Model Comparison
GPT-3.5 Turbo vs Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507Which is better in 2026?
Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. GPT-3.5 Turbo is 1.3x cheaper per token.
Verdict: GPT-3.5 Turbo vs Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507 — which is better?
GPT-3.5 Turbo (by OpenAI) and Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507 (by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team) 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 Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507 is better at 1 benchmark (GPQA). Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
On price, GPT-3.5 Turbo is roughly 1.3x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.
Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507 also accepts a larger context window (262,144 input tokens), making it the stronger choice for long documents and large codebases.
Choose GPT-3.5 Turbo if…
- cost matters — it's about 1.3x cheaper per token
Choose Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507 if…
- you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 1 of 1 shared benchmarks
- you process long inputs — it offers a 262,144 token context window
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Jul 2025
- you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune
Performance Benchmarks
Comparative analysis across standard metrics
GPT-3.5 Turbo outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507 is better at 1 benchmark (GPQA).
Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507 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 1.7x more expensive than Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507 ($0.30/1M tokens).
For output processing, GPT-3.5 Turbo ($1.50/1M tokens) is 2.0x cheaper than Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507 ($3.00/1M tokens).
In conclusion, Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507 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
Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507 accepts 262,144 input tokens compared to GPT-3.5 Turbo's 16,385 tokens. Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507 can generate longer responses up to 131,072 tokens, while GPT-3.5 Turbo is limited to 4,096 tokens.
License
Usage and distribution terms
GPT-3.5 Turbo is licensed under a proprietary license, while Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507 uses Apache 2.0.
License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.
Proprietary
Closed source
Apache 2.0
Open weights
Release Timeline
When each model was launched
GPT-3.5 Turbo was released on 2023-03-21, while Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507 was released on 2025-07-25.
Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507 is 29 months newer than GPT-3.5 Turbo.
Mar 21, 2023
3.3 years ago
Jul 25, 2025
12 months ago
2.3yr newerKnowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
GPT-3.5 Turbo has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2021-09-30, while Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507'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 Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507's cutoff date.
Sep 2021
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Provider Availability
GPT-3.5 Turbo is available from Azure, OpenAI. Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507 is available from Fireworks, Novita.
GPT-3.5 Turbo
Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507
Outputs Comparison
Key Takeaways
Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507
View detailsAlibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Detailed Comparison
Interactive Arena
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against GPT-3.5 Turbo and Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507 side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
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FAQ
Common questions about GPT-3.5 Turbo vs Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking-2507.