Model Comparison
Claude 3 Opus vs GPT-3.5 TurboWhich is better in 2026?
Claude 3 Opus significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. GPT-3.5 Turbo is 40.0x cheaper per token.
Verdict: Claude 3 Opus vs GPT-3.5 Turbo — which is better?
Claude 3 Opus (by Anthropic) and GPT-3.5 Turbo (by OpenAI) are two of the AI models people compare most. Here is how they stack up on benchmarks, price and capabilities, and which one to pick in 2026.
Claude 3 Opus outperforms in 6 benchmarks (DROP, GPQA, HumanEval, MATH, MGSM, MMLU), while GPT-3.5 Turbo is better at 0 benchmarks. Claude 3 Opus significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
On price, GPT-3.5 Turbo is roughly 40.0x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.
Claude 3 Opus also accepts a larger context window (200,000 input tokens), making it the stronger choice for long documents and large codebases.
Choose Claude 3 Opus if…
- you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 6 of 6 shared benchmarks
- you process long inputs — it offers a 200,000 token context window
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Feb 2024
Choose GPT-3.5 Turbo if…
- cost matters — it's about 40.0x cheaper per token
Performance Benchmarks
Comparative analysis across standard metrics
Claude 3 Opus outperforms in 6 benchmarks (DROP, GPQA, HumanEval, MATH, MGSM, MMLU), while GPT-3.5 Turbo is better at 0 benchmarks.
Claude 3 Opus significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Arena Performance
Human preference votes
Pricing Analysis
Price comparison per million tokens
For input processing, Claude 3 Opus ($15.00/1M tokens) is 30.0x more expensive than GPT-3.5 Turbo ($0.50/1M tokens).
For output processing, Claude 3 Opus ($75.00/1M tokens) is 50.0x more expensive than GPT-3.5 Turbo ($1.50/1M tokens).
In conclusion, Claude 3 Opus is more expensive than GPT-3.5 Turbo.*
* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Claude 3 Opus accepts 200,000 input tokens compared to GPT-3.5 Turbo's 16,385 tokens. Claude 3 Opus can generate longer responses up to 200,000 tokens, while GPT-3.5 Turbo is limited to 4,096 tokens.
Input Capabilities
Supported data types and modalities
Claude 3 Opus supports multimodal inputs, whereas GPT-3.5 Turbo does not.
Claude 3 Opus can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.
Claude 3 Opus
GPT-3.5 Turbo
License
Usage and distribution terms
Both models are licensed under proprietary licenses.
Both models have usage restrictions defined by their respective organizations.
Proprietary
Closed source
Proprietary
Closed source
Release Timeline
When each model was launched
Claude 3 Opus was released on 2024-02-29, while GPT-3.5 Turbo was released on 2023-03-21.
Claude 3 Opus is 12 months newer than GPT-3.5 Turbo.
Feb 29, 2024
2.3 years ago
11mo newerMar 21, 2023
3.2 years ago
Knowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
GPT-3.5 Turbo has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2021-09-30, while Claude 3 Opus's cutoff date is not specified.
We can confirm GPT-3.5 Turbo's training data extends to 2021-09-30, but cannot make a direct comparison without Claude 3 Opus's cutoff date.
—
Sep 2021
Provider Availability
Claude 3 Opus is available from Anthropic, Bedrock, Google. GPT-3.5 Turbo is available from Azure, OpenAI.
Claude 3 Opus
GPT-3.5 Turbo
Outputs Comparison
Key Takeaways
Claude 3 Opus
View detailsAnthropic
Detailed Comparison
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FAQ
Common questions about Claude 3 Opus vs GPT-3.5 Turbo.