GPT-5.4 vs GPT-5.2 Instant

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

GPT-5.4 is clearly ahead on the aggregate, 90 to 85. The gap is large enough that you do not need to squint at the spreadsheet to see the difference.

GPT-5.4's sharpest advantage is in coding, where it averages 84.5 against 75.5. The single biggest benchmark swing on the page is MRCRv2, 97 to 84.

GPT-5.4 is also the more expensive model on tokens at $2.50 input / $15.00 output per 1M tokens, versus $1.50 input / $6.00 output per 1M tokens for GPT-5.2 Instant. That is roughly 2.5x on output cost alone. GPT-5.4 gives you the larger context window at 1.05M, compared with 128K for GPT-5.2 Instant.

Quick Verdict

Pick GPT-5.4 if you want the stronger benchmark profile. GPT-5.2 Instant only becomes the better choice if you want the cheaper token bill.

Agentic

GPT-5.4

GPT-5.4

87.8

GPT-5.2 Instant

79.6

90
Terminal-Bench 2.0
83
88
BrowseComp
82
85
OSWorld-Verified
74

Coding

GPT-5.4

GPT-5.4

84.5

GPT-5.2 Instant

75.5

95
HumanEval
87
84
SWE-bench Verified
75
84
LiveCodeBench
74
85
SWE-bench Pro
77

Multimodal & Grounded

GPT-5.4

GPT-5.4

95.5

GPT-5.2 Instant

93.1

95
MMMU-Pro
94
96
OfficeQA Pro
92

Reasoning

GPT-5.4

GPT-5.4

95.8

GPT-5.2 Instant

90.9

97
SimpleQA
95
94
MuSR
93
97
BBH
96
95
LongBench v2
89
97
MRCRv2
84

Knowledge

GPT-5.4

GPT-5.4

82.6

GPT-5.2 Instant

79.8

99
MMLU
98
98
GPQA
97
96
SuperGPQA
95
94
OpenBookQA
93
93
MMLU-Pro
88
48
HLE
43
91
FrontierScience
91

Instruction Following

GPT-5.4

GPT-5.4

96

GPT-5.2 Instant

95

96
IFEval
95

Multilingual

GPT-5.4

GPT-5.4

94.7

GPT-5.2 Instant

94.4

96
MGSM
95
94
MMLU-ProX
94

Mathematics

GPT-5.4

GPT-5.4

98.2

GPT-5.2 Instant

97.2

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

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is better, GPT-5.4 or GPT-5.2 Instant?

GPT-5.4 is ahead overall, 90 to 85. The biggest single separator in this matchup is MRCRv2, where the scores are 97 and 84.

Which is better for knowledge tasks, GPT-5.4 or GPT-5.2 Instant?

GPT-5.4 has the edge for knowledge tasks in this comparison, averaging 82.6 versus 79.8. Inside this category, MMLU-Pro is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for coding, GPT-5.4 or GPT-5.2 Instant?

GPT-5.4 has the edge for coding in this comparison, averaging 84.5 versus 75.5. Inside this category, LiveCodeBench is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for math, GPT-5.4 or GPT-5.2 Instant?

GPT-5.4 has the edge for math in this comparison, averaging 98.2 versus 97.2. Inside this category, AIME 2025 is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for reasoning, GPT-5.4 or GPT-5.2 Instant?

GPT-5.4 has the edge for reasoning in this comparison, averaging 95.8 versus 90.9. Inside this category, MRCRv2 is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for agentic tasks, GPT-5.4 or GPT-5.2 Instant?

GPT-5.4 has the edge for agentic tasks in this comparison, averaging 87.8 versus 79.6. Inside this category, OSWorld-Verified is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for multimodal and grounded tasks, GPT-5.4 or GPT-5.2 Instant?

GPT-5.4 has the edge for multimodal and grounded tasks in this comparison, averaging 95.5 versus 93.1. Inside this category, OfficeQA Pro is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for instruction following, GPT-5.4 or GPT-5.2 Instant?

GPT-5.4 has the edge for instruction following in this comparison, averaging 96 versus 95. Inside this category, IFEval is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for multilingual tasks, GPT-5.4 or GPT-5.2 Instant?

GPT-5.4 has the edge for multilingual tasks in this comparison, averaging 94.7 versus 94.4. Inside this category, MGSM is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Last updated: March 12, 2026

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