How fast do LLM models become obsolete?

A model's real shelf life is set by its own maker's release cadence. Across 207 dated models from 15 labs, the busiest brands ship a new model every few weeks — and the global release rate keeps climbing. Three views: each lab's timeline, its median time between releases, and the market-wide acceleration. This measures release cadence, not forced retirement — old models often stay served, at falling prices.

Every release, brand by brand

One row per lab, one dot per model release. Rows sorted by cadence — the density tells the story. Hover a dot for the model; click for its page.

A new model every N days

Median time between two releases of the same lab — the shorter the bar, the faster yesterday's model stops being the newest.

Median of the gaps between consecutive dated releases of each brand (15 brands with 2+ dated models).

The release rate is accelerating

Model releases per quarter across all brands in the index — the market ships faster every year, so shelf lives shrink for everyone.

Only models with a full, sourced release date and a live paid price are counted (207 of the index). The current quarter is still filling up. Verified 2026-10-23. See also price by model age, per brand and the falling price of intelligence ·methodology.