GPT-5.3 Instant vs DeepSeek-R1

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

GPT-5.3 Instant 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 Instant's sharpest advantage is in coding, where it averages 78.7 against 21.5. The single biggest benchmark swing on the page is SWE-bench Verified, 76 to 17.

GPT-5.3 Instant is also the more expensive model on tokens at $1.75 input / $14.00 output per 1M tokens, versus $0.55 input / $2.19 output per 1M tokens for DeepSeek-R1. That is roughly 6.4x on output cost alone.

Quick Verdict

Pick GPT-5.3 Instant 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 Instant

GPT-5.3 Instant

82.9

DeepSeek-R1

44.5

86
Terminal-Bench 2.0
42
82
BrowseComp
49
80
OSWorld-Verified
44

Coding

GPT-5.3 Instant

GPT-5.3 Instant

78.7

DeepSeek-R1

21.5

88
HumanEval
36
76
SWE-bench Verified
17
75
LiveCodeBench
19
83
SWE-bench Pro
25

Multimodal & Grounded

GPT-5.3 Instant

GPT-5.3 Instant

95

DeepSeek-R1

47.5

95
MMMU-Pro
43
95
OfficeQA Pro
53

Reasoning

GPT-5.3 Instant

GPT-5.3 Instant

94.2

DeepSeek-R1

50.9

96
SimpleQA
42
94
MuSR
40
97
BBH
66
92
LongBench v2
58
94
MRCRv2
57

Knowledge

GPT-5.3 Instant

GPT-5.3 Instant

80.8

DeepSeek-R1

37.9

99
MMLU
44
98
GPQA
43
96
SuperGPQA
41
94
OpenBookQA
39
89
MMLU-Pro
52
44
HLE
14
92
FrontierScience
44

Instruction Following

GPT-5.3 Instant

GPT-5.3 Instant

96

DeepSeek-R1

69

96
IFEval
69

Multilingual

GPT-5.3 Instant

GPT-5.3 Instant

93.4

DeepSeek-R1

60.4

96
MGSM
61
92
MMLU-ProX
60

Mathematics

GPT-5.3 Instant

GPT-5.3 Instant

97.2

DeepSeek-R1

52.5

99
AIME 2023
44
99
AIME 2024
46
98
AIME 2025
45
95
HMMT Feb 2023
40
97
HMMT Feb 2024
42
96
HMMT Feb 2025
41
96
BRUMO 2025
43
98
MATH-500
64

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is better, GPT-5.3 Instant or DeepSeek-R1?

GPT-5.3 Instant is ahead overall, 87 to 43. The biggest single separator in this matchup is SWE-bench Verified, where the scores are 76 and 17.

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

GPT-5.3 Instant has the edge for knowledge tasks in this comparison, averaging 80.8 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 Instant or DeepSeek-R1?

GPT-5.3 Instant has the edge for coding in this comparison, averaging 78.7 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 Instant or DeepSeek-R1?

GPT-5.3 Instant has the edge for math in this comparison, averaging 97.2 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 Instant or DeepSeek-R1?

GPT-5.3 Instant has the edge for reasoning in this comparison, averaging 94.2 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 Instant or DeepSeek-R1?

GPT-5.3 Instant has the edge for agentic tasks in this comparison, averaging 82.9 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 Instant or DeepSeek-R1?

GPT-5.3 Instant has the edge for multimodal and grounded tasks in this comparison, averaging 95 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 Instant or DeepSeek-R1?

GPT-5.3 Instant has the edge for instruction following in this comparison, averaging 96 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 Instant or DeepSeek-R1?

GPT-5.3 Instant has the edge for multilingual tasks in this comparison, averaging 93.4 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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