GPT-4 Turbo Preview vs text-davinci

GPT-4 Turbo Preview (2023) and text-davinci (2022) are compact production models from OpenAI. GPT-4 Turbo Preview ships a 128k-token context window, while text-davinci ships a 4k-token context window. This comparison covers specs, pricing, API access, capabilities, benchmarks, input and output token costs, and production fit for coding and agent workloads. It focuses on practical selection signals rather than broad model-family marketing.

GPT-4 Turbo Preview fits 32x more tokens; pick it for long-context work and text-davinci for tighter calls.

Decision scorecard

Local evidence first
SignalGPT-4 Turbo Previewtext-davinci
Best formultimodal apps and provider-routed productiongeneral production evaluation
Decision fitCoding, RAG, and AgentsGeneral
Context window128k4k
Cheapest output$30/1M tokens-
Provider routes3 tracked0 tracked
Shared benchmarks0 shared0 shared

Decision tradeoffs

Choose GPT-4 Turbo Preview when...
  • GPT-4 Turbo Preview has the larger context window for long prompts, retrieval packs, or transcript analysis.
  • GPT-4 Turbo Preview has broader tracked provider coverage for fallback and route flexibility.
  • GPT-4 Turbo Preview uniquely exposes Vision, Structured outputs, and Code execution in local model data.
  • Local decision data tags GPT-4 Turbo Preview for Coding, RAG, and Agents.
Choose text-davinci when...
  • Use text-davinci when your own prompt tests beat the comparison signals; the local data does not show a decisive standalone advantage yet.

Monthly cost at traffic

Estimate token spend from the cheapest tracked input and output route or tier on this page.

GPT-4 Turbo Preview

$15,500

Cheapest tracked route/tier: OpenAI API

text-davinci

Unavailable

No complete token price in local provider data

Cost delta unavailable until both models have sourced input and output token prices.

Switch friction

GPT-4 Turbo Preview -> text-davinci
  • No overlapping tracked provider route is sourced for GPT-4 Turbo Preview and text-davinci; plan for SDK, billing, or endpoint changes.
  • Check replacement coverage for Vision, Structured outputs, and Code execution before moving production traffic.
text-davinci -> GPT-4 Turbo Preview
  • No overlapping tracked provider route is sourced for text-davinci and GPT-4 Turbo Preview; plan for SDK, billing, or endpoint changes.
  • GPT-4 Turbo Preview adds Vision, Structured outputs, and Code execution in local capability data.

Specs

Specification
Released2023-11-062022-01-27
Context window128k4k
Parameters1.76T (8x222B MoE)*175B
ArchitectureMixture of ExpertsDecoder Only
LicenseProprietaryProprietary
OpennessProprietaryProprietary
WeightsNot releasedNot released
CodeUnknownUnknown
Commercial useCommercial use: conditionalCommercial use: conditional
Knowledge cutoff2023-122021-06

Pricing and availability

Pricing attributeGPT-4 Turbo Previewtext-davinci
Input price$10/1M tokens-
Output price$30/1M tokens-
Providers-

Capabilities

CapabilityGPT-4 Turbo Previewtext-davinci
VisionYesNo
MultimodalNoNo
ReasoningNoNo
JSON / Tool useNoNo
Structured outputsYesNo
Code executionYesNo
IDE integrationNoNo
Computer useNoNo
Parallel agentsNoNo

Benchmarks

No shared benchmark scores are currently available for this pair.

Continue comparing

Last reviewed: 2026-06-15. Data sourced from public model cards and provider documentation.