GPT-3.5 Turbo Instruct vs GPT-5 Mini
Both have similar output pricing, while GPT-5 Mini offers a larger context window. Choose GPT-3.5 Turbo Instruct or GPT-5 Mini based on the trade-off between cost, context, and the benchmarks that matter for your use case.
| Spec | GPT-3.5 Turbo Instruct | GPT-5 Mini |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | OpenAI | OpenAI |
| Input / 1M tokens | $1.50 | $0.25 |
| Output / 1M tokens | $2.00 | $2.00 |
| Context window | 4K | 400K |
| Parameters | 20B | — |
| Open weights | No | No |
| Released | Sep 2023 | Aug 2025 |
| LiveBench score | — | 66.6 |
| SWE-bench Multilingual score | — | 39.7 |
| SWE-bench Verified score | — | 59.8 |
| GPQA Diamond score | — | 75.0 |
| LMArena (Chatbot Arena) Elo score | — | 1373 |
| FrontierMath score | — | 27.2 |
| LMArena Vision Elo score | — | 1202 |
| Epoch Capabilities Index score | — | 145 |
FAQ
Is GPT-3.5 Turbo Instruct or GPT-5 Mini cheaper?
GPT-3.5 Turbo Instruct and GPT-5 Mini have comparable output pricing.
Which has the larger context window, GPT-3.5 Turbo Instruct or GPT-5 Mini?
GPT-5 Mini has the larger context window (400K tokens).
Pricing is indicative — confirm with the provider before production use. Highlighted values indicate the better figure for that row.