AionLabs: Aion 3.5 vs OpenAI: GPT Audio

Neither wins outright: AionLabs: Aion 3.5 is the pick when cost matters at scale, OpenAI: GPT Audio when you need audio input.

Key numbers

SpecAionLabs: Aion 3.5OpenAI: GPT Audio
ProviderAion LabsOpenAI
Input price (per 1M tokens)$3.00$2.50
Output price (per 1M tokens)$6.00$10.00
Blended price (3:1 input/output)$3.75$4.38
Cheaper than … of all models we track17%13%
Context window262K tokens (~393 pages)128K tokens (~192 pages)
Larger context than … of all models47%14%
Max output per response33K tokens (~24,600 words)16K tokens (~12,300 words)
Input typestexttext, audio
Output typestexttext, audio
Free variantNoNo
Listed since2026-09-232026-01-19
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What it costs for real workloads

Monthly cost at list price for five common workloads. Token counts per unit are stated so you can scale them to your own traffic. A workload that does not fit a model's context window is marked rather than priced.

Workload (per month)AionLabs: Aion 3.5OpenAI: GPT AudioDifference
Customer-support chatbot
50,000 conversations — each a 6-turn conversation (1,500 in / 400 out tokens)
$345$388AionLabs: Aion 3.5 saves $42.50
RAG search over documents
20,000 questions — each a question answered from ~8 retrieved passages (6,000 in / 500 out tokens)
$420$400OpenAI: GPT Audio saves $20.00
Coding / tool-using agent
2,000 tasks — each a multi-step task with tool calls and file context (60,000 in / 6,000 out tokens)
$432$420OpenAI: GPT Audio saves $12.00
Batch summarisation
10,000 documents — each a 6,000-word report summarised to a page (8,000 in / 600 out tokens)
$276$260OpenAI: GPT Audio saves $16.00
Long-document analysis
500 documents — each a 150-page contract or codebase read in one pass (100,000 in / 2,000 out tokens)
$156$135OpenAI: GPT Audio saves $21.00

Capabilities side by side

CapabilityAionLabs: Aion 3.5OpenAI: GPT AudioWhat it lets you do
Tool / function calling✓ Yes✓ Yescall your APIs and run agent loops
Structured output (JSON schema)✓ Yes✓ Yesreturn JSON that validates against your schema
Reasoning / thinking mode✓ Yes—spend extra tokens thinking before answering hard problems
Image input——read screenshots, charts and scanned pages
Audio input—✓ Yestake speech or audio directly
File / PDF input——accept documents without your own parsing step
Image output——generate images, not just text
Built-in web search——answer from live web results
Seed (reproducible sampling)—✓ Yesrepeat a generation for tests and evals
Log-probabilities—✓ Yesread token confidence for classification and scoring

From each model's published parameters and input/output types. “—” means not advertised, not proven absent.

Price history

Which should you choose?

Choose AionLabs: Aion 3.5 if…

  • cost matters at scale — it is 14% cheaper on a typical 3:1 input/output mix ($345 vs $388 a month for 50,000 support chats)
  • you need to fit long inputs in one request — 262K tokens is roughly 393 pages, against 192
  • you need reasoning / thinking mode — to spend extra tokens thinking before answering hard problems; OpenAI: GPT Audio does not advertise it
  • you generate long outputs in one go — up to 33K tokens (about 24,600 words) per response
  • you want the newer model — released 2026-09-23, 8 months after the other

Choose OpenAI: GPT Audio if…

  • you need audio input — to take speech or audio directly; AionLabs: Aion 3.5 does not advertise it
  • you need seed (reproducible sampling) — to repeat a generation for tests and evals; AionLabs: Aion 3.5 does not advertise it
  • you need log-probabilities — to read token confidence for classification and scoring; AionLabs: Aion 3.5 does not advertise it

Frequently asked questions

Is AionLabs: Aion 3.5 better than OpenAI: GPT Audio?

Neither wins outright: AionLabs: Aion 3.5 is the pick when cost matters at scale, OpenAI: GPT Audio when you need audio input. In short: AionLabs: Aion 3.5 when cost matters at scale, you need to fit long inputs in one request, you need reasoning / thinking mode, you generate long outputs in one go, you want the newer model; OpenAI: GPT Audio when you need audio input, you need seed (reproducible sampling), you need log-probabilities.

Which is cheaper, AionLabs: Aion 3.5 or OpenAI: GPT Audio?

AionLabs: Aion 3.5 is cheaper: $3.75 vs $4.38 per 1M tokens at a typical 3:1 input/output mix, 14% less. For 50,000 support conversations a month that is $345 against $388.

How much do AionLabs: Aion 3.5 and OpenAI: GPT Audio cost per million tokens?

AionLabs: Aion 3.5 costs $3.00 per 1M input tokens and $6.00 per 1M output tokens; OpenAI: GPT Audio costs $2.50 input and $10.00 output. Output tokens are billed separately, so long answers shift the gap.

Which has the bigger context window, AionLabs: Aion 3.5 or OpenAI: GPT Audio?

AionLabs: Aion 3.5: 262K tokens, about 393 pages, against 128K (about 192 pages) for OpenAI: GPT Audio.

Do AionLabs: Aion 3.5 and OpenAI: GPT Audio support function calling and JSON output?

Tool calling — AionLabs: Aion 3.5: yes, OpenAI: GPT Audio: yes. JSON-schema structured output — AionLabs: Aion 3.5: yes, OpenAI: GPT Audio: yes.

Can AionLabs: Aion 3.5 or OpenAI: GPT Audio read images?

Neither accepts image input — both are text-in models.

Is AionLabs: Aion 3.5 or OpenAI: GPT Audio free to use?

No free variant is listed for either; both are pay-per-token.

What is the maximum output length of AionLabs: Aion 3.5 and OpenAI: GPT Audio?

AionLabs: Aion 3.5 can write up to 33K tokens (about 24,600 words) per response; OpenAI: GPT Audio up to 16K (about 12,300 words).

When were AionLabs: Aion 3.5 and OpenAI: GPT Audio released?

AionLabs: Aion 3.5 was listed on 2026-09-23; OpenAI: GPT Audio on 2026-01-19.

About the two models

Aion Labs

AionLabs: Aion 3.5

Aion 3.5 is a multi-model roleplaying and storytelling system from AionLabs, built on the GLM family of models. It uses a collaborative generation process in which multiple specialized models each...

Full AionLabs: Aion 3.5 specs →
OpenAI

OpenAI: GPT Audio

The gpt-audio model is OpenAI's first generally available audio model. The new snapshot features an upgraded decoder for more natural sounding voices and maintains better voice consistency. Audio is priced...

Full OpenAI: GPT Audio specs →

Compare AionLabs: Aion 3.5 with other models

Compare OpenAI: GPT Audio with other models

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