GPT-5.2 Instant vs GPT-5 mini

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

GPT-5.2 Instant is clearly ahead on the aggregate, 85 to 69. The gap is large enough that you do not need to squint at the spreadsheet to see the difference.

GPT-5.2 Instant's sharpest advantage is in coding, where it averages 75.5 against 42.8. The single biggest benchmark swing on the page is LiveCodeBench, 74 to 37.

Quick Verdict

Pick GPT-5.2 Instant if you want the stronger benchmark profile. GPT-5 mini only becomes the better choice if its workflow or ecosystem matters more than the raw scoreboard.

Agentic

GPT-5.2 Instant

GPT-5.2 Instant

79.6

GPT-5 mini

65.7

83
Terminal-Bench 2.0
68
82
BrowseComp
70
74
OSWorld-Verified
60

Coding

GPT-5.2 Instant

GPT-5.2 Instant

75.5

GPT-5 mini

42.8

87
HumanEval
80
75
SWE-bench Verified
41
74
LiveCodeBench
37
77
SWE-bench Pro
49

Multimodal & Grounded

GPT-5.2 Instant

GPT-5.2 Instant

93.1

GPT-5 mini

83.8

94
MMMU-Pro
86
92
OfficeQA Pro
81

Reasoning

GPT-5.2 Instant

GPT-5.2 Instant

90.9

GPT-5 mini

81.8

95
SimpleQA
84
93
MuSR
82
96
BBH
87
89
LongBench v2
80
84
MRCRv2
79

Knowledge

GPT-5.2 Instant

GPT-5.2 Instant

79.8

GPT-5 mini

62.8

98
MMLU
88
97
GPQA
86
95
SuperGPQA
84
93
OpenBookQA
82
88
MMLU-Pro
73
43
HLE
16
91
FrontierScience
75

Instruction Following

GPT-5.2 Instant

GPT-5.2 Instant

95

GPT-5 mini

82

95
IFEval
82

Multilingual

GPT-5.2 Instant

GPT-5.2 Instant

94.4

GPT-5 mini

80.1

95
MGSM
82
94
MMLU-ProX
79

Mathematics

GPT-5.2 Instant

GPT-5.2 Instant

97.2

GPT-5 mini

87.2

99
AIME 2023
90
99
AIME 2024
92
98
AIME 2025
91
95
HMMT Feb 2023
86
97
HMMT Feb 2024
88
96
HMMT Feb 2025
87
96
BRUMO 2025
89
98
MATH-500
85

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is better, GPT-5.2 Instant or GPT-5 mini?

GPT-5.2 Instant is ahead overall, 85 to 69. The biggest single separator in this matchup is LiveCodeBench, where the scores are 74 and 37.

Which is better for knowledge tasks, GPT-5.2 Instant or GPT-5 mini?

GPT-5.2 Instant has the edge for knowledge tasks in this comparison, averaging 79.8 versus 62.8. Inside this category, HLE is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for coding, GPT-5.2 Instant or GPT-5 mini?

GPT-5.2 Instant has the edge for coding in this comparison, averaging 75.5 versus 42.8. Inside this category, LiveCodeBench is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for math, GPT-5.2 Instant or GPT-5 mini?

GPT-5.2 Instant has the edge for math in this comparison, averaging 97.2 versus 87.2. Inside this category, MATH-500 is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for reasoning, GPT-5.2 Instant or GPT-5 mini?

GPT-5.2 Instant has the edge for reasoning in this comparison, averaging 90.9 versus 81.8. Inside this category, SimpleQA is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for agentic tasks, GPT-5.2 Instant or GPT-5 mini?

GPT-5.2 Instant has the edge for agentic tasks in this comparison, averaging 79.6 versus 65.7. 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-5.2 Instant or GPT-5 mini?

GPT-5.2 Instant has the edge for multimodal and grounded tasks in this comparison, averaging 93.1 versus 83.8. Inside this category, OfficeQA Pro is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for instruction following, GPT-5.2 Instant or GPT-5 mini?

GPT-5.2 Instant has the edge for instruction following in this comparison, averaging 95 versus 82. Inside this category, IFEval is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for multilingual tasks, GPT-5.2 Instant or GPT-5 mini?

GPT-5.2 Instant has the edge for multilingual tasks in this comparison, averaging 94.4 versus 80.1. Inside this category, MMLU-ProX is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Last updated: March 12, 2026

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