Model Comparison
GPT-3.5 Turbo vs GPT-4oWhich is better in 2026?
GPT-4o significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. GPT-3.5 Turbo is 5.8x cheaper per token.
Verdict: GPT-3.5 Turbo vs GPT-4o — which is better?
GPT-3.5 Turbo (by OpenAI) and GPT-4o (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.
GPT-3.5 Turbo outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while GPT-4o is better at 4 benchmarks (GPQA, MathVista, MMLU, MMMU). GPT-4o significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
On price, GPT-3.5 Turbo is roughly 5.8x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.
GPT-4o also accepts a larger context window (128,000 input tokens), making it the stronger choice for long documents and large codebases.
Choose GPT-3.5 Turbo if…
- cost matters — it's about 5.8x cheaper per token
Choose GPT-4o if…
- you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 4 of 4 shared benchmarks
- you process long inputs — it offers a 128,000 token context window
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Aug 2024
Performance Benchmarks
Comparative analysis across standard metrics
GPT-3.5 Turbo outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while GPT-4o is better at 4 benchmarks (GPQA, MathVista, MMLU, MMMU).
GPT-4o significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Arena Performance
Human preference votes
Pricing Analysis
Price comparison per million tokens
For input processing, GPT-3.5 Turbo ($0.50/1M tokens) is 5.0x cheaper than GPT-4o ($2.50/1M tokens).
For output processing, GPT-3.5 Turbo ($1.50/1M tokens) is 6.7x cheaper than GPT-4o ($10.00/1M tokens).
In conclusion, GPT-4o 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
GPT-4o accepts 128,000 input tokens compared to GPT-3.5 Turbo's 16,385 tokens. GPT-4o can generate longer responses up to 16,384 tokens, while GPT-3.5 Turbo is limited to 4,096 tokens.
Input Capabilities
Supported data types and modalities
GPT-4o supports multimodal inputs, whereas GPT-3.5 Turbo does not.
GPT-4o can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.
GPT-3.5 Turbo
GPT-4o
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
GPT-3.5 Turbo was released on 2023-03-21, while GPT-4o was released on 2024-08-06.
GPT-4o is 17 months newer than GPT-3.5 Turbo.
Mar 21, 2023
3.3 years ago
Aug 6, 2024
1.9 years ago
1.4yr newerKnowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
GPT-3.5 Turbo has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2021-09-30, while GPT-4o'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 GPT-4o's cutoff date.
Sep 2021
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Provider Availability
GPT-3.5 Turbo is available from Azure, OpenAI. GPT-4o is available from Azure, OpenAI.
GPT-3.5 Turbo
GPT-4o
Outputs Comparison
Key Takeaways
GPT-4o
View detailsOpenAI
Detailed Comparison
Interactive Arena
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against GPT-3.5 Turbo and GPT-4o side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
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FAQ
Common questions about GPT-3.5 Turbo vs GPT-4o.