GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark vs GPT-5.1-Codex-Max

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

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark has the cleaner overall profile here, landing at 87 versus 84. It is a real lead, but still close enough that category-level strengths matter more than the headline number.

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark's sharpest advantage is in coding, where it averages 82.3 against 75.5. The single biggest benchmark swing on the page is HLE, 42 to 27. GPT-5.1-Codex-Max does hit back in agentic, so the answer changes if that is the part of the workload you care about most.

GPT-5.1-Codex-Max gives you the larger context window at 400K, 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-5.1-Codex-Max only becomes the better choice if agentic is the priority or you need the larger 400K context window.

Agentic

GPT-5.1-Codex-Max

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

85.6

GPT-5.1-Codex-Max

86

90
Terminal-Bench 2.0
90
82
BrowseComp
85
83
OSWorld-Verified
82

Coding

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

82.3

GPT-5.1-Codex-Max

75.5

91
HumanEval
94
80
SWE-bench Verified
75
80
LiveCodeBench
67
85
SWE-bench Pro
84

Multimodal & Grounded

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

88.3

GPT-5.1-Codex-Max

88.2

86
MMMU-Pro
85
91
OfficeQA Pro
92

Reasoning

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

92.7

GPT-5.1-Codex-Max

92.1

94
SimpleQA
94
92
MuSR
92
97
BBH
92
91
LongBench v2
90
92
MRCRv2
93

Knowledge

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

78.3

GPT-5.1-Codex-Max

72.6

97
MMLU
98
95
GPQA
96
93
SuperGPQA
94
91
OpenBookQA
92
88
MMLU-Pro
82
42
HLE
27
88
FrontierScience
84

Instruction Following

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

92

GPT-5.1-Codex-Max

91

92
IFEval
91

Multilingual

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

90.8

GPT-5.1-Codex-Max

87.7

94
MGSM
89
89
MMLU-ProX
87

Mathematics

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

96.7

GPT-5.1-Codex-Max

94.9

98
AIME 2023
99
98
AIME 2024
99
97
AIME 2025
98
94
HMMT Feb 2023
95
96
HMMT Feb 2024
97
95
HMMT Feb 2025
96
95
BRUMO 2025
96
98
MATH-500
93

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is better, GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark or GPT-5.1-Codex-Max?

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark is ahead overall, 87 to 84. The biggest single separator in this matchup is HLE, where the scores are 42 and 27.

Which is better for knowledge tasks, GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark or GPT-5.1-Codex-Max?

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark has the edge for knowledge tasks in this comparison, averaging 78.3 versus 72.6. Inside this category, HLE is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for coding, GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark or GPT-5.1-Codex-Max?

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark has the edge for coding in this comparison, averaging 82.3 versus 75.5. Inside this category, LiveCodeBench is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for math, GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark or GPT-5.1-Codex-Max?

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark has the edge for math in this comparison, averaging 96.7 versus 94.9. Inside this category, MATH-500 is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for reasoning, GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark or GPT-5.1-Codex-Max?

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark has the edge for reasoning in this comparison, averaging 92.7 versus 92.1. Inside this category, BBH is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for agentic tasks, GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark or GPT-5.1-Codex-Max?

GPT-5.1-Codex-Max has the edge for agentic tasks in this comparison, averaging 86 versus 85.6. Inside this category, BrowseComp 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-5.1-Codex-Max?

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark has the edge for multimodal and grounded tasks in this comparison, averaging 88.3 versus 88.2. 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-5.1-Codex-Max?

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark has the edge for instruction following in this comparison, averaging 92 versus 91. 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-5.1-Codex-Max?

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark has the edge for multilingual tasks in this comparison, averaging 90.8 versus 87.7. Inside this category, MGSM is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Last updated: March 12, 2026

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