GPT-5.2-Codex vs Seed 1.6

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

GPT-5.2-Codex is clearly ahead on the aggregate, 85 to 65. The gap is large enough that you do not need to squint at the spreadsheet to see the difference.

GPT-5.2-Codex's sharpest advantage is in coding, where it averages 76 against 42.4. The single biggest benchmark swing on the page is SWE-bench Pro, 86 to 46.

GPT-5.2-Codex 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-5.2-Codex gives you the larger context window at 400K, compared with 256K for Seed 1.6.

Quick Verdict

Pick GPT-5.2-Codex if you want the stronger benchmark profile. Seed 1.6 only becomes the better choice if you want the cheaper token bill.

Agentic

GPT-5.2-Codex

GPT-5.2-Codex

87

Seed 1.6

62.3

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

Coding

GPT-5.2-Codex

GPT-5.2-Codex

76

Seed 1.6

42.4

95
HumanEval
64
76
SWE-bench Verified
46
66
LiveCodeBench
38
86
SWE-bench Pro
46

Multimodal & Grounded

GPT-5.2-Codex

GPT-5.2-Codex

87.6

Seed 1.6

79.6

84
MMMU-Pro
80
92
OfficeQA Pro
79

Reasoning

GPT-5.2-Codex

GPT-5.2-Codex

92

Seed 1.6

74.5

95
SimpleQA
69
93
MuSR
69
90
BBH
86
90
LongBench v2
77
91
MRCRv2
78

Knowledge

GPT-5.2-Codex

GPT-5.2-Codex

72.5

Seed 1.6

56.4

99
MMLU
73
97
GPQA
72
95
SuperGPQA
70
93
OpenBookQA
68
80
MMLU-Pro
75
26
HLE
11
86
FrontierScience
68

Instruction Following

GPT-5.2-Codex

GPT-5.2-Codex

92

Seed 1.6

87

92
IFEval
87

Multilingual

GPT-5.2-Codex

GPT-5.2-Codex

88.4

Seed 1.6

83.4

91
MGSM
88
87
MMLU-ProX
81

Mathematics

GPT-5.2-Codex

GPT-5.2-Codex

95.4

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
94
MATH-500
82

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is better, GPT-5.2-Codex or Seed 1.6?

GPT-5.2-Codex is ahead overall, 85 to 65. The biggest single separator in this matchup is SWE-bench Pro, where the scores are 86 and 46.

Which is better for knowledge tasks, GPT-5.2-Codex or Seed 1.6?

GPT-5.2-Codex has the edge for knowledge tasks in this comparison, averaging 72.5 versus 56.4. Inside this category, MMLU is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for coding, GPT-5.2-Codex or Seed 1.6?

GPT-5.2-Codex has the edge for coding in this comparison, averaging 76 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-5.2-Codex or Seed 1.6?

GPT-5.2-Codex has the edge for math in this comparison, averaging 95.4 versus 75.9. Inside this category, AIME 2023 is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for reasoning, GPT-5.2-Codex or Seed 1.6?

GPT-5.2-Codex has the edge for reasoning in this comparison, averaging 92 versus 74.5. Inside this category, SimpleQA is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for agentic tasks, GPT-5.2-Codex or Seed 1.6?

GPT-5.2-Codex has the edge for agentic tasks in this comparison, averaging 87 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-5.2-Codex or Seed 1.6?

GPT-5.2-Codex has the edge for multimodal and grounded tasks in this comparison, averaging 87.6 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-5.2-Codex or Seed 1.6?

GPT-5.2-Codex has the edge for instruction following in this comparison, averaging 92 versus 87. Inside this category, IFEval is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for multilingual tasks, GPT-5.2-Codex or Seed 1.6?

GPT-5.2-Codex has the edge for multilingual tasks in this comparison, averaging 88.4 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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