GPT-5.3 Instant vs GPT-4.1 mini

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 58. 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 mathematics, where it averages 97.2 against 23.1. The single biggest benchmark swing on the page is AIME 2024, 99 to 23.1.

GPT-5.3 Instant is also the more expensive model on tokens at $1.75 input / $14.00 output per 1M tokens, versus $0.40 input / $1.60 output per 1M tokens for GPT-4.1 mini. That is roughly 8.8x on output cost alone. GPT-5.3 Instant is the reasoning model in the pair, while GPT-4.1 mini is not. That usually helps on harder chain-of-thought-heavy tests, but it can also mean more latency and more token spend in real use. GPT-4.1 mini gives you the larger context window at 1M, compared with 128K for GPT-5.3 Instant.

Quick Verdict

Pick GPT-5.3 Instant if you want the stronger benchmark profile. GPT-4.1 mini only becomes the better choice if you want the cheaper token bill or you need the larger 1M context window.

Agentic

GPT-5.3 Instant

GPT-5.3 Instant

82.9

GPT-4.1 mini

56.5

86
Terminal-Bench 2.0
54
82
BrowseComp
71
80
OSWorld-Verified
49

Coding

GPT-5.3 Instant

GPT-5.3 Instant

78.7

GPT-4.1 mini

28.8

88
HumanEval
Coming soon
76
SWE-bench Verified
23.6
75
LiveCodeBench
Coming soon
83
SWE-bench Pro
30

Multimodal & Grounded

GPT-5.3 Instant

GPT-5.3 Instant

95

GPT-4.1 mini

69.6

95
MMMU-Pro
66
95
OfficeQA Pro
74

Reasoning

GPT-5.3 Instant

GPT-5.3 Instant

94.2

GPT-4.1 mini

80.9

96
SimpleQA
Coming soon
94
MuSR
Coming soon
97
BBH
Coming soon
92
LongBench v2
80
94
MRCRv2
82

Knowledge

GPT-5.3 Instant

GPT-5.3 Instant

80.8

GPT-4.1 mini

62.4

99
MMLU
87.5
98
GPQA
64.2
96
SuperGPQA
Coming soon
94
OpenBookQA
Coming soon
89
MMLU-Pro
Coming soon
44
HLE
Coming soon
92
FrontierScience
61

Instruction Following

GPT-5.3 Instant

GPT-5.3 Instant

96

GPT-4.1 mini

88.5

96
IFEval
88.5

Multilingual

GPT-5.3 Instant

GPT-5.3 Instant

93.4

GPT-4.1 mini

72

96
MGSM
Coming soon
92
MMLU-ProX
72

Mathematics

GPT-5.3 Instant

GPT-5.3 Instant

97.2

GPT-4.1 mini

23.1

99
AIME 2023
Coming soon
99
AIME 2024
23.1
98
AIME 2025
Coming soon
95
HMMT Feb 2023
Coming soon
97
HMMT Feb 2024
Coming soon
96
HMMT Feb 2025
Coming soon
96
BRUMO 2025
Coming soon
98
MATH-500
Coming soon

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is better, GPT-5.3 Instant or GPT-4.1 mini?

GPT-5.3 Instant is ahead overall, 87 to 58. The biggest single separator in this matchup is AIME 2024, where the scores are 99 and 23.1.

Which is better for knowledge tasks, GPT-5.3 Instant or GPT-4.1 mini?

GPT-5.3 Instant has the edge for knowledge tasks in this comparison, averaging 80.8 versus 62.4. Inside this category, GPQA is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for coding, GPT-5.3 Instant or GPT-4.1 mini?

GPT-5.3 Instant has the edge for coding in this comparison, averaging 78.7 versus 28.8. Inside this category, SWE-bench Pro is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for math, GPT-5.3 Instant or GPT-4.1 mini?

GPT-5.3 Instant has the edge for math in this comparison, averaging 97.2 versus 23.1. Inside this category, AIME 2024 is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for reasoning, GPT-5.3 Instant or GPT-4.1 mini?

GPT-5.3 Instant has the edge for reasoning in this comparison, averaging 94.2 versus 80.9. Inside this category, LongBench v2 is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for agentic tasks, GPT-5.3 Instant or GPT-4.1 mini?

GPT-5.3 Instant has the edge for agentic tasks in this comparison, averaging 82.9 versus 56.5. 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 GPT-4.1 mini?

GPT-5.3 Instant has the edge for multimodal and grounded tasks in this comparison, averaging 95 versus 69.6. 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 GPT-4.1 mini?

GPT-5.3 Instant has the edge for instruction following in this comparison, averaging 96 versus 88.5. 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 GPT-4.1 mini?

GPT-5.3 Instant has the edge for multilingual tasks in this comparison, averaging 93.4 versus 72. Inside this category, MMLU-ProX is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Last updated: March 12, 2026

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