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GPT-3.5 Turbo vs Grok 4.6

Comparing GPT-3.5 Turbo and Grok 4.6 across benchmarks, pricing, and capabilities.

OpenAI · xAI · Updated for 2026

Which is better?

GPT-3.5 Turbo and Grok 4.6 trade strengths across price, capabilities, and technical limits. The better choice depends on the workload.

On price, GPT-3.5 Turbo is roughly 4.0x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.

Grok 4.6 also accepts a larger context window (500,000 input tokens), making it the stronger choice for long documents and large codebases.

Based on current benchmark, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.

Choose GPT-3.5 Turbo

  • cost matters — it's about 4.0x cheaper per token

Choose Grok 4.6

  • you process long inputs — it offers a 500,000 token context window
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Aug 2026

At a glance

The differences that matter most.

GPT-3.5 Turbo
OpenAI
Grok 4.6
xAI
Benchmark wins
—
—
Input price
$0.50 / M
$2.00 / M
Output price
$1.50 / M
$6.00 / M
Context window
16,385
500,000
Released
Mar 2023
Aug 2026
License
Proprietary
Proprietary

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

No common benchmarks found

GPT-3.5 Turbo and Grok 4.6don't have any common benchmark datasets to compare. They may have been evaluated on different testing suites.

Arena Performance

Playground indexes and blind preference scores

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 4.0x cheaper than Grok 4.6 ($2.00/1M tokens).

For output processing, GPT-3.5 Turbo ($1.50/1M tokens) is 4.0x cheaper than Grok 4.6 ($6.00/1M tokens).

In conclusion, Grok 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
Tue Aug 25 2026 • llm-stats.com
OpenAI
GPT-3.5 Turbo
Input tokens$0.50
Output tokens$1.50
Best providerAzure
xAI
Grok 4.6
Input tokens$2.00
Output tokens$6.00
Best providerxAI
Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue→

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Grok 4.6 accepts 500,000 input tokens compared to GPT-3.5 Turbo's 16,385 tokens. Only GPT-3.5 Turbo specifies output context (4,096 tokens).

OpenAI
GPT-3.5 Turbo
Input16,385 tokens
Output4,096 tokens
xAI
Grok 4.6
Input500,000 tokens
Output- tokens
Tue Aug 25 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

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

Grok 4.6 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 4.6

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 4.6

Proprietary

Closed source

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

GPT-3.5 Turbo was released on 2023-03-21, while Grok 4.6 was released on 2026-08-12.

Grok 4.6 is 41 months newer than GPT-3.5 Turbo.

GPT-3.5 Turbo

Mar 21, 2023

3.4 years ago

Grok 4.6

Aug 12, 2026

1 weeks ago

3.4yr newer

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

GPT-3.5 Turbo has a knowledge cutoff of 2021-09-30, while Grok 4.6 has a cutoff of 2026-02-01.

Grok 4.6 has more recent training data (up to 2026-02-01), 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 4.6

Feb 2026

4.4 yr newer

Provider Availability

GPT-3.5 Turbo is available from Azure, OpenAI. Grok 4.6 is available from xAI.

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

Grok 4.6

xai logo
xAI
Input Price:Input: $2.00/1MOutput Price:Output: $6.00/1M
* Prices shown are per million tokens

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion→

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against GPT-3.5 Turbo and Grok 4.6 side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

GPT-3.5 Turbo
✓ Preferred
Grok 4.6
Open in Playground

FAQ

Common questions about GPT-3.5 Turbo vs Grok 4.6.

Which is better, GPT-3.5 Turbo or Grok 4.6?

GPT-3.5 Turbo (OpenAI) and Grok 4.6 (xAI) each have strengths in different areas. Compare their benchmark scores, pricing, context windows, and capabilities above to determine which fits your needs.

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

GPT-3.5 Turbo scores DROP: 70.2%, MMLU: 69.8%, HumanEval: 68.0%, MGSM: 56.3%, MATH: 43.1%. Grok 4.6 scores CursorBench v3.2: 69.9%, DeepSWE 1.1: 65.9%, FrontierCode: 61.3%, AA-Index: 61.0%, GDPval-AA: 58.4%.

Is GPT-3.5 Turbo cheaper than Grok 4.6?

GPT-3.5 Turbo is 4.0x cheaper for input tokens. GPT-3.5 Turbo costs $0.50/M input and $1.50/M output via azure. Grok 4.6 costs $2.00/M input and $6.00/M output via xai.

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

GPT-3.5 Turbo supports 16K tokens and Grok 4.6 supports 500K tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.

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

Key differences include context window (16K vs 500K), input pricing ($0.50 vs $2.00/M), multimodal support (no vs yes). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes GPT-3.5 Turbo and Grok 4.6?

GPT-3.5 Turbo is developed by OpenAI and Grok 4.6 is developed by xAI.

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