GPT-5.1-Codex-Max vs Seed 1.6

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

GPT-5.1-Codex-Max is clearly ahead on the aggregate, 84 to 65. The gap is large enough that you do not need to squint at the spreadsheet to see the difference.

GPT-5.1-Codex-Max's sharpest advantage is in coding, where it averages 75.5 against 42.4. The single biggest benchmark swing on the page is SWE-bench Pro, 84 to 46.

GPT-5.1-Codex-Max is also the more expensive model on tokens at $2.00 input / $8.00 output per 1M tokens, versus $0.25 input / $2.00 output per 1M tokens for Seed 1.6. That is roughly 4.0x on output cost alone. GPT-5.1-Codex-Max gives you the larger context window at 400K, compared with 256K for Seed 1.6.

Quick Verdict

Pick GPT-5.1-Codex-Max if you want the stronger benchmark profile. Seed 1.6 only becomes the better choice if you want the cheaper token bill.

Agentic

GPT-5.1-Codex-Max

GPT-5.1-Codex-Max

86

Seed 1.6

62.3

90
Terminal-Bench 2.0
63
85
BrowseComp
67
82
OSWorld-Verified
58

Coding

GPT-5.1-Codex-Max

GPT-5.1-Codex-Max

75.5

Seed 1.6

42.4

94
HumanEval
64
75
SWE-bench Verified
46
67
LiveCodeBench
38
84
SWE-bench Pro
46

Multimodal & Grounded

GPT-5.1-Codex-Max

GPT-5.1-Codex-Max

88.2

Seed 1.6

79.6

85
MMMU-Pro
80
92
OfficeQA Pro
79

Reasoning

GPT-5.1-Codex-Max

GPT-5.1-Codex-Max

92.1

Seed 1.6

74.5

94
SimpleQA
69
92
MuSR
69
92
BBH
86
90
LongBench v2
77
93
MRCRv2
78

Knowledge

GPT-5.1-Codex-Max

GPT-5.1-Codex-Max

72.6

Seed 1.6

56.4

98
MMLU
73
96
GPQA
72
94
SuperGPQA
70
92
OpenBookQA
68
82
MMLU-Pro
75
27
HLE
11
84
FrontierScience
68

Instruction Following

GPT-5.1-Codex-Max

GPT-5.1-Codex-Max

91

Seed 1.6

87

91
IFEval
87

Multilingual

GPT-5.1-Codex-Max

GPT-5.1-Codex-Max

87.7

Seed 1.6

83.4

89
MGSM
88
87
MMLU-ProX
81

Mathematics

GPT-5.1-Codex-Max

GPT-5.1-Codex-Max

94.9

Seed 1.6

75.9

99
AIME 2023
72
99
AIME 2024
74
98
AIME 2025
73
95
HMMT Feb 2023
68
97
HMMT Feb 2024
70
96
HMMT Feb 2025
69
96
BRUMO 2025
71
93
MATH-500
82

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is better, GPT-5.1-Codex-Max or Seed 1.6?

GPT-5.1-Codex-Max is ahead overall, 84 to 65. The biggest single separator in this matchup is SWE-bench Pro, where the scores are 84 and 46.

Which is better for knowledge tasks, GPT-5.1-Codex-Max or Seed 1.6?

GPT-5.1-Codex-Max has the edge for knowledge tasks in this comparison, averaging 72.6 versus 56.4. Inside this category, MMLU is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for coding, GPT-5.1-Codex-Max or Seed 1.6?

GPT-5.1-Codex-Max has the edge for coding in this comparison, averaging 75.5 versus 42.4. Inside this category, SWE-bench Pro is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for math, GPT-5.1-Codex-Max or Seed 1.6?

GPT-5.1-Codex-Max has the edge for math in this comparison, averaging 94.9 versus 75.9. Inside this category, AIME 2023 is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for reasoning, GPT-5.1-Codex-Max or Seed 1.6?

GPT-5.1-Codex-Max has the edge for reasoning in this comparison, averaging 92.1 versus 74.5. Inside this category, SimpleQA is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for agentic tasks, GPT-5.1-Codex-Max or Seed 1.6?

GPT-5.1-Codex-Max has the edge for agentic tasks in this comparison, averaging 86 versus 62.3. 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-5.1-Codex-Max or Seed 1.6?

GPT-5.1-Codex-Max has the edge for multimodal and grounded tasks in this comparison, averaging 88.2 versus 79.6. Inside this category, OfficeQA Pro is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for instruction following, GPT-5.1-Codex-Max or Seed 1.6?

GPT-5.1-Codex-Max has the edge for instruction following in this comparison, averaging 91 versus 87. Inside this category, IFEval is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for multilingual tasks, GPT-5.1-Codex-Max or Seed 1.6?

GPT-5.1-Codex-Max has the edge for multilingual tasks in this comparison, averaging 87.7 versus 83.4. Inside this category, MMLU-ProX is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Last updated: March 12, 2026

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