Model Comparison

GPT-3.5 Turbo vs GPT-4o

GPT-4o significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. GPT-3.5 Turbo is 5.8x cheaper per token.

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Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

4 benchmarks

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.

Mon Mar 30 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, 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

Lowest available price from all providers
Mon Mar 30 2026 • llm-stats.com
OpenAI
GPT-3.5 Turbo
Input tokens$0.50
Output tokens$1.50
Best providerAzure
OpenAI
GPT-4o
Input tokens$2.50
Output tokens$10.00
Best providerAzure
Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue→

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.

OpenAI
GPT-3.5 Turbo
Input16,385 tokens
Output4,096 tokens
OpenAI
GPT-4o
Input128,000 tokens
Output16,384 tokens
Mon Mar 30 2026 • llm-stats.com

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

Text
Images
Audio
Video

GPT-4o

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.

GPT-3.5 Turbo

Proprietary

Closed source

GPT-4o

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.

GPT-3.5 Turbo

Mar 21, 2023

3.0 years ago

GPT-4o

Aug 6, 2024

1.6 years ago

1.4yr newer

Knowledge 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.

GPT-3.5 Turbo

Sep 2021

GPT-4o

—

Provider Availability

GPT-3.5 Turbo is available from Azure, OpenAI. GPT-4o is available from Azure, OpenAI.

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

GPT-4o

azure logo
Azure
Input Price:Input: $2.50/1MOutput Price:Output: $10.00/1M
openai logo
OpenAI
Input Price:Input: $2.50/1MOutput Price:Output: $10.00/1M
* Prices shown are per million tokens

Outputs Comparison

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Key Takeaways

OpenAI
Less expensive input tokens
Less expensive output tokens
OpenAI
Larger context window (128,000 tokens)
Supports multimodal inputs
Higher GPQA score (70.1% vs 30.8%)
Higher MathVista score (61.4% vs 0.0%)
Higher MMLU score (85.7% vs 69.8%)
Higher MMMU score (72.2% vs 0.0%)

Detailed Comparison

AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
OpenAI
GPT-3.5 Turbo
OpenAI
GPT-4o

FAQ

Common questions about GPT-3.5 Turbo vs GPT-4o

GPT-4o significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. GPT-3.5 Turbo is made by OpenAI and GPT-4o is made by OpenAI. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their benchmark scores, pricing, and capabilities above.
GPT-3.5 Turbo scores DROP: 70.2%, MMLU: 69.8%, HumanEval: 68.0%, MGSM: 56.3%, MATH: 43.1%. GPT-4o scores AI2D: 94.2%, DocVQA: 92.8%, ChartQA: 85.7%, MMLU: 85.7%, CharXiv-D: 85.3%.
GPT-3.5 Turbo is 5.0x cheaper for input tokens. GPT-3.5 Turbo costs $0.50/M input and $1.50/M output via azure. GPT-4o costs $2.50/M input and $10.00/M output via azure.
GPT-3.5 Turbo supports 16K tokens and GPT-4o supports 128K tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.
Key differences include context window (16K vs 128K), input pricing ($0.50 vs $2.50/M), multimodal support (no vs yes). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.