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Fastest First-Token GPT-3.5 Turbo 16k Inference Providers

Ranks providers by how quickly the first generated token appears. Providers without enough recent data remain visible after ranked rows.

OpenAI currently ranks first at 0.35 s via openai.

Provider options:
2
Ranked:
2
Metric:
Time to first token

Fastest first token endpoint ranking

Fastest First-Token GPT-3.5 Turbo 16k Inference Providers
RankProvider / routeTime to first tokenSpeed measurementsEndpoint details
#1Provider / route
OpenAIopenai
Time to first token0.35 sSpeed measurements
500-token response
36.06 s
Response starts
0.35 s
Output speed
14.0 tok/s
Endpoint details
Input price
$3 / 1M tokens
Output price
$4 / 1M tokens
Uptime (30 min)
Insufficient recent data
Context
16.4K
#2Provider / route
Azureazure
Time to first token0.98 sSpeed measurements
500-token response
16.13 s
Response starts
0.98 s
Output speed
33.0 tok/s
Endpoint details
Input price
$3 / 1M tokens
Output price
$4 / 1M tokens
Uptime (30 min)
Insufficient recent data
Context
16.4K

Endpoint data fetched .

GPT-3.5 Turbo 16k endpoint guide

How to interpret the Fastest First-Token GPT-3.5 Turbo 16k Inference Providers

2 of 2 GPT-3.5 Turbo 16k endpoints currently have the published data required for this ranking. OpenAI leads at 0.35 s via openai. The table keeps unranked routes visible so missing measurements do not look like missing provider availability.

How response-start time is ranked

The first-token ranking orders endpoints by the recent median time before output begins. This is useful for interactive applications, but it should be read alongside throughput because the first provider to start is not always the first to finish a long answer.

Compare OpenAI with the next option

Azure currently ranks second at 0.98 s. Compare that gap with input and output price, response-start time, output speed, 30-minute uptime, context length, and the exact route before deciding whether first place is meaningful for your workload.

Use the route, not only the provider name

GPT-3.5 Turbo 16k has 2 published provider options, and performance data is matched to each exact OpenRouter routing tag. Different quantization, context, regional deployment, or provider configuration can change price and behavior even when the underlying model name is identical.