9 effective ways to reduce OpenAI API costs

In today’s AI-driven world, using artificial intelligence services like OpenAI API can quickly become expensive. However, by making necessary adjustments, you can reduce costs while benefiting from the platform’s powerful capabilities.

In this blog post, we’ll discuss six simple yet effective ways to optimize your usage and cut down on OpenAI API expenses.

1. Skip politeness and conciseness

First and foremost, be mindful of the content you send to the API. The API charges are based on the tokens (words and characters) used; the more tokens you use, the higher the cost.

To avoid this, trim down your input questions and avoid excessive politeness (e.g., using ‘please’ or ‘kindly’). The shorter and more concise you make your input, the lower the token consumption and associated costs.

2. Adjust the temperature setting

The temperature setting significantly influences the creativity and randomness of the AI-generated output. By setting the temperature to 0, the model will return a more deterministic and structured response.

This results in fewer tokens in the output and may lead to reduced API costs.

3. Optimize your JSON data

OpenAI API charges are also based on your JSON query’s size. Get rid of extra spaces, line breaks, and unnecessary data to minimize the space your JSON data consumes. The more compact your JSON structure, the fewer tokens you will use, and the lower the costs.

You can find more about reducing JSON size in this Reddit discussion.

4. Use system-level characters

Effective use of system-level characters can minimize unnecessary verbosity in responses. For instance, you can instruct the model to provide shorter answers or deliver content in bullet points.

By guiding the model efficiently, you can save tokens and effectively lower your API costs.

5. Limit the max tokens output

To keep the response within desired bounds and manage costs better, set a maximum value for the tokens output using the max_tokens parameter. This ensures the response doesn’t exceed the specified length and helps you control API expenses.

6. Perform bulk API calls

Last but not least, try to perform API calls in bulk. Instead of submitting individual requests, combine multiple inputs within a single call. This allows you to reduce the frequency of API calls and optimally utilize tokens in each call.

7. Remove punctuation where possible

In many cases, you can reduce prompt token usage by removing most punctuation. Understandably, some situations require punctuation for clarity, but the AI is often able to fill in the gaps and provide accurate answers even when punctuation is removed.

Keep in mind that removing punctuation may impact the output and understanding in highly structured responses or use cases that involve the comprehension of large contexts.

8. Leverage prompt paraphrasing

Another effective method to reduce costs is paraphrasing your prompts. Take this example of requesting dinner recipe ideas: the original prompt reads, “Suggest some delicious dinner ideas that are both healthy and easy to prepare”. By paraphrasing it to “Provide tasty, healthy, and simple dinner recipes”, you reduce the tokens used from 13 to 10, saving 3 tokens.

This technique demonstrates that rephrasing your prompts to use fewer tokens without losing essential information can result in substantial savings in the long run. Make it a habit to optimize your prompts before submitting them to the API.

Also, see other interesting ways to write better prompts for ChatGPT.

9. Opt for shorter placeholders

When your prompt requires a placeholder, using a shorter one can help reduce the token count. For instance, if the prompt is “write an email to Sebastian about the next meeting”, you can replace ‘Sebastian’ with a smaller name like ‘John’. This small change reduces token usage, contributing to lower OpenAI API costs.

That’s it.

By adopting these best practices, you can ensure more cost-effective utilization of the OpenAI API. Making the right adjustments in your requests and staying mindful of their impact on costs can help you make the most of artificial intelligence without breaking the bank.

Now, it’s time for you to implement these optimization strategies and enjoy better AI usage with reduced expenses.

Happy coding!