FLAN-T5 Models by Google DeepMind
Last refreshed 2026-05-19. Next refresh: weekly.
Details
About
The FLAN-T5 family of large language models is a set of enhanced versions of the original T5 (Text-to-Text Transfer Transformer) models, introduced in the paper "Scaling Instruction-Finetuned Language Models" 489. These models incorporate improvements from T5 version 1.1 and have undergone instruction finetuning on a diverse mixture of over 1,000 tasks across multiple languages 2)3. The extensive fine-tuning enhances their zero-shot and few-shot performance, making them versatile for various natural language processing tasks 489. Google offers several FLAN-T5 variants, such as small, base, large, XL, and XXL, each varying in size and computational needs 489. They are accessible through the Hugging Face Transformers library, facilitating their application in numerous contexts 489. However, they were trained on data without filtering for explicit content or bias assessment, which may result in the generation of inappropriate content or the perpetuation of existing biases 1.
Decision facts
- Best fit
- General model comparison
- Capability starting point
- Flan-T5 XXL with 512 context
- Lowest tracked input
- Flan-T5 XL · $0.6/1M · IBM watsonx
- Closest related family
- T5Gemma
Current Variants
Use-when guidance is based on each model's tracked capabilities, context window, release date, and replacement status.
Use when the workload needs 512 context and 11B parameters.
Use when the workload needs 512 context and 3B parameters.
Use when the workload needs 512 context and 780M parameters.
Use when the workload needs 512 context and 80M parameters.
Use when the workload needs 512 context and 250M parameters.
| Model | Use when | Released | Signals | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flan-T5 XXL | Use when the workload needs 512 context and 11B parameters. | 2022-10 | 512 context11B parameters | Current |
| Flan-T5 XL | Use when the workload needs 512 context and 3B parameters. | 2022-10 | 512 context3B parameters | Current |
| Flan-T5 Large | Use when the workload needs 512 context and 780M parameters. | 2022-10 | 512 context780M parameters | Current |
| Flan-T5 Small | Use when the workload needs 512 context and 80M parameters. | 2022-10 | 512 context80M parameters | Current |
| Flan-T5 Base | Use when the workload needs 512 context and 250M parameters. | 2022-10 | 512 context250M parameters | Current |
Release Timeline
1 release groupSpecifications(5 models)
| Model | Released | Context | Parameters |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flan-T5 XXL | 2022-10 | 512 | 11B |
| Flan-T5 XL | 2022-10 | 512 | 3B |
| Flan-T5 Large | 2022-10 | 512 | 780M |
| Flan-T5 Small | 2022-10 | 512 | 80M |
| Flan-T5 Base | 2022-10 | 512 | 250M |
Available From(2 providers)
Pricing
| Model | Provider | Input / 1M | Output / 1M | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flan-T5 XL | IBM watsonx | $0.6 | $0.6 | Serverless |
| Flan-T5 XXL | IBM watsonx | $1.8 | $1.8 | Serverless |
