🇺🇸 USA · OpenAI API
Status: 🟩 COMPLETE 🟦 LIVING Last updated: 2026-06-26 Plain-English tagline: OpenAI’s developer platform — direct API access to GPT, gpt-image-1, Sora, Whisper, Voice Engine, Codex CLI, embeddings, and all OpenAI’s models. Distinct from ChatGPT (consumer) and Azure OpenAI Service (enterprise via Microsoft).
Front-matter facts
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Vendor | OpenAI (San Francisco, USA) |
| Country / origin | 🇺🇸 USA |
| Recommended for Australian users? | ✅ Yes — fully accessible from AUS; AUD card accepted; pre-paid credits or post-paid invoicing |
| Privacy summary | No training on API inputs by default (since March 2023); inputs retained 30 days for abuse-monitoring then deleted; Limited Access exemption available for compliance |
| Free tier | Free trial credit on sign-up (varies — sometimes US$5-18); free-tier rate limits on some models |
| Paid tiers | Pay-per-token; pre-paid credits; AUS card accepted; Enterprise via direct sales |
| First released | June 2020 (GPT-3 API) |
| Last reviewed | 2026-06-26 |
| Official site | https://platform.openai.com |
What it is
The OpenAI API is OpenAI’s developer platform at platform.openai.com. It’s the direct way to use OpenAI’s models in your own code, separate from:
- ChatGPT at chatgpt.com (consumer chat product)
- Azure OpenAI Service (enterprise distribution via Microsoft)
- DuckDuckGo / Brave Leo / Kagi (indirect access via privacy intermediaries)
API capabilities:
- Chat completions — GPT-5, GPT-5 mini, GPT-5 nano, o-series reasoning, GPT-4o legacy
- Image generation — gpt-image-1, DALL-E 3 (legacy)
- Video generation — Sora
- Voice — TTS API, Voice Engine (limited access), Whisper (speech-to-text)
- Embeddings — text-embedding-3-small / large
- Realtime API — bi-directional voice streaming (real-time agents)
- Codex — coding agent CLI (open-source, free; uses API)
- Operator / ChatGPT Agent — browser-based agent (limited API surface)
- Fine-tuning — adapt models on your data
- Batch API — async processing at 50% discount
- Assistants API — stateful agent orchestration
- Vector stores / Files — for RAG workflows
- Function calling / Tool use — agent capabilities
What you’d use it for
- Build apps that call GPT models in your own code
- Embed AI features in your products
- Custom chatbots with your own UI / branding
- Image generation via API for your apps
- Voice / transcription for your products
- Agent workflows — Assistants API, Realtime API
- Bulk processing — Batch API for cheap async work
- Codex CLI for terminal-based coding agent
- Fine-tuning GPT on your data for specialised use
When NOT to use OpenAI API:
- Personal chat use (use ChatGPT consumer instead — usually cheaper for the same use)
- Enterprise needing Azure compliance (use Azure OpenAI Service)
- Best-of-breed multi-model strategy (use AWS Bedrock / Vertex AI / OpenRouter)
- AUS data residency required (use Azure OpenAI Service in Australia East)
How to sign up + first 5 minutes from Australia
- Go to
platform.openai.com. Sign up with email / Google / Apple / Microsoft account. - Note: this is SEPARATE from ChatGPT — even if you have ChatGPT Plus, you need to sign up here too.
