Difference between GPT-4, GPT-4 Turbo and GPT-4o

With the May 2024 release of GPT-4o coming with GPT-4 and GPT-4 Turbo, you might be wondering what the differences are between these AI models — and which ChatGPT model you should actually use.

While OpenAI's GPT-4 models start from the same foundation, they have some significant differences, meaning they are better suited to some tasks than others, not to mention the cost involved in accessing them.

So what's the difference between OpenAI's GPT-4 models?

Comparing GPT-4, GPT-4 Turbo and GPT-4o

OpenAI's GPT-4 models come in several variants, each designed to meet different needs. Here's an overview of the differences between GPT-4, GPT-4 Turbo, and GPT-4o (Omni).

GPT-4

GPT-4 is the foundational model. It understands and generates complex sentences, which is useful for a wide range of applications, such as creative writing, data analysis, language translation, and code generation. With GPT-4’s 23,000–25,000 word context window, you can also attach long documents and have them answer any queries about your uploaded files. Since this is the base model of the product line, you also get access to all the useful features of GPT-4 on both GPT-4 Turbo and GPT-4o.

GPT-4 Turbo

GPT-4 Turbo builds on the capabilities of GPT-4 by focusing on efficiency and cost savings. It delivers faster response times thanks to improved computational efficiency, making it suitable for users who need faster output. Additionally, GPT-4 Turbo excels in accuracy, especially in mathematical problems, outperforming GPT-4 in various benchmarks. The model also introduces advanced features such as JSON mode and parallel function calls, contributing to more robust and reproducible output.

GPT-4o

GPT-4o (“o” stands for “omni”) is the latest addition to the GPT-4 family of models and is the default model selected for both ChatGPT Free and Plus users. It is twice as smart and fast as GPT-4 Turbo, making it ideal for real-time applications. GPT-4o is also the first multimodal model in the family, capable of parsing all types of file formats such as text, audio, images and video, and can generate all text and images in ChatGPT.

Additionally, OpenAI has allowed users to grant limited free access to GPT-4o, capped at 16 messages every 3 hours. After that, ChatGPT will revert back to using GPT-3.5.

Here are the details of each GPT-4 model:

In addition to cost, response time, and context duration, the paper also added accuracy benchmarks for each model to help compare accuracy across different tasks. The benchmarks include MMLU for testing academic knowledge, GPQA for assessing general knowledge, HumanEval for assessing the model's coding ability, and MATH for solving mathematical problems. In each test, the higher the score, the better.

Which GPT-4 model should I use?

Choosing the right model depends on your specific needs and the nature of the work you intend to do.

GPT-4o is the most powerful model in the lineup. It has the highest accuracy scores in all benchmarks and will likely perform best in all interactions. However, the number of messages you can send with GPT-4o is limited, especially for free tier users. This limitation is the main reason why it is still recommended to upgrade to ChatGPT Plus. However, it is best to reserve GPT-4o for interactions that require multimodal input and output or when maximum accuracy is needed. GPT-4 and GPT-4 Turbo are only available to ChatGPT Plus users. If you already have a Plus account, it makes more sense to use GPT-4 Turbo in all ChatGPT interactions unless you require GPT-4o.

However, GPT-4 Turbo is currently not available in ChatGPT even though it is scheduled to be made available on April 12, 2024. This means you will have to use the GPT-4 model for most tasks and use GPT-4o for more complex tasks until OpenAI makes GPT-4 Turbo available again.