Model Comparison

Claude Opus 4.6 vs GPT-3.5 TurboWhich is better in 2026?

Claude Opus 4.6 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. GPT-3.5 Turbo is 13.3x cheaper per token.

Verdict: Claude Opus 4.6 vs GPT-3.5 Turbo — which is better?

Claude Opus 4.6 (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 Opus 4.6 outperforms in 1 benchmarks (GPQA), while GPT-3.5 Turbo is better at 0 benchmarks. Claude Opus 4.6 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

On price, GPT-3.5 Turbo is roughly 13.3x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.

Claude Opus 4.6 also accepts a larger context window (1,000,000 input tokens), making it the stronger choice for long documents and large codebases.

Choose Claude Opus 4.6 if…

  • you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 1 of 1 shared benchmarks
  • you process long inputs — it offers a 1,000,000 token context window
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Feb 2026

Choose GPT-3.5 Turbo if…

  • cost matters — it's about 13.3x cheaper per token
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Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

1 benchmarks

Claude Opus 4.6 outperforms in 1 benchmarks (GPQA), while GPT-3.5 Turbo is better at 0 benchmarks.

Claude Opus 4.6 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Sat Jun 06 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Pricing Analysis

Price comparison per million tokens

GPT-3.5 Turbo costs less

For input processing, Claude Opus 4.6 ($5.00/1M tokens) is 10.0x more expensive than GPT-3.5 Turbo ($0.50/1M tokens).

For output processing, Claude Opus 4.6 ($25.00/1M tokens) is 16.7x more expensive than GPT-3.5 Turbo ($1.50/1M tokens).

In conclusion, Claude Opus 4.6 is more expensive than GPT-3.5 Turbo.*

* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens

Lowest available price from all providers
Sat Jun 06 2026 • llm-stats.com
Anthropic
Claude Opus 4.6
Input tokens$5.00
Output tokens$25.00
Best providerAnthropic
OpenAI
GPT-3.5 Turbo
Input tokens$0.50
Output tokens$1.50
Best providerAzure
Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue→

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Claude Opus 4.6 accepts 1,000,000 input tokens compared to GPT-3.5 Turbo's 16,385 tokens. Claude Opus 4.6 can generate longer responses up to 128,000 tokens, while GPT-3.5 Turbo is limited to 4,096 tokens.

Anthropic
Claude Opus 4.6
Input1,000,000 tokens
Output128,000 tokens
OpenAI
GPT-3.5 Turbo
Input16,385 tokens
Output4,096 tokens
Sat Jun 06 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Claude Opus 4.6 supports multimodal inputs, whereas GPT-3.5 Turbo does not.

Claude Opus 4.6 can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.

Claude Opus 4.6

Text
Images
Audio
Video

GPT-3.5 Turbo

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Both models are licensed under proprietary licenses.

Both models have usage restrictions defined by their respective organizations.

Claude Opus 4.6

Proprietary

Closed source

GPT-3.5 Turbo

Proprietary

Closed source

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Claude Opus 4.6 was released on 2026-02-05, while GPT-3.5 Turbo was released on 2023-03-21.

Claude Opus 4.6 is 35 months newer than GPT-3.5 Turbo.

Claude Opus 4.6

Feb 5, 2026

4 months ago

2.9yr newer
GPT-3.5 Turbo

Mar 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 Opus 4.6'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 Opus 4.6's cutoff date.

Claude Opus 4.6

—

GPT-3.5 Turbo

Sep 2021

Provider Availability

Claude Opus 4.6 is available from Anthropic. GPT-3.5 Turbo is available from Azure, OpenAI.

Claude Opus 4.6

anthropic logo
Anthropic
Input Price:Input: $5.00/1MOutput Price:Output: $25.00/1M

GPT-3.5 Turbo

azure logo
Azure
Input Price:Input: $0.50/1MOutput Price:Output: $1.50/1M
openai logo
OpenAI
Input Price:Input: $0.50/1MOutput Price:Output: $1.50/1M
* Prices shown are per million tokens

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion→

Key Takeaways

Anthropic
Larger context window (1,000,000 tokens)
Supports multimodal inputs
Higher GPQA score (91.3% vs 30.8%)
OpenAI
Less expensive input tokens
Less expensive output tokens

Detailed Comparison

AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
Anthropic
Claude Opus 4.6
OpenAI
GPT-3.5 Turbo

FAQ

Common questions about Claude Opus 4.6 vs GPT-3.5 Turbo.

Which is better, Claude Opus 4.6 or GPT-3.5 Turbo?

Claude Opus 4.6 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Claude Opus 4.6 is made by Anthropic and GPT-3.5 Turbo is made by OpenAI. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their benchmark scores, pricing, and capabilities above.

How does Claude Opus 4.6 compare to GPT-3.5 Turbo in benchmarks?

Claude Opus 4.6 scores Vending-Bench 2: 100.0%, AIME 2025: 99.8%, Tau2 Telecom: 99.3%, Graphwalks parents >128k: 95.4%, MRCR v2 (8-needle): 93.0%. GPT-3.5 Turbo scores DROP: 70.2%, MMLU: 69.8%, HumanEval: 68.0%, MGSM: 56.3%, MATH: 43.1%.

Is Claude Opus 4.6 cheaper than GPT-3.5 Turbo?

GPT-3.5 Turbo is 10.0x cheaper for input tokens. Claude Opus 4.6 costs $5.00/M input and $25.00/M output via anthropic. GPT-3.5 Turbo costs $0.50/M input and $1.50/M output via azure.

What are the context window sizes for Claude Opus 4.6 and GPT-3.5 Turbo?

Claude Opus 4.6 supports 1.0M tokens and GPT-3.5 Turbo supports 16K tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.

What are the main differences between Claude Opus 4.6 and GPT-3.5 Turbo?

Key differences include context window (1.0M vs 16K), input pricing ($5.00 vs $0.50/M), multimodal support (yes vs no). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Claude Opus 4.6 and GPT-3.5 Turbo?

Claude Opus 4.6 is developed by Anthropic and GPT-3.5 Turbo is developed by OpenAI.

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