GPT-5.2 Instant vs DeepSeek V3.1 (Reasoning)

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

GPT-5.2 Instant is clearly ahead on the aggregate, 85 to 41. The gap is large enough that you do not need to squint at the spreadsheet to see the difference.

GPT-5.2 Instant's sharpest advantage is in coding, where it averages 75.5 against 19.9. The single biggest benchmark swing on the page is AIME 2023, 99 to 34.

Quick Verdict

Pick GPT-5.2 Instant if you want the stronger benchmark profile. DeepSeek V3.1 (Reasoning) only becomes the better choice if its workflow or ecosystem matters more than the raw scoreboard.

Agentic

GPT-5.2 Instant

GPT-5.2 Instant

79.6

DeepSeek V3.1 (Reasoning)

44.2

83
Terminal-Bench 2.0
42
82
BrowseComp
48
74
OSWorld-Verified
44

Coding

GPT-5.2 Instant

GPT-5.2 Instant

75.5

DeepSeek V3.1 (Reasoning)

19.9

87
HumanEval
26
75
SWE-bench Verified
14
74
LiveCodeBench
16
77
SWE-bench Pro
25

Multimodal & Grounded

GPT-5.2 Instant

GPT-5.2 Instant

93.1

DeepSeek V3.1 (Reasoning)

41.5

94
MMMU-Pro
37
92
OfficeQA Pro
47

Reasoning

GPT-5.2 Instant

GPT-5.2 Instant

90.9

DeepSeek V3.1 (Reasoning)

45.8

95
SimpleQA
32
93
MuSR
30
96
BBH
64
89
LongBench v2
57
84
MRCRv2
56

Knowledge

GPT-5.2 Instant

GPT-5.2 Instant

79.8

DeepSeek V3.1 (Reasoning)

32.8

98
MMLU
34
97
GPQA
33
95
SuperGPQA
31
93
OpenBookQA
29
88
MMLU-Pro
53
43
HLE
10
91
FrontierScience
37

Instruction Following

GPT-5.2 Instant

GPT-5.2 Instant

95

DeepSeek V3.1 (Reasoning)

70

95
IFEval
70

Multilingual

GPT-5.2 Instant

GPT-5.2 Instant

94.4

DeepSeek V3.1 (Reasoning)

62.1

95
MGSM
64
94
MMLU-ProX
61

Mathematics

GPT-5.2 Instant

GPT-5.2 Instant

97.2

DeepSeek V3.1 (Reasoning)

46.1

99
AIME 2023
34
99
AIME 2024
36
98
AIME 2025
35
95
HMMT Feb 2023
30
97
HMMT Feb 2024
32
96
HMMT Feb 2025
31
96
BRUMO 2025
33
98
MATH-500
62

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is better, GPT-5.2 Instant or DeepSeek V3.1 (Reasoning)?

GPT-5.2 Instant is ahead overall, 85 to 41. The biggest single separator in this matchup is AIME 2023, where the scores are 99 and 34.

Which is better for knowledge tasks, GPT-5.2 Instant or DeepSeek V3.1 (Reasoning)?

GPT-5.2 Instant has the edge for knowledge tasks in this comparison, averaging 79.8 versus 32.8. Inside this category, MMLU is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for coding, GPT-5.2 Instant or DeepSeek V3.1 (Reasoning)?

GPT-5.2 Instant has the edge for coding in this comparison, averaging 75.5 versus 19.9. Inside this category, HumanEval is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for math, GPT-5.2 Instant or DeepSeek V3.1 (Reasoning)?

GPT-5.2 Instant has the edge for math in this comparison, averaging 97.2 versus 46.1. Inside this category, AIME 2023 is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for reasoning, GPT-5.2 Instant or DeepSeek V3.1 (Reasoning)?

GPT-5.2 Instant has the edge for reasoning in this comparison, averaging 90.9 versus 45.8. Inside this category, SimpleQA is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for agentic tasks, GPT-5.2 Instant or DeepSeek V3.1 (Reasoning)?

GPT-5.2 Instant has the edge for agentic tasks in this comparison, averaging 79.6 versus 44.2. 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-5.2 Instant or DeepSeek V3.1 (Reasoning)?

GPT-5.2 Instant has the edge for multimodal and grounded tasks in this comparison, averaging 93.1 versus 41.5. Inside this category, MMMU-Pro is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for instruction following, GPT-5.2 Instant or DeepSeek V3.1 (Reasoning)?

GPT-5.2 Instant has the edge for instruction following in this comparison, averaging 95 versus 70. Inside this category, IFEval is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for multilingual tasks, GPT-5.2 Instant or DeepSeek V3.1 (Reasoning)?

GPT-5.2 Instant has the edge for multilingual tasks in this comparison, averaging 94.4 versus 62.1. Inside this category, MMLU-ProX is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Last updated: March 12, 2026

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