GPT-3.5 Turbo vs Codestral
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 |
Codestral
MistralMistral's dedicated coding model. Open-weight and highly optimized for code generation and completion.
| Input | $0.300/M |
| Output | $0.900/M |
| Context | 128K tokens |
| Best For | Code completion, code generation, IDE integration |
| Benchmark | 60/100 |
Benchmark Performance Comparison
Third-party benchmark scores — higher is better. Data sourced from SWE-bench, LiveCodeBench, HumanEval, and BigCodeBench.
| Benchmark | GPT-3.5 Turbo | Codestral | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall Score | 40 | 60 | Mistral Codestral leads by 20pts |
| SWE-bench Verified | 32 | 54 | Mistral Codestral leads by 22pts |
| LiveCodeBench | 42 | 64 | Mistral Codestral leads by 22pts |
| HumanEval | 62 | 82 | Mistral Codestral leads by 20pts |
| BigCodeBench | 26 | 44 | Mistral Codestral leads by 18pts |
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 | Codestral | Savings |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small Script (1K lines) | $0.06 | $0.04 | Codestral saves $0.03 (40%) |
| Medium Feature (10K lines) | $0.48 | $0.29 | Codestral saves $0.19 (40%) |
| Large Project (50K lines) | $2.38 | $1.43 | Codestral saves $0.95 (40%) |
| Code Review (5K lines) | $0.13 | $0.07 | Codestral 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 |
| Codestral | 60 | $0.005/pt | Better value |
Codestral delivers the best value at $0.005 per score point.
Strengths & Weaknesses
GPT-3.5 Turbo
- + Ultra-cheap
- + Very fast
- - Basic coding only
Codestral
- + Code-specialized
- + Very cheap
- - Narrow focus
Verdict
Codestral wins on both price and performance — $0.300/M input with a benchmark score of 60/100.
For most developers, this is the clear choice between these two models.
Compare with Other Models
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Claude 3.5 Sonnet
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Claude 3.5 Haiku
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Claude 3 Opus
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Claude 3 Sonnet
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