GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark vs DeepSeek-R1

Side-by-side benchmark comparison across agentic, coding, multimodal, knowledge, reasoning, and math workflows.

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark is clearly ahead on the aggregate, 87 to 43. The gap is large enough that you do not need to squint at the spreadsheet to see the difference.

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark's sharpest advantage is in coding, where it averages 82.3 against 21.5. The single biggest benchmark swing on the page is SWE-bench Verified, 80 to 17.

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark is also the more expensive model on tokens at $2.00 input / $8.00 output per 1M tokens, versus $0.55 input / $2.19 output per 1M tokens for DeepSeek-R1. That is roughly 3.7x on output cost alone. GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark gives you the larger context window at 256K, compared with 128K for DeepSeek-R1.

Quick Verdict

Pick GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark if you want the stronger benchmark profile. DeepSeek-R1 only becomes the better choice if you want the cheaper token bill.

Agentic

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

85.6

DeepSeek-R1

44.5

90
Terminal-Bench 2.0
42
82
BrowseComp
49
83
OSWorld-Verified
44

Coding

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

82.3

DeepSeek-R1

21.5

91
HumanEval
36
80
SWE-bench Verified
17
80
LiveCodeBench
19
85
SWE-bench Pro
25

Multimodal & Grounded

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

88.3

DeepSeek-R1

47.5

86
MMMU-Pro
43
91
OfficeQA Pro
53

Reasoning

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

92.7

DeepSeek-R1

50.9

94
SimpleQA
42
92
MuSR
40
97
BBH
66
91
LongBench v2
58
92
MRCRv2
57

Knowledge

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

78.3

DeepSeek-R1

37.9

97
MMLU
44
95
GPQA
43
93
SuperGPQA
41
91
OpenBookQA
39
88
MMLU-Pro
52
42
HLE
14
88
FrontierScience
44

Instruction Following

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

92

DeepSeek-R1

69

92
IFEval
69

Multilingual

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

90.8

DeepSeek-R1

60.4

94
MGSM
61
89
MMLU-ProX
60

Mathematics

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

96.7

DeepSeek-R1

52.5

98
AIME 2023
44
98
AIME 2024
46
97
AIME 2025
45
94
HMMT Feb 2023
40
96
HMMT Feb 2024
42
95
HMMT Feb 2025
41
95
BRUMO 2025
43
98
MATH-500
64

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is better, GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark or DeepSeek-R1?

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark is ahead overall, 87 to 43. The biggest single separator in this matchup is SWE-bench Verified, where the scores are 80 and 17.

Which is better for knowledge tasks, GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark or DeepSeek-R1?

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark has the edge for knowledge tasks in this comparison, averaging 78.3 versus 37.9. Inside this category, MMLU is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for coding, GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark or DeepSeek-R1?

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark has the edge for coding in this comparison, averaging 82.3 versus 21.5. Inside this category, SWE-bench Verified is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for math, GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark or DeepSeek-R1?

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark has the edge for math in this comparison, averaging 96.7 versus 52.5. Inside this category, AIME 2023 is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for reasoning, GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark or DeepSeek-R1?

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark has the edge for reasoning in this comparison, averaging 92.7 versus 50.9. Inside this category, SimpleQA is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for agentic tasks, GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark or DeepSeek-R1?

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark has the edge for agentic tasks in this comparison, averaging 85.6 versus 44.5. Inside this category, Terminal-Bench 2.0 is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for multimodal and grounded tasks, GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark or DeepSeek-R1?

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark has the edge for multimodal and grounded tasks in this comparison, averaging 88.3 versus 47.5. Inside this category, MMMU-Pro is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for instruction following, GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark or DeepSeek-R1?

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark has the edge for instruction following in this comparison, averaging 92 versus 69. Inside this category, IFEval is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for multilingual tasks, GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark or DeepSeek-R1?

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark has the edge for multilingual tasks in this comparison, averaging 90.8 versus 60.4. Inside this category, MGSM is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Last updated: March 12, 2026

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