTok) or GPT-4.1 nano ($0.10/$0.40/MTok) as replacements.

What should I migrate GPT-4 Turbo to?

For most chat/completion use cases, migrate to GPT-5.5 (model: "gpt-5.5") — same API shape, 1M context, and published pricing. For budget-sensitive or high-volume workloads, GPT-4.1 nano (model: "gpt-4.1-nano") at $0.10/$0.40/MTok is OpenAI's recommended low-cost path.

When does GPT-4 Turbo fine-tuning end?

Self-serve fine-tuning for GPT-4 Turbo was blocked for new organizations as of May 7, 2026. Existing organizations have until January 6, 2027 to complete fine-tuning. No deadline has been announced for the base API endpoint.

How do I fix a 429 error on GPT-4 Turbo?

Check the Retry-After header on the 429 response and wait that many seconds. Implement exponential backoff with jitter (1s start, double each retry, max 60s). OpenAI uses rolling 60-second windows, so waits are usually short. Long-term: migrate to GPT-5.5 for better capacity allocation.

GPT-4 Turbo vs GPT-5: which should I use?

GPT-5.5 for all new projects. GPT-4 Turbo is delisted with no published pricing, has a shorter 128K context, older knowledge cutoff (April 2024), and receives lower capacity allocation as a legacy model. GPT-5.5 is cheaper per input token than historical GPT-4 Turbo pricing and offers 1M context.

Can RapidDev help migrate our GPT-4 Turbo integration?

Yes. RapidDev engineers handle GPT-4 Turbo to GPT-5.5 migrations including API updates, prompt caching setup, and fine-tuning migration planning. Book a free scoping call at rapidevelopers.com/contact.

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