GPT-3.5 Turbo vs Grok-3 Mini Comparison

Comparing GPT-3.5 Turbo and Grok-3 Mini across benchmarks, pricing, and capabilities.

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Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

1 benchmarks

GPT-3.5 Turbo outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Grok-3 Mini is better at 1 benchmark (GPQA).

Grok-3 Mini significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Fri Mar 20 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Pricing Analysis

Price comparison per million tokens

Grok-3 Mini costs less

For input processing, GPT-3.5 Turbo ($0.50/1M tokens) is 1.7x more expensive than Grok-3 Mini ($0.30/1M tokens).

For output processing, GPT-3.5 Turbo ($1.50/1M tokens) is 3.0x more expensive than Grok-3 Mini ($0.50/1M tokens).

In conclusion, GPT-3.5 Turbo is more expensive than Grok-3 Mini.*

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

Lowest available price from all providers

Fri Mar 20 2026 • llm-stats.com

GPT-3.5 Turbo

Input tokens$0.50

Output tokens$1.50

Best providerAzure

Grok-3 Mini

Input tokens$0.30

Output tokens$0.50

Best providerxAI

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Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Grok-3 Mini accepts 128,000 input tokens compared to GPT-3.5 Turbo's 16,385 tokens. Grok-3 Mini can generate longer responses up to 8,000 tokens, while GPT-3.5 Turbo is limited to 4,096 tokens.

GPT-3.5 Turbo

Input16,385 tokens

Output4,096 tokens

Grok-3 Mini

Input128,000 tokens

Output8,000 tokens

Fri Mar 20 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Grok-3 Mini supports multimodal inputs, whereas GPT-3.5 Turbo does not.

Grok-3 Mini 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

Grok-3 Mini

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

Grok-3 Mini

Proprietary

Closed source

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

GPT-3.5 Turbo was released on 2023-03-21, while Grok-3 Mini was released on 2025-02-17.

Grok-3 Mini is 23 months newer than GPT-3.5 Turbo.

GPT-3.5 Turbo

Mar 21, 2023

3.0 years ago

Grok-3 Mini

Feb 17, 2025

1.1 years ago

1.9yr newer

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

GPT-3.5 Turbo has a knowledge cutoff of 2021-09-30, while Grok-3 Mini has a cutoff of 2024-11-17.

Grok-3 Mini has more recent training data (up to 2024-11-17), making it potentially better informed about events through that date compared to GPT-3.5 Turbo (2021-09-30).

GPT-3.5 Turbo

Sep 2021

Grok-3 Mini

Nov 2024

3.2 yr newer

Provider Availability

GPT-3.5 Turbo is available from Azure, OpenAI. Grok-3 Mini is available from xAI. The availability of providers can affect quality of the model and reliability.