OpenAI: GPT-3.5 Turbo
Analysis Summary
GPT-3.5 Turbo is an older OpenAI model with a 16K context window, tool use, and function calling. It handles straightforward text generation, classification, extraction, and templated responses at a lower price than premium models, but its measured reasoning and coding capability is limited.
For businesses, it can support simple automation such as metadata drafting, ticket routing, content transformation, and structured data preparation. The combination of API tooling and moderate context is useful for legacy workflows, although newer budget models offer stronger capability and often better economics. Use it only where tasks are tightly constrained, outputs are checked automatically, and response quality is less important than predictable low-cost processing.
Assessed September 7, 2026
Editorial notes
GPT-3.5 Turbo remains a low-cost text model with tool use and function calling, suitable for routine classification, extraction, and lightweight SEO workflows. Its limited reasoning and coding capability make it unsuitable for demanding client work.
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DFO Verdict
GPT-3.5 Turbo remains a low-cost text model with tool use and function calling, suitable for routine classification, extraction, and lightweight SEO workflows. Its limited reasoning and coding capability make it unsuitable for demanding client work.
How OpenAI: GPT-3.5 Turbo compares
OpenAI: GPT-3.5 Turbo ranks #384 of 438 AI models we track for overall intelligence, #182 of 210 for coding. Its 16K-token context window is larger than 20% of the models we list. At $0.50 per million input tokens it is cheaper than 39% of comparable models.
Dark bar = input · light bar = output, scaled to the priciest peer.
1M tokens ≈ 8 full-length novels or ~2,500 pages of business documents in a single request.
Strongest on value. The pulled-in intelligence corner is the trade-off, and if the shape matters more than the price, this is your model.
Compare shapes side-by-side →Pricing
| Token Type | Cost per 1M tokens | Cost per 1K tokens |
|---|---|---|
| Input | $0.50 | $0.000500 |
| Output | $1.50 | $0.001500 |
What would OpenAI: GPT-3.5 Turbo cost your business?
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A website chatbot handling around 100 customer conversations a day, a few short messages each.
Full calculator with 779 models → Price Calculator
These numbers get smaller with the right architecture.
We route routine calls to cheap models and save OpenAI: GPT-3.5 Turbo for the hard ones. Most clients cut their estimate by 60-80%.
Talk to our teamAbout OpenAI: GPT-3.5 Turbo
GPT-3.5 Turbo is OpenAI's fastest model. It can understand and generate natural language or code, and is optimized for chat and traditional completion tasks. Training data up to Sep 2021.
Frequently asked questions about OpenAI: GPT-3.5 Turbo
How much does OpenAI: GPT-3.5 Turbo cost?
OpenAI: GPT-3.5 Turbo costs $0.50 per million input tokens and $1.50 per million output tokens.
What is the context window of OpenAI: GPT-3.5 Turbo?
OpenAI: GPT-3.5 Turbo has a context window of 16,385 tokens (16K).
Is OpenAI: GPT-3.5 Turbo good for coding?
On our coding benchmark index, OpenAI: GPT-3.5 Turbo ranks #182 of 210 models, placing it in the broader range of the field for code generation and debugging.
What can OpenAI: GPT-3.5 Turbo do?
OpenAI: GPT-3.5 Turbo supports tool use and function calling.
Who created OpenAI: GPT-3.5 Turbo?
OpenAI: GPT-3.5 Turbo is developed by OpenAI and was released on May 28, 2023.