OpenAI's best general-purpose model — a strong flagship pick that punches above its price on input costs while delivering top-tier reasoning and multimodal capability.
90
Coding
88
Writing
91
Research
62
Images
58
Value
87
Long Context
Use this when
High-stakes professional tasks requiring deep reasoning, precise instruction-following, and reliable multimodal understanding.
Skip this if
You need real-time response speeds, are running high-volume automated pipelines where output token costs accumulate quickly, or require native image generation.
Superior instruction-following and nuanced task interpretation compared to GPT-4o
400K context window handles large codebases, legal documents, or multi-document research sessions
Strong multimodal reasoning over images, charts, and mixed media inputs
Competitive pricing against Claude Sonnet 4.6 ($3/$15) while offering flagship-level capability
Weaknesses
Output cost of $10/1M tokens makes high-volume production workloads expensive relative to flash/mini alternatives
Speed is balanced rather than fast — not suitable for real-time or latency-sensitive applications
No native image generation; image capability is understanding only
Monthly cost estimate
See what OpenAI: GPT-5 actually costs at your usage level
Input tokens / month1M
10k50M
Output tokens / month500k
10k25M
Input cost
$1.25
Output cost
$5.00
Total / month
$6.25
Based on OpenAI: GPT-5 API pricing: $1.25/1M input · $10/1M output. Real costs vary by provider discounts and caching. Check the provider for exact current rates.
Price History
OpenAI: GPT-5 pricing over time
↑525% since Mar 27
2 data points · tracked daily since Mar 27, 2026
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High-stakes professional tasks requiring deep reasoning, precise instruction-following, and reliable multimodal understanding.. 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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OpenAIPremium
OpenAI: GPT-4 Turbo
GPT-4 Turbo is OpenAI's high-capability flagship model featuring a 128K context window, trained on data up to April 2024. It delivers strong reasoning, coding, and instruction-following across complex tasks.
Verdict
A capable but aging flagship that has been outpaced by cheaper, faster successors in OpenAI's own lineup.
Quality score
75%
Pricing
$10.00/1M in
$30.00/1M out
Speed
Balanced
Best for complex multi-step tasks requiring deep reasoning, long document analysis, or sophisticated code generation where cost is secondary to quality.
Context
128k tokens
GPT-4 Turbo is available via the OpenAI API. It has largely been succeeded by GPT-4o, which is faster, supports vision natively, and is cheaper. Organizations should evaluate whether migrating to GPT-4o or o3 makes more sense before building new workflows on this model.
GPT-4 Turbo (v1106) is an older snapshot of OpenAI's flagship GPT-4 Turbo model released in November 2023, offering a 128K context window with strong general-purpose reasoning and instruction-following capabilities. It predates later GPT-4 Turbo updates and GPT-4o, making it a legacy choice for workflows locked to this specific version.
Verdict
A reliable but outdated GPT-4 snapshot that only makes sense when version pinning is a hard requirement.
Quality score
66%
Pricing
$10.00/1M in
$30.00/1M out
Speed
Balanced
Best for teams requiring a pinned, stable version of gpt-4 turbo for reproducible outputs in long-document analysis or complex instruction pipelines.
Context
128k tokens
This is a pinned model snapshot (v1106) and will not receive capability updates. OpenAI may deprecate older snapshots over time. Knowledge cutoff is April 2023. Not recommended for new deployments given the superior cost-performance of GPT-4o and GPT-4.1.
Legacy128K ContextPinned SnapshotGPT-4Premium
Best for
Teams requiring a pinned, stable version of GPT-4 Turbo for reproducible outputs in long-document analysis or complex instruction pipelines.
GPT-4 Turbo Preview is an early access version of GPT-4 Turbo, OpenAI's then-flagship model featuring a 128K context window and knowledge improvements over the original GPT-4. It was designed to deliver GPT-4-class reasoning at reduced cost compared to the original GPT-4.
Verdict
A once-capable flagship now overshadowed by faster, cheaper, and smarter successors.
Quality score
67%
Pricing
$10.00/1M in
$30.00/1M out
Speed
Balanced
Best for complex multi-step reasoning, long-document analysis, and professional writing tasks requiring strong instruction-following.
Context
128k tokens
This is a 'preview' variant that OpenAI has largely deprecated in favor of gpt-4-turbo and gpt-4o. The endpoint may be retired or redirected by OpenAI without notice. Check the OpenAI model deprecation schedule before building production applications on this model.
GPT-4Long ContextLegacyPremiumOpenAI
Best for
Complex multi-step reasoning, long-document analysis, and professional writing tasks requiring strong instruction-following.
OpenAI: GPT-5 (OpenAI) is now indexed. It supersedes GPT-4o. OpenAI's best general-purpose model — a strong flagship pick that punches above its price on input costs while delivering top-tier reasoning and multimodal capability.
OpenAI: GPT-5 is best for high-stakes professional tasks requiring deep reasoning, precise instruction-following, and reliable multimodal understanding.. It is a strong fit when that workflow matters more than the tradeoffs around balanced pricing and balanced speed.
When should I avoid OpenAI: GPT-5?
You need real-time response speeds, are running high-volume automated pipelines where output token costs accumulate quickly, or require native image generation.
What is a cheaper alternative to OpenAI: GPT-5?
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-5?
OpenAI: GPT-4 Turbo is the better pick when response time matters more than maximum depth or premium quality.
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