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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

GPT-3.5-turbo vs Mistral 7B

Mistral 7B comes out ahead, 47 to 28 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  1. OpenAI

    GPT-3.5-turbo

    Released Mar 1, 2023Deprecated

    28/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.50 / $1.50
    • Context16K
    Full specs Remove GPT-3.5-turbo
  2. Our pick

    Mistral AI

    Mistral 7B

    Released Sep 27, 2023

    47/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.25 / $0.25
    • Context8K
    Full specs Remove Mistral 7B

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Mistral 7B is our pick

Mistral 7B is the better all-round choice, scoring 47/100 against GPT-3.5-turbo (28). It leads on price and inputs & features. The score weighs price 50%, inputs & features 30%, context window 20%. None of the shared benchmarks cover every model here yet, so capability is left out of this verdict.

  • CapabilityNot enough dataNo independent benchmark covers every model here yet
  • Lowest priceMistral 7BMistral 7B $0.25 · GPT-3.5-turbo $0.75 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextGPT-3.5-turboGPT-3.5-turbo 16,385 · Mistral 7B 8,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsSame inputsGPT-3.5-turbo: Text · Mistral 7B: Text
  • Self-hostingMistral 7BPublishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightGPT-3.5-turboMistral 7B
Price50%5678
Inputs & features30%025
Context window20%00
Overall100%28/10047/100

Left out because at least one model lacks the data: capability. The remaining weights were rescaled.

02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.

GPT-3.5-turbo vs Mistral 7B specifications side by side
SpecificationGPT-3.5-turboOpenAIMistral 7BMistral AI
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)——
ECI rank——
Price per million tokens
Input$0.50$0.25 (best)
Output$1.50$0.25 (best)
Cached inputFree—
Blended (3:1)$0.75$0.25 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial OpenAI APIOfficial Mistral API
Limits
Context window16,385 tokens (best)8,000 tokens
Max output4,096 tokens8,000 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesNoNo
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningNoNo
Tool callingNoYes
Structured outputNoNo
Availability
WeightsProprietaryOpen
API model IDgpt-3.5-turboopen-mistral-7b
API providers11 (best)1
ReleasedMar 1, 2023Sep 27, 2023
Knowledge cutoffSep 1, 2021Dec 2023
03 — Cost

What would a month cost?

Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.

  • GPT-3.5-turbo$8.00
  • Mistral 7B$3.00
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: GPT-3.5-turbo or Mistral 7B?

Mistral 7B is the better all-round choice, scoring 47/100 against GPT-3.5-turbo (28). It leads on price and inputs & features. The score weighs price 50%, inputs & features 30%, context window 20%. None of the shared benchmarks cover every model here yet, so capability is left out of this verdict.

Which is cheaper, GPT-3.5-turbo or Mistral 7B?

Mistral 7B is cheaper at $0.25 input / $0.25 output per million tokens (official Mistral API price). GPT-3.5-turbo costs $0.50 input / $1.50 output per million tokens (official OpenAI API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.25 per million tokens for Mistral 7B versus $0.75 for GPT-3.5-turbo (3× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

There is no independent benchmark that covers both models yet. GPT-3.5-turbo has not been scored yet and Mistral 7B has not been scored yet.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for GPT-3.5-turbo and Mistral 7B yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. Note that GPT-3.5-turbo does not support tool calling, which most coding agents need.

Which has the bigger context window?

GPT-3.5-turbo has the largest context window at 16,385 tokens, against 8,000 for Mistral 7B. Maximum output per response: GPT-3.5-turbo up to 4,096, Mistral 7B up to 8,000 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

GPT-3.5-turbo accepts text; Mistral 7B accepts text. They handle the same number of input types.

Are any of these open source?

Mistral 7B publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; GPT-3.5-turbo is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Mistral 7B is the newest, released Sep 27, 2023. GPT-3.5-turbo came out Mar 1, 2023. Knowledge cutoff: GPT-3.5-turbo Sep 1, 2021, Mistral 7B Dec 2023.

How do you decide the winner?

Each model gets a 0–100 score on capability (50%, independent benchmark results); price (25%, blended price per million tokens (3 input : 1 output), log scale); inputs & features (15%, image, PDF, audio and video input, tool calling, structured output and reasoning); context window (10%, maximum tokens per request, log scale). Dimensions missing for any model are dropped and the remaining weights rescaled, so every model is judged on the same evidence. Specs and prices come from public model listings and the labs’ own API pages; capability scores come from independent benchmark runs. Data updated Oct 4, 2026.

05 — Keep comparing

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