Is GPT-3.5 Turbo better than GPT-4.1 for coding?

GPT-3.5 Turbo scores 40 overall vs GPT-4.1's 80. GPT-4.1 has stronger benchmark performance, but pricing also matters — GPT-3.5 Turbo costs $0.500/M input vs $2.00/M for GPT-4.1.

Which is cheaper: GPT-3.5 Turbo or GPT-4.1?

GPT-3.5 Turbo is cheaper per million input tokens at $0.50/M vs $2.00/M.

What is the price-performance ratio of GPT-3.5 Turbo vs GPT-4.1?

Based on benchmark scores, GPT-3.5 Turbo costs $0.013 per score point while GPT-4.1 costs $0.063 per score point. GPT-3.5 Turbo offers better value.

GPT-3.5 Turbo vs GPT-4.1

Performance benchmarks + pricing comparison — updated April 2026

GPT-3.5 Turbo

OpenAI

Budget 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

GPT-4.1

OpenAI

Updated GPT-4 generation with improved instruction following and reduced hallucination. Better coding accuracy than GPT-4o.

Input	$2.00/M
Output	$8.00/M
Context	128K tokens
Best For	Production coding, API development, complex instructions
Benchmark	80/100

Benchmark Performance Comparison

Third-party benchmark scores — higher is better. Data sourced from SWE-bench, LiveCodeBench, HumanEval, and BigCodeBench.

Benchmark	GPT-3.5 Turbo	GPT-4.1	Leader
Overall Score	40	80	GPT-4.1 leads by 40pts
SWE-bench Verified	32	76	GPT-4.1 leads by 44pts
LiveCodeBench	42	82	GPT-4.1 leads by 40pts
HumanEval	62	94	GPT-4.1 leads by 32pts
BigCodeBench	26	68	GPT-4.1 leads by 42pts

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	GPT-4.1	Savings
Small Script (1K lines)	$0.06	$0.31	GPT-3.5 Turbo saves $0.25 (80%)
Medium Feature (10K lines)	$0.48	$2.30	GPT-3.5 Turbo saves $1.82 (79%)
Large Project (50K lines)	$2.38	$11.50	GPT-3.5 Turbo saves $9.13 (79%)
Code Review (5K lines)	$0.13	$0.55	GPT-3.5 Turbo saves $0.43 (77%)

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	Better value
GPT-4.1	80	$0.063/pt	Higher cost per point

GPT-3.5 Turbo delivers the best value at $0.013 per score point.

Strengths & Weaknesses

GPT-3.5 Turbo

+ Ultra-cheap
+ Very fast
- Basic coding only

GPT-4.1

+ Latest GPT model
+ Strong across all benchmarks
- Premium pricing

Verdict

GPT-3.5 Turbo is cheaper at $0.500/M, but GPT-4.1 scores higher on benchmarks (80 vs 40).

Choose GPT-3.5 Turbo for cost-sensitive projects, GPT-4.1 when performance matters most.

Compare with Other Models

Claude Sonnet 4

Anthropic

Anthropic's balanced model for coding and general tasks. Best price-performance ratio in the Claude family.

$3.00/M input $15.00/M output ~$4.66 per medium feature

Claude Opus 4

Anthropic

Anthropic's most powerful model. Best for complex reasoning and challenging coding tasks.

$15.00/M input $75.00/M output ~$23.29 per medium feature

Claude 3.5 Sonnet

Anthropic

Previous generation Sonnet. Still excellent for coding tasks at the same price point.

$3.00/M input $15.00/M output ~$4.66 per medium feature

Claude 3.5 Haiku

Anthropic

Fast, cost-effective model for high-volume tasks. Great for code review and simple queries.

$0.800/M input $4.00/M output ~$1.24 per medium feature

Claude 3 Opus

Anthropic

First generation Opus. Highest reasoning capability in the Claude 3 family.

$15.00/M input $75.00/M output ~$20.25 per medium feature

Claude 3 Sonnet

Anthropic

First generation Sonnet. Balanced performance for general tasks.

$3.00/M input $15.00/M output ~$4.05 per medium feature