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April 12, 2026 · 1 min read

What is the difference between temperature and top_p in LLM API calls?

Temperature controls the randomness of token selection by scaling the probability distribution. Top_p (nucleus sampling) limits selection to the smallest set of tokens whose cumulative probability exceeds p. Both control…

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📅 Apr 12, 2026 ⏱ 1 min read

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What is the difference between temperature and top_p in LLM API calls?

COVER // WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TEMPERATURE AND TOP_P IN LLM API CALLS?

Temperature controls the randomness of token selection by scaling the probability distribution. Top_p (nucleus sampling) limits selection to the smallest set of tokens whose cumulative probability exceeds p. Both control output diversity but differently.

AI intermediate llm-api parameters sampling temperature

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