OpenAI: GPT-3.5 Turbo Instruct vs ScaleDown: Summarize
On input price, ScaleDown: Summarize is ~37.5× cheaper. Verified 2026-10-21.
OpenAI: GPT-3.5 Turbo Instruct $1.50/$2.00vsScaleDown: Summarize $0.040/Free
Verdict
On blended price (3:1 input:output), ScaleDown: Summarize is ~54.2× cheaper ($0.040/Free vs $1.50/$2.00 per 1M tokens).
Pricing
Per-million-token list prices, verified 2026-10-21. Green marks the better value.
| Metric | OpenAI: GPT-3.5 Turbo Instruct | ScaleDown: Summarize |
|---|---|---|
| Input / 1M | $1.50 | $0.040 |
| Output / 1M | $2.00 | Free |
| Cache read / 1M | — | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $1.63/1M | $0.030/1M |
| Estimated monthly cost | OpenAI: GPT-3.5 Turbo Instruct | ScaleDown: Summarize |
|---|---|---|
| Chatbot10,000 reqs · 800/400 tok | $20.00 | $0.32 |
| Coding agent5,000 reqs · 8000/2000 tok | $80.00 | $1.60 |
| RAG pipeline30,000 reqs · 4000/500 tok | $210.00 | $4.80 |
Plug in your own numbers in the calculator, or paste a real bill into the Bill Shredder.
Specifications & capabilities
| Metric | OpenAI: GPT-3.5 Turbo Instruct | ScaleDown: Summarize |
|---|---|---|
| Context window | 4K | 1M |
| Max output | 4K | 4K |
| Vision input | – | ✓ |
| Tool calling | – | – |
| Reasoning | – | – |
Provider
Infrastructure metrics for the organizations behind these models.
| Metric | OpenAI | scaledown |
|---|---|---|
| Listed endpoints | 12 | — |
| Reliability | 99.9% | — |
| Avg latency | 450 ms | — |
| Pricing tiers | standard, batch, provisioned | — |
Full details: OpenAI: GPT-3.5 Turbo Instruct pricing · ScaleDown: Summarize pricing