DeepSeek V2.5 vs GPT-3.5 Turbo: Pricing, Benchmarks & Verdict (2026)

Pricing verified Apr 8, 2026

⚡ Quick Answer

Compare DeepSeek V2.5 and GPT-3.5 Turbo across pricing, benchmarks, and capabilities.

Updated: April 8, 2026 · ✓ Pricing verified

Side-by-Side Comparison

FeatureDeepSeek V2.5GPT-3.5 Turbo
ProviderDeepSeekOpenAI
Input Price / 1M tokens$0.140$0.500
Output Price / 1M tokens$0.280$1.50
Context Window
128K
16K
Max Output Tokens
4,096
4,096
Arena ELO
1,200
1,120
Coding ELO
1,220
1,100
TTFT (ms)
150
150
Tokens/sec
100
100
MultimodalNoNo
JSON ModeYesYes
Function CallingYesYes
VisionNoNo
When to Use DeepSeek V2.5

DeepSeek V2.5 excels at coding, general-purpose tasks.

Strengths:

  • Excellent value
  • Strong code generation
  • Good quality

Best for:

codinggeneral-purpose
When to Use GPT-3.5 Turbo

GPT-3.5 Turbo excels at cost-effective, general-purpose tasks.

Strengths:

  • Very cheap
  • Fast
  • Widely used

Best for:

cost-effectivegeneral-purpose

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