- Verify email + phone (Australian mobile (+61) accepted)
- Add payment method:
- AUS Visa / Mastercard / Amex accepted
- Pre-paid credits model — load credits, API draws from them
- Minimum top-up US$5
- Auto-top-up optional
- Get an API key — Dashboard → API keys → Create new
- Try it:
from openai import OpenAI client = OpenAI(api_key="sk-...") response = client.chat.completions.create( model="gpt-5", messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Hello"}] ) - Set usage limits — Settings → Limits → set monthly cap to prevent surprise charges
What it costs
Pay-per-token (most use)
Examples (verify current at openai.com/api/pricing):
| Model | Input ($ per million tokens) | Output ($ per million tokens) |
|---|---|---|
| GPT-5 | ~US$3 | ~US$15 |
| GPT-5 mini | ~US$0.15 | ~US$0.60 |
| GPT-5 nano | ~US$0.05 | ~US$0.20 |
| o-series reasoning | Higher (~US$15-60) | Higher |
| gpt-image-1 | Per-image (~US$0.02-0.08) | N/A |
| Sora | Per-second video | N/A |
| Whisper | ~US$0.006 / minute audio | N/A |
| TTS | ~US$15 per million characters | N/A |
| text-embedding-3-small | ~US$0.02 per million | N/A |
Batch API
- 50% discount on async processing (24-hour turnaround)
- Useful for bulk extraction / classification / generation
Provisioned Throughput
- Reserved capacity for guaranteed latency at scale
Free trial credit
- Often US$5-18 for new accounts (verify current)
How it compares to alternatives
| Aspect | OpenAI API direct | Azure OpenAI Service | AWS Bedrock | Vertex AI | Anthropic API direct |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Model breadth | OpenAI only | OpenAI only | Multi-vendor | Multi-vendor | Anthropic only |
| Cheapest for OpenAI | Yes (direct) | Slight markup | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| AUS data residency | Limited | Yes (Australia East) | Yes (Sydney) | Yes (Sydney + Melbourne) | Via Bedrock |
| Enterprise contracts | Direct OpenAI | Microsoft enterprise | AWS enterprise | Google enterprise | Anthropic enterprise |
| Newest features first | Yes | Slight lag | N/A | N/A | Yes (for Claude) |
| Cost (token pricing) | Lowest for OpenAI | Slightly higher | Slightly higher | Slightly higher | Lowest for Claude |
| Best for | Direct OpenAI prototyping + production | Microsoft-stack enterprise | Multi-vendor AWS | Multi-vendor GCP | Direct Anthropic |
For most developers prototyping or building products with OpenAI specifically, direct OpenAI API is the simplest and cheapest path. For AUS enterprise with data-residency, Azure OpenAI Service in Australia East wins.
Privacy / data handling
- No training on API inputs by default — contractually committed since March 2023
- Inputs retained 30 days for abuse-monitoring, then deleted
- Limited Access exemption available (no retention) for high-compliance customers
- Enterprise customers get tenant-isolated + additional commitments
- Tier 1+ accounts can opt out of zero-data-retention concerns via enterprise contract
- Data flows to US data centres by default; no native AUS data residency for direct OpenAI API (use Azure OpenAI Service for that)
Recent changes
- 2026: GPT-5 family broadly available via API; gpt-image-1 generally available; Sora API access; Codex CLI open-source
- 2025: Codex agent products launched
- 2024: GPT-4o and o-series; multimodal expanded
- March 2023: No-training-by-default policy announced
- June 2020: GPT-3 API original launch
Gotchas
- Separate from ChatGPT — ChatGPT Plus US$20/mo does NOT include API credits
- Pre-paid credits don’t roll over indefinitely — verify expiration policy
- Set usage limits to prevent surprise spending
- Rate limits scale with tier — new accounts have lower limits; build to higher tier through usage history
- AUS billing uses USD with conversion + fees on most cards; use fee-free card (Wise / Revolut / ANZ Plus / UP / ING Orange One)
- Latest model availability — new models sometimes have rolling region availability
- Function calling format changed in late 2025 with structured outputs — verify your client library is current
- Cost-optimisation matters — pick the right model tier (GPT-5 nano for simple tasks vs GPT-5 Pro for hard reasoning)
- Realtime API is brilliant for voice but consumes audio tokens — model usage carefully
See also
- ChatGPT 🟩 🟦 — consumer alternative
- GPT models lineup 🟥
- OpenAI Image (gpt-image-1) 🟩 🟦
- Sora 🟩 🟦
- Whisper 🟩 🟦
- OpenAI Voice Engine 🟥
- OpenAI Codex (2026 agent) 🟩 🟦
- OpenAI GPTs 🟩 🟦 — consumer custom assistants
- OpenAI Agents SDK 🟥
- Azure OpenAI Service 🟩 🟦 — enterprise alternative
- Claude API overview 🟩 🟦
- Mistral API 🟥
- OpenRouter 🟥 — multi-vendor aggregator
- How to access US AI from Australia 🟩 🟦
- privacy-and-data-training.md 🟩 🟦