A legacy model only worth using if your pipeline depends on the text completion API.
Legacy completion API workflows, structured text generation, and simple instruction-following tasks where the chat format is not required.
Completion API support makes it uniquely suitable for legacy integrations and fine-tuning pipelines
Low latency for short, structured outputs like classifications or templated text
Cheaper than GPT-4o Mini for simple, high-volume completion tasks
Reliable instruction-following for well-defined, narrow tasks
Tiny 4,095-token context window severely limits document processing and long conversations
See what OpenAI: GPT-3.5 Turbo Instruct actually costs at your usage level
Based on OpenAI: GPT-3.5 Turbo Instruct API pricing: $1.5/1M input · $2/1M output. Real costs vary by provider discounts and caching. Check the provider for exact current rates.
Price History
→0% since May 9
4 data points · tracked daily since May 9, 2026
Legacy completion API workflows, structured text generation, and simple instruction-following tasks where the chat format is not required.. Start free — no card required.
Recommendations are made independently based on real-world use and public benchmarks. See our disclosures for details.
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OpenAI's most affordable production-grade model — faster and cheaper than GPT-4o with strong enough performance for the majority of everyday tasks.
Pricing moves, ranking shifts, and capability updates.
OpenAI: GPT-3.5 Turbo Instruct (OpenAI) is now indexed. A legacy model only worth using if your pipeline depends on the text completion API.
View modelOpenAI: GPT-3.5 Turbo Instruct is best for legacy completion api workflows, structured text generation, and simple instruction-following tasks where the chat format is not required.. It is a strong fit when that workflow matters more than the tradeoffs around balanced pricing and very fast speed.
Avoid if you need multi-turn conversations, long document processing, strong reasoning, or are building any new application — modern alternatives offer far better quality at comparable cost.
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.
GPT-4o Mini is the better pick when response time matters more than maximum depth or premium quality.
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Avoid if you need multi-turn conversations, long document processing, strong reasoning, or are building any new application — modern alternatives offer far better quality at comparable cost.
Significantly behind modern models like GPT-4o Mini, Claude Haiku 3.5, and Gemini Flash on reasoning and nuanced writing
No native chat format support; unsuitable for multi-turn conversation applications
Lower-cost OpenAI model that keeps a solid balance of usefulness, speed, and affordability for everyday tasks.
GPT-3.5 Turbo is OpenAI's legacy fast and affordable chat model, optimized for dialogue and straightforward text tasks at low cost. It was the backbone of early ChatGPT and remains a go-to for high-volume, cost-sensitive deployments.
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