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1.7 – ChatGPT 3.5 vs 4 vs 4o Pros and Cons Lesson

Comparing ChatGPT models 3.5, 4, and 4o, this lesson outlines their core differences in speed, quality, features, and access—helping you decide when and if upgrading to a paid plan fits your needs. For detailed demonstrations, watch the accompanying video, where each aspect is explored in context.

What you'll learn

  • Distinguish key differences between ChatGPT 3.5, 4, and 4o models

  • Identify which features are included at each access level (free, Plus, Teams)

  • Recognize how speed, creativity, and output length vary across versions

  • Understand practical limitations of free vs paid access, especially for advanced features

  • Assess whether upgrading to a Plus or Teams plan matches your workflow or goals

  • Discover where custom GPTs and DALL-E integration fit into each model’s capabilities

Lesson Overview

Choosing the right ChatGPT model can directly affect your productivity, creativity, and access to new tools within generative AI. This lesson walks through the major distinctions between ChatGPT 3.5, 4, and the latest 4o model—outlining what each offers, who gets access, and how they perform in typical tasks. You’ll see why improvements in GPT 4o matter, especially for professionals or anyone using AI beyond basic chat.

Understanding these differences makes a real impact if you find yourself limited by slow speeds, short responses, or lack of advanced tools like DALL-E image generation or custom GPTs. While previous lessons focused on general ChatGPT usage, this section helps you make informed decisions about your workflow—whether to stay with the free offering, upgrade, or use specific versions for different tasks. Realistically, knowing which model fits your needs saves time and avoids frustration as you scale your use of AI, whether for business, personal, or creative applications.

Who This Is For

This lesson benefits anyone making frequent use of ChatGPT and needing clarity about which version to use for maximum value, including:

  • Business professionals needing fast, detailed AI outputs
  • Content creators and marketers seeking advanced creative tools
  • Educators and students using AI for research or assignments
  • Developers wanting to build or use custom GPTs for specialized tasks
  • Analysts or teams considering paid upgrades for collaborative features
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Where This Fits in a Workflow

Deciding between ChatGPT models is an important question early in your AI adoption or as your needs change. For instance, if you work with large documents or routinely run into token limits, understanding model options is the first step before building prompts or workflows. If you want integrated features like file upload, PDF vision, web browsing, or DALL-E image capabilities directly in ChatGPT, your plan choice determines what’s possible.

For example, a content creator who writes long-form posts and occasionally makes images will quickly notice the limitations of 3.5 and may prefer moving to GPT 4o Plus for smoother, richer outputs. Similarly, a team collaborating on custom GPTs depends on paid plans for creation permissions, making that upgrade decision central to the project’s success.

Technical & Workflow Benefits

Previously, users on the free plan were often restricted by shorter outputs, slower response times (if using older versions), and lack of advanced features. GPT 3.5, while accessible, lags behind 4 and 4o in both quality and available tools. Upgrading to 4o, especially with a paid plan, removes many of these frictions: chat speeds match or surpass 3.5, the token limit is raised high enough for major research or creative tasks (up to 128,000 tokens versus 4,000 in 3.5), and access to functionally rich features is expanded.

For instance, the ability to quickly upload data or images and get analysis or creative outputs—only on 4o paid—means teams work faster and reduce manual copy-paste efforts. Paid subscribers can generate AI images or deploy custom versions of ChatGPT to handle repeated tasks, directly improving output quality and efficiency compared to juggling external tools or older models.

Practice Exercise

Try this: Start a ChatGPT session with both the 3.5 and 4o models using the same prompt—perhaps summarizing a lengthy news article or analyzing the main points of a business report.

  1. Note the response quality and length from GPT 3.5.
  2. Switch to GPT 4o (within your usage limits or on a paid plan) and enter the same prompt.
  3. If possible, use the data upload feature or attempt DALL-E image creation in GPT 4o.

Reflect: What differences did you see in speed, detail, and available tools between the two models? Which model better supports your actual tasks and why?

Course Context Recap

You’re now equipped to understand which ChatGPT model best fits your day-to-day needs, and how the choice between free and paid options affects speed, length, and features. Earlier lessons introduced key ChatGPT concepts; now, you have a practical framework for choosing the right model going forward. In the next lessons, you’ll see hands-on demonstrations of specific features (like file analysis or prompting best practices) to put these options into action. Continue exploring the course for clearer, faster, and more creative AI-powered work.