Is GPT-3.5 Turbo better than Qwen Max for coding?

GPT-3.5 Turbo scores 40 overall vs Qwen Max's 68. Qwen Max has stronger benchmark performance, but pricing also matters — GPT-3.5 Turbo costs $0.500/M input vs $1.60/M for Qwen Max.

Which is cheaper: GPT-3.5 Turbo or Qwen Max?

GPT-3.5 Turbo is cheaper per million input tokens at $0.50/M vs $1.60/M.

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

Based on benchmark scores, GPT-3.5 Turbo costs $0.013 per score point while Qwen Max costs $0.024 per score point. GPT-3.5 Turbo offers better value.

GPT-3.5 Turbo vs Qwen Max

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

Qwen Max

Qwen

Qwen's most powerful model. Strong reasoning and coding capabilities.

Input	$1.60/M
Output	$6.40/M
Context	32K tokens
Best For	Complex reasoning, advanced coding
Benchmark	68/100

Benchmark Performance Comparison

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

Benchmark	GPT-3.5 Turbo	Qwen Max	Leader
Overall Score	40	68	Qwen Max leads by 28pts
SWE-bench Verified	32	62	Qwen Max leads by 30pts
LiveCodeBench	42	70	Qwen Max leads by 28pts
HumanEval	62	86	Qwen Max leads by 24pts
BigCodeBench	26	54	Qwen Max leads by 28pts

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	Qwen Max	Savings
Small Script (1K lines)	$0.06	$0.25	GPT-3.5 Turbo saves $0.19 (75%)
Medium Feature (10K lines)	$0.48	$1.84	GPT-3.5 Turbo saves $1.37 (74%)
Large Project (50K lines)	$2.38	$9.20	GPT-3.5 Turbo saves $6.83 (74%)
Code Review (5K lines)	$0.13	$0.44	GPT-3.5 Turbo saves $0.32 (72%)

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
Qwen Max	68	$0.024/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

Qwen Max

+ Strong Chinese language support
+ Good value
- Less tested on English coding

Verdict

GPT-3.5 Turbo is cheaper at $0.500/M, but Qwen Max scores higher on benchmarks (68 vs 40).

Choose GPT-3.5 Turbo for cost-sensitive projects, Qwen Max 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