A once-dominant budget model now outclassed by cheaper, smarter alternatives like GPT-4o mini.
42
Coding
50
Writing
35
Research
0
Images
78
Value
20
Long Context
Use this when
High-volume, low-complexity tasks like chatbots, classification, summarization, and simple Q&A where cost matters more than cutting-edge quality.
Skip this if
You need strong reasoning, long document handling, code generation beyond simple snippets, or high accuracy on factual tasks — modern budget alternatives like GPT-4o mini outperform it at similar cost.
Extremely low cost at $0.50/$1.50 per million tokens, undercutting most modern competitors
Very fast inference speed, suitable for real-time applications and large batch jobs
Reliable for simple instruction-following, FAQ bots, and form-filling tasks
Massive community adoption means abundant fine-tuning resources and documentation
Weaknesses
Significantly lags behind GPT-4o, Claude Sonnet 4.6, and Gemini 3.1 Pro on complex reasoning, nuanced writing, and multi-step tasks
16K context window is limiting compared to modern models offering 128K–1M tokens
Prone to hallucinations and instruction drift on longer or more complex prompts
Monthly cost estimate
See what OpenAI: GPT-3.5 Turbo actually costs at your usage level
Input tokens / month1M
10k50M
Output tokens / month500k
10k25M
Input cost
$0.500
Output cost
$0.750
Total / month
$1.25
Based on OpenAI: GPT-3.5 Turbo API pricing: $0.5/1M input · $1.5/1M output. Real costs vary by provider discounts and caching. Check the provider for exact current rates.
Price History
OpenAI: GPT-3.5 Turbo pricing over time
→0% since Mar 27
2 data points · tracked daily since Mar 27, 2026
Ready to try it?
Start using OpenAI: GPT-3.5 Turbo
High-volume, low-complexity tasks like chatbots, classification, summarization, and simple Q&A where cost matters more than cutting-edge quality.. Start free — no card required.
An older versioned snapshot of GPT-3.5 Turbo (v0613), OpenAI's once-dominant mid-tier language model optimized for fast chat completions and instruction following. This specific checkpoint is frozen in time, predating later capability improvements introduced in subsequent GPT-3.5 Turbo updates.
Verdict
A once-useful workhorse now completely overshadowed by cheaper, more capable successors.
Quality score
31%
Pricing
$1.00/1M in
$2.00/1M out
Speed
Very fast
Best for high-volume, cost-sensitive text tasks like classification, summarization, and simple q&a where bleeding-edge quality is not required.
Context
4k tokens
This is a pinned legacy snapshot (v0613) and may eventually be deprecated by OpenAI. The 4,095-token context window is its most significant practical limitation. OpenAI's own GPT-4o mini offers drastically more context and better quality at a comparable price — strongly consider migrating.
LegacyBudgetFastShort ContextOpenAI
Best for
High-volume, cost-sensitive text tasks like classification, summarization, and simple Q&A where bleeding-edge quality is not required.
OpenAI: GPT-3.5 Turbo is best for high-volume, low-complexity tasks like chatbots, classification, summarization, and simple q&a where cost matters more than cutting-edge quality.. It is a strong fit when that workflow matters more than the tradeoffs around budget pricing and very fast speed.
When should I avoid OpenAI: GPT-3.5 Turbo?
You need strong reasoning, long document handling, code generation beyond simple snippets, or high accuracy on factual tasks — modern budget alternatives like GPT-4o mini outperform it at similar cost.
What is a cheaper alternative to OpenAI: GPT-3.5 Turbo?
Meta: Llama 3.1 8B Instruct is the lower-cost option to compare first when you want a similar workflow fit with less token spend.
What is a faster alternative to OpenAI: GPT-3.5 Turbo?
GPT-4o Mini is the better pick when response time matters more than maximum depth or premium quality.
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