OpenAI: GPT-3.5 Turbo Instruct API Pricing
OpenAI: GPT-3.5 Turbo Instruct costs $1.50 per 1M input tokens and $2.00 per 1M output tokens. Context window: 4K. Prices verified 2026-10-21 · source
Alternatives to consider
Cheapest openai model — 98% less per month
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What would OpenAI: GPT-3.5 Turbo Instruct cost you per month?
| Workload | Requests/mo | Avg tokens (in/out) | Est. monthly cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Light chatbot | 10,000 | 800 / 400 | $20.00 |
| Coding agent | 5,000 | 8,000 / 2,000 | $80.00 |
| RAG pipeline | 30,000 | 4,000 / 500 | $210.00 |
| Doc summarizer | 2,000 | 20,000 / 1,000 | $64.00 |
Estimates use list prices without prompt caching. Caching can cut input cost by up to 90% on repeated context.
About OpenAI: GPT-3.5 Turbo Instruct
This model is a variant of GPT-3.5 Turbo tuned for instructional prompts and omitting chat-related optimizations. Training data: up to Sep 2021.
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Frequently asked questions
How much does OpenAI: GPT-3.5 Turbo Instruct cost?
OpenAI: GPT-3.5 Turbo Instruct costs $1.50 per 1M input tokens and $2.00 per 1M output tokens. Verified 2026-10-21 — provider source.
What is the context window?
4K tokens, with up to 4K output tokens per response. That's roughly 5 pages of text in a single request.
Does it support prompt caching?
Prompt-caching pricing is not published for this model via OpenRouter.
What's a cheaper alternative?
ScaleDown: Summarize saves about 98% on a typical workload with comparable quality.
Official resources
- OpenAI: GPT-3.5 Turbo Instruct on OpenRouter — live endpoint, pricing source of record.
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