Cohere: Command R (08-2024) vs OpenAI: GPT-3.5 Turbo 16k
Head-to-head API pricing and cost comparison between Cohere’s Cohere: Command R (08-2024) and OpenAI’s OpenAI: GPT-3.5 Turbo 16k. Prices auto-refresh daily from OpenRouter.
Cohere: Command R (08-2024) is 95% cheaper for input tokens; Cohere: Command R (08-2024) also wins on output tokens.
Side-by-side comparison
| Spec | Cohere: Command R (08-2024) | OpenAI: GPT-3.5 Turbo 16k |
|---|---|---|
| Input price (per 1M) | $0.15 | $3.00 |
| Cached input (per 1M) | — | — |
| Output price (per 1M) | $0.60 | $4.00 |
| Batch input (per 1M) | — | $1.50 |
| Batch output (per 1M) | — | $2.00 |
| Reasoning price (per 1M) | — | — |
| Context window | 128K | 16K |
| Vision support | No | No |
| Caching support | No | No |
| Batch API | No | Yes |
| Reasoning capability | No | No |
Monthly cost at volume
Estimated monthly API spend at common production traffic levels (input/output tokens per request shown).
| Volume | Cohere: Command R (08-2024) | OpenAI: GPT-3.5 Turbo 16k | Savings |
|---|---|---|---|
1K req/day 500in / 200out tokens | $5.85 | $69.00 | $63.15 Cohere: Command R (08-2024) wins |
10K req/day 1500in / 500out tokens | $157.50 | $1,950 | $1,793 Cohere: Command R (08-2024) wins |
100K req/day 3000in / 800out tokens | $2,790 | $36,600 | $33,810 Cohere: Command R (08-2024) wins |
1M req/day 8000in / 2000out tokens | $72,000 | $960,000 | $888,000 Cohere: Command R (08-2024) wins |
Adjust input/output token counts, request volume, batch & cached pricing.
Related comparisons
Frequently asked questions
Which is cheaper, Cohere: Command R (08-2024) or OpenAI: GPT-3.5 Turbo 16k?
For input tokens, Cohere: Command R (08-2024) is roughly 95% cheaper at $0.15/1M vs $3.00/1M. For output tokens, Cohere: Command R (08-2024) wins at $0.60/1M. Real-world cost depends on your input/output ratio — use the calculator to model your actual workload.
What’s the context window difference?
Cohere: Command R (08-2024) has a context window of 128K tokens. OpenAI: GPT-3.5 Turbo 16k offers 16K tokens. Larger context windows are valuable for long documents, RAG pipelines, and multi-turn conversations — but they come with higher input-token bills if you fill them every request.
Should I use Cohere: Command R (08-2024) or OpenAI: GPT-3.5 Turbo 16k?
Choose Cohere: Command R (08-2024) if you’re already on the Cohere stack, want broad ecosystem support, or prefer its lower input price. Choose OpenAI: GPT-3.5 Turbo 16k for OpenAI’s ecosystem, or its differentiated capabilities. Run a small benchmark on your own prompts before committing — price is only one axis.
How are these prices kept current?
Prices are pulled directly from OpenRouter’s public models API once every 24 hours via a Convex cron job, then normalized to per-1M-token figures. Last refresh: Apr 21, 2026.