Skip to content
ModelCap

Head-to-head comparison

GPT-3.5 Turbo Instruct vs GPT-4o (2024-08-06)

GPT-3.5 Turbo Instruct (OpenAI) and GPT-4o (2024-08-06) (OpenAI) compared on the ModelCap Index, API price, context window, provider availability, weight access and every public benchmark board they share. Figures are the same ones shown on the live rankings; nothing here is a hidden score.

Snapshot as of 3 September 2026

As of 3 September 2026, GPT-4o (2024-08-06) holds the stronger ModelCap Index position (#110 vs #116); GPT-3.5 Turbo Instruct is 5× cheaper per output token ($2.00/1M vs $10.00/1M); and GPT-4o (2024-08-06) offers the longer context window (128K vs 4K tokens).

Which should you choose?

Choose GPT-3.5 Turbo Instruct if…

  • API cost matters — $2.00/1M output tokens against $10.00/1M, about 5× cheaper.
  • your workload is prompt-heavy — input tokens cost $1.50/1M against $2.50/1M.

Choose GPT-4o (2024-08-06) if…

  • you want the stronger overall ModelCap Index position — #110 against #116 (24.2 vs 23.0 points).
  • you need the longer context window — 128K tokens against 4K.
  • you want provider choice — 2 listed API providers against 1.
  • you want the more recently listed model — GPT-4o (2024-08-06) was listed 6 August 2024, GPT-3.5 Turbo Instruct 28 September 2023.

GPT-3.5 Turbo Instruct vs GPT-4o (2024-08-06): specs, pricing and context

Specification comparison of GPT-3.5 Turbo Instruct and GPT-4o (2024-08-06)
FieldGPT-3.5 Turbo InstructOpenAIGPT-4o (2024-08-06)OpenAI
ModelCap Index position#116#110
Index score23.024.2
EvidenceEstimatedMeasured
Input price / 1M tokens$1.50$2.50
Output price / 1M tokens$2.00$10.00
Context window4K tokens128K tokens
Max output tokens4K16K
API providers listed12
Weight accessAPI onlyAPI only
Input modalitiesTextText, Image, File
First listed28 September 20236 August 2024
PublisherOpenAIOpenAI

Evidence: publisher corpus prior · leave-one-anchor-out calibrated · 3 public benchmark observations across 3 boards. Prices are the lowest listed API offer per million tokens observed on the OpenRouter catalogue.

Benchmark scores: GPT-3.5 Turbo Instruct vs GPT-4o (2024-08-06)

Public benchmark boards where GPT-3.5 Turbo Instruct or GPT-4o (2024-08-06) has a published result
BoardGPT-3.5 Turbo InstructGPT-4o (2024-08-06)Leads
Arena codingArena (LMArena)—13601352–1368Only one result
AA Intelligence IndexArtificial Analysis—9.4intelligence-indexOnly one result
AA τ²-Bench TelecomArtificial Analysis—28.9%tau2-bench-telecomOnly one result
AA Humanity's Last ExamArtificial Analysis—2.3%humanitys-last-examOnly one result

Scores are the sources' own published figures for each model's best evaluated configuration; ModelCap never re-runs a benchmark.

Want a different pairing? Open the interactive comparison tool to swap either model for any current ranked language model.

GPT-3.5 Turbo Instruct vs GPT-4o (2024-08-06): common questions

Is GPT-3.5 Turbo Instruct better than GPT-4o (2024-08-06)?

GPT-4o (2024-08-06) ranks higher on the ModelCap Index as of 3 September 2026: #110 against #116. That is a capability ranking built from public benchmark evidence with published uncertainty; whether it is "better" for you also depends on price, context and where you can run it.

Is GPT-3.5 Turbo Instruct cheaper than GPT-4o (2024-08-06)?

GPT-3.5 Turbo Instruct is cheaper on output tokens: $2.00/1M against $10.00/1M. Input tokens are $1.50/1M for GPT-3.5 Turbo Instruct and $2.50/1M for GPT-4o (2024-08-06). Prices are the lowest listed API offer ModelCap observed, in USD per million tokens.

Which has the bigger context window, GPT-3.5 Turbo Instruct or GPT-4o (2024-08-06)?

GPT-4o (2024-08-06) has the larger context window: 128K tokens against 4K.

Which is better for coding, GPT-3.5 Turbo Instruct or GPT-4o (2024-08-06)?

The two models do not share a coding benchmark board on ModelCap yet, so no head-to-head coding score is published; the ModelCap Index position is the closest overall signal.

Are GPT-3.5 Turbo Instruct and GPT-4o (2024-08-06) open-weight models?

GPT-3.5 Turbo Instruct: API only. GPT-4o (2024-08-06): API only. Open weights mean the checkpoint can be downloaded and self-hosted under its licence; API-only models are available solely through hosted endpoints.

Where can I run GPT-3.5 Turbo Instruct and GPT-4o (2024-08-06)?

ModelCap currently lists 1 API provider for GPT-3.5 Turbo Instruct and 2 for GPT-4o (2024-08-06), from the OpenRouter catalogue snapshot the site serves; each model page lists the providers and their prices.

How current is this GPT-3.5 Turbo Instruct vs GPT-4o (2024-08-06) comparison?

Every figure comes from the sealed ModelCap dataset published 3 September 2026; the page re-renders within a minute of each data refresh, and the ModelCap Index positions are the same ones shown on the live rankings.

Explore further