# Priority processing

Get faster processing in the API with flexible pricing.

Priority processing gives significantly lower, more consistent latency compared
to Standard processing while keeping pay-as-you-go flexibility.

Priority processing is ideal for high-value, user-facing applications with
regular traffic where latency is paramount. Priority processing should not be
used for data processing, evaluations, or other highly erratic traffic.

```bash
curl https://api.openai.com/v1/responses   -H "Authorization: Bearer $OPENAI_API_KEY"   -H "Content-Type: application/json"   -d '{
    "model": "gpt-5",
    "input": "What does 'fit check for my napalm era' mean?",
    "service_tier": "priority"
  }'
```

```javascript
import OpenAI from "openai";

const openai = new OpenAI();

const response = await openai.responses.create({
  model: "gpt-5",
  input: "What does 'fit check for my napalm era' mean?",
  service_tier: "priority",
});

console.log(response);
```

```python
from openai import OpenAI

client = OpenAI()

response = client.responses.create(
    model="gpt-5",
    input="What does 'fit check for my napalm era' mean?",
    service_tier="priority"
)
print(response)
```

Responses contain the assigned tier for the request. Requests that cannot be
handled by priority processing will be assigned `default`, or `priority` if they
were assigned for priority processing.

## Rate limits and ramp rate

**Baseline limits**

Priority consumption is treated like Standard for rateâlimit accounting. Use
your usual retry and backoff logic. For a given model, the rate limit is shared
between Standard and Priority processing.

**Ramp rate limit**

If your traffic ramps too quickly, some Priority requests may be downgraded to
Standard and billed at Standard rates. The response will show
service_tier="default". Currently, the ramp rate limit may apply if youâre
sending at least 1 million TPM and >50% TPM increase within 15 minutes. To avoid
triggering the ramp rate limit, we recommend:

- Ramp gradually when changing models or snapshots
- Use feature flags to shift traffic over hours, not instantly.
- Avoid large ETL or batch jobs on Priority

## Usage considerations

- Per token costs are billed at a premium to standard - see
  [pricing](https://platform.openai.com/docs/pricing) for more information.
- Cache discounts are still applied for priority processing requests.
- Priority processing applies for multimodal / image input requests as well.
- Requests handled with priority processing can be viewed in the dashboard using
  the "group by service tier" option.
- See the [pricing page](https://platform.openai.com/docs/pricing) for which
  models currently support Priority processing.
- Long context, fine-tuned models and embeddings are not yet supported.