March 10, 2025
GPT-4 vs GPT-3.5: When the 10x Cost is Worth It
6 min read
GPT-4 is significantly more capable than GPT-3.5, but it costs 10x more per token. Most teams default to GPT-4 for everything, burning money on simple tasks.
We've reduced our AI costs by 60% by using GPT-3.5 for 80% of requests and GPT-4 only when necessary.
When to use each model
- GPT-3.5-turbo: Simple Q&A, text completion, basic classification, summarization.
- GPT-4: Complex reasoning, code generation, creative writing, multi-step tasks.
Sonar tracks costs per model and endpoint, so you can see exactly where GPT-4 is worth the premium and where GPT-3.5 is sufficient.