Is GPT-3.5 Turbo better than OpenAI o1 for coding?

GPT-3.5 Turbo scores 40 overall vs OpenAI o1's 83. OpenAI o1 has stronger benchmark performance, but pricing also matters — GPT-3.5 Turbo costs $0.500/M input vs $15.00/M for OpenAI o1.

Which is cheaper: GPT-3.5 Turbo or OpenAI o1?

GPT-3.5 Turbo is cheaper per million input tokens at $0.50/M vs $15.00/M.

What is the price-performance ratio of GPT-3.5 Turbo vs OpenAI o1?

Based on benchmark scores, GPT-3.5 Turbo costs $0.013 per score point while OpenAI o1 costs $0.181 per score point. GPT-3.5 Turbo offers better value.

GPT-3.5 Turbo vs OpenAI o1

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

OpenAI o1

OpenAI

Reasoning model optimized for complex problem-solving. Excels at math, science, and advanced coding.

Input	$15.00/M
Output	$60.00/M
Context	200K tokens
Best For	Complex math, advanced coding, scientific reasoning
Benchmark	83/100

Benchmark Performance Comparison

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

Benchmark	GPT-3.5 Turbo	OpenAI o1	Leader
Overall Score	40	83	o1 leads by 43pts
SWE-bench Verified	32	80	o1 leads by 48pts
LiveCodeBench	42	84	o1 leads by 42pts
HumanEval	62	95	o1 leads by 33pts
BigCodeBench	26	73	o1 leads by 47pts

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	OpenAI o1	Savings
Small Script (1K lines)	$0.06	$2.32	GPT-3.5 Turbo saves $2.26 (97%)
Medium Feature (10K lines)	$0.48	$17.25	GPT-3.5 Turbo saves $16.77 (97%)
Large Project (50K lines)	$2.38	$86.25	GPT-3.5 Turbo saves $83.88 (97%)
Code Review (5K lines)	$0.13	$4.13	GPT-3.5 Turbo saves $4.00 (97%)

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
OpenAI o1	83	$0.181/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

OpenAI o1

+ Strong step-by-step reasoning
+ Best at math-heavy coding
- Expensive
- Slow

Verdict

GPT-3.5 Turbo is cheaper at $0.500/M, but OpenAI o1 scores higher on benchmarks (83 vs 40).

Choose GPT-3.5 Turbo for cost-sensitive projects, OpenAI o1 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