GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark vs GPT-4.1

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 65. 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 mathematics, where it averages 96.7 against 26.4. The single biggest benchmark swing on the page is AIME 2024, 98 to 26.4.

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark is the reasoning model in the pair, while GPT-4.1 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 gives you the larger context window at 1M, compared with 256K for GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark.

Quick Verdict

Pick GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark if you want the stronger benchmark profile. GPT-4.1 only becomes the better choice if you need the larger 1M context window or you would rather avoid the extra latency and token burn of a reasoning model.

Agentic

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

85.6

GPT-4.1

64.7

90
Terminal-Bench 2.0
61
82
BrowseComp
73
83
OSWorld-Verified
63

Coding

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

82.3

GPT-4.1

51.7

91
HumanEval
Coming soon
80
SWE-bench Verified
54.6
80
LiveCodeBench
Coming soon
85
SWE-bench Pro
51

Multimodal & Grounded

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

88.3

GPT-4.1

73.6

86
MMMU-Pro
70
91
OfficeQA Pro
78

Reasoning

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

92.7

GPT-4.1

80.9

94
SimpleQA
Coming soon
92
MuSR
Coming soon
97
BBH
Coming soon
91
LongBench v2
80
92
MRCRv2
82

Knowledge

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

78.3

GPT-4.1

63.3

97
MMLU
90.2
95
GPQA
66.3
93
SuperGPQA
Coming soon
91
OpenBookQA
Coming soon
88
MMLU-Pro
Coming soon
42
HLE
Coming soon
88
FrontierScience
61

Instruction Following

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

92

GPT-4.1

87.4

92
IFEval
87.4

Multilingual

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

90.8

GPT-4.1

69

94
MGSM
Coming soon
89
MMLU-ProX
69

Mathematics

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

96.7

GPT-4.1

26.4

98
AIME 2023
Coming soon
98
AIME 2024
26.4
97
AIME 2025
Coming soon
94
HMMT Feb 2023
Coming soon
96
HMMT Feb 2024
Coming soon
95
HMMT Feb 2025
Coming soon
95
BRUMO 2025
Coming soon
98
MATH-500
Coming soon

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is better, GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark or GPT-4.1?

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark is ahead overall, 87 to 65. The biggest single separator in this matchup is AIME 2024, where the scores are 98 and 26.4.

Which is better for knowledge tasks, GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark or GPT-4.1?

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark has the edge for knowledge tasks in this comparison, averaging 78.3 versus 63.3. Inside this category, GPQA is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for coding, GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark or GPT-4.1?

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark has the edge for coding in this comparison, averaging 82.3 versus 51.7. Inside this category, SWE-bench Pro is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for math, GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark or GPT-4.1?

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark has the edge for math in this comparison, averaging 96.7 versus 26.4. Inside this category, AIME 2024 is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for reasoning, GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark or GPT-4.1?

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark has the edge for reasoning in this comparison, averaging 92.7 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-Codex-Spark or GPT-4.1?

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark has the edge for agentic tasks in this comparison, averaging 85.6 versus 64.7. 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 GPT-4.1?

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark has the edge for multimodal and grounded tasks in this comparison, averaging 88.3 versus 73.6. Inside this category, MMMU-Pro is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for instruction following, GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark or GPT-4.1?

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark has the edge for instruction following in this comparison, averaging 92 versus 87.4. 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 GPT-4.1?

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark has the edge for multilingual tasks in this comparison, averaging 90.8 versus 69. Inside this category, MMLU-ProX is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Last updated: March 12, 2026

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