GPT-3.5-turbo vs Sonar
Too close to call on our weighted score (Sonar 30, GPT-3.5-turbo 28). The right pick depends on what you value most.
OpenAIGPT-3.5-turbo
28/100- ECI—
- Price$0.50 / $1.50
- Context16K
PerplexitySonar
30/100- ECI—
- Price$1.00 / $1.00
- Context128K
Add a model
Make it a three-way comparison.
Too close to call
It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 2 points (Sonar 30/100, GPT-3.5-turbo 28/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: GPT-3.5-turbo on price and Sonar for long inputs. 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 priceGPT-3.5-turboGPT-3.5-turbo $0.75 · Sonar $1.00 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextSonarSonar 128,000 · GPT-3.5-turbo 16,385 tokens
- Widest inputsSame inputsGPT-3.5-turbo: Text · Sonar: Text
- Self-hostingNo open weightsBoth are available only through APIs
| Measure | Weight | GPT-3.5-turbo | Sonar |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 56 | 50 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 0 | 0 |
| Context window | 20% | 0 | 24 |
| Overall | 100% | 28/100 | 30/100 |
Left out because at least one model lacks the data: capability. The remaining weights were rescaled.
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | GPT-3.5-turboOpenAI | SonarPerplexity |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | ||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | ||
| Input | $0.50 (best) | $1.00 |
| Output | $1.50 | $1.00 (best) |
| Cached input | Free | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.75 (best) | $1.00 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official OpenAI API | Official Perplexity API |
| Limits | ||
| Context window | 16,385 tokens | 128,000 tokens (best) |
| Max output | 4,096 tokens | 4,096 tokens |
| Inputs and features | ||
| Text | Yes | Yes |
| Images | No | No |
| PDFs | No | No |
| Audio | No | No |
| Video | No | No |
| Reasoning | No | No |
| Tool calling | No | No |
| Structured output | No | No |
| Availability | ||
| Weights | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| API model ID | gpt-3.5-turbo | sonar |
| API providers | 11 (best) | 6 |
| Released | Mar 1, 2023 | Jan 1, 2024 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Sep 1, 2021 | Sep 1, 2025 |
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
- Sonar$12.00
Which should you choose?
Which is better: GPT-3.5-turbo or Sonar?
It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 2 points (Sonar 30/100, GPT-3.5-turbo 28/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: GPT-3.5-turbo on price and Sonar for long inputs. 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 Sonar?
GPT-3.5-turbo is cheaper at $0.50 input / $1.50 output per million tokens (official OpenAI API price). Sonar costs $1.00 input / $1.00 output per million tokens (official Perplexity API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.75 per million tokens for GPT-3.5-turbo versus $1.00 for Sonar (1.3× 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 Sonar has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for GPT-3.5-turbo and Sonar 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 and Sonar does not support tool calling, which most coding agents need.
Which has the bigger context window?
Sonar has the largest context window at 128,000 tokens, against 16,385 for GPT-3.5-turbo. Maximum output per response: GPT-3.5-turbo up to 4,096, Sonar up to 4,096 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
GPT-3.5-turbo accepts text; Sonar accepts text. They handle the same number of input types.
Are any of these open source?
No. GPT-3.5-turbo and Sonar are proprietary and only available through APIs and apps.
Which is newer?
Sonar is the newest, released Jan 1, 2024. GPT-3.5-turbo came out Mar 1, 2023. Knowledge cutoff: GPT-3.5-turbo Sep 1, 2021, Sonar Sep 1, 2025.
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.
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