GPT-3.5 Turbo vs DeepSeek Coder V2
Performance benchmarks + pricing comparison — updated April 2026
GPT-3.5 Turbo
OpenAIBudget model for simple tasks. Being phased out but still widely used.
| Input | $0.500/M |
| Output | $1.50/M |
| Context | 16K tokens |
| Best For | Simple chatbots, basic text generation |
| Benchmark | 40/100 |
DeepSeek Coder V2
DeepSeekDeepSeek's coding-specialized model. Open-source and very affordable.
| Input | $0.270/M |
| Output | $1.10/M |
| Context | 128K tokens |
| Best For | Code generation, code review, debugging |
| Benchmark | 58/100 |
Benchmark Performance Comparison
Third-party benchmark scores — higher is better. Data sourced from SWE-bench, LiveCodeBench, HumanEval, and BigCodeBench.
| Benchmark | GPT-3.5 Turbo | DeepSeek Coder V2 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall Score | 40 | 58 | DeepSeek Coder V2 leads by 18pts |
| SWE-bench Verified | 32 | 50 | DeepSeek Coder V2 leads by 18pts |
| LiveCodeBench | 42 | 60 | DeepSeek Coder V2 leads by 18pts |
| HumanEval | 62 | 82 | DeepSeek Coder V2 leads by 20pts |
| BigCodeBench | 26 | 42 | DeepSeek Coder V2 leads by 16pts |
Cost Comparison by Scenario
Estimated cost per project with 30% cache hit rate. Actual costs may vary based on usage patterns.
| Scenario | GPT-3.5 Turbo | DeepSeek Coder V2 | Savings |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small Script (1K lines) | $0.06 | $0.04 | DeepSeek Coder V2 saves $0.02 (32%) |
| Medium Feature (10K lines) | $0.48 | $0.31 | DeepSeek Coder V2 saves $0.16 (34%) |
| Large Project (50K lines) | $2.38 | $1.57 | DeepSeek Coder V2 saves $0.80 (34%) |
| Code Review (5K lines) | $0.13 | $0.07 | DeepSeek Coder V2 saves $0.05 (40%) |
Value Analysis (Price per Benchmark Score Point)
Lower is better — how much you pay for each point of benchmark performance.
| Model | Overall Score | Price per Score Point | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPT-3.5 Turbo | 40 | $0.013/pt | Higher cost per point |
| DeepSeek Coder V2 | 58 | $0.005/pt | Better value |
DeepSeek Coder V2 delivers the best value at $0.005 per score point.
Strengths & Weaknesses
GPT-3.5 Turbo
- + Ultra-cheap
- + Very fast
- - Basic coding only
DeepSeek Coder V2
- + Code-specialized
- + Very cheap
- - Limited general-purpose
Verdict
DeepSeek Coder V2 wins on both price and performance — $0.270/M input with a benchmark score of 58/100.
For most developers, this is the clear choice between these two models.
Compare with Other Models
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Claude 3 Opus
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