GPT-5.2 Instant vs Moonshot v1

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 47. 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 26.4. The single biggest benchmark swing on the page is LiveCodeBench, 74 to 21.

GPT-5.2 Instant is the reasoning model in the pair, while Moonshot v1 is not. That usually helps on harder chain-of-thought-heavy tests, but it can also mean more latency and more token spend in real use.

Quick Verdict

Pick GPT-5.2 Instant if you want the stronger benchmark profile. Moonshot v1 only becomes the better choice if you would rather avoid the extra latency and token burn of a reasoning model.

Agentic

GPT-5.2 Instant

GPT-5.2 Instant

79.6

Moonshot v1

42.2

83
Terminal-Bench 2.0
39
82
BrowseComp
49
74
OSWorld-Verified
41

Coding

GPT-5.2 Instant

GPT-5.2 Instant

75.5

Moonshot v1

26.4

87
HumanEval
45
75
SWE-bench Verified
34
74
LiveCodeBench
21
77
SWE-bench Pro
30

Multimodal & Grounded

GPT-5.2 Instant

GPT-5.2 Instant

93.1

Moonshot v1

52.6

94
MMMU-Pro
49
92
OfficeQA Pro
57

Reasoning

GPT-5.2 Instant

GPT-5.2 Instant

90.9

Moonshot v1

55.5

95
SimpleQA
51
93
MuSR
49
96
BBH
73
89
LongBench v2
58
84
MRCRv2
56

Knowledge

GPT-5.2 Instant

GPT-5.2 Instant

79.8

Moonshot v1

42.3

98
MMLU
53
97
GPQA
52
95
SuperGPQA
50
93
OpenBookQA
48
88
MMLU-Pro
64
43
HLE
5
91
FrontierScience
49

Instruction Following

GPT-5.2 Instant

GPT-5.2 Instant

95

Moonshot v1

77

95
IFEval
77

Multilingual

GPT-5.2 Instant

GPT-5.2 Instant

94.4

Moonshot v1

69.8

95
MGSM
73
94
MMLU-ProX
68

Mathematics

GPT-5.2 Instant

GPT-5.2 Instant

97.2

Moonshot v1

61

99
AIME 2023
53
99
AIME 2024
55
98
AIME 2025
54
95
HMMT Feb 2023
49
97
HMMT Feb 2024
51
96
HMMT Feb 2025
50
96
BRUMO 2025
52
98
MATH-500
72

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is better, GPT-5.2 Instant or Moonshot v1?

GPT-5.2 Instant is ahead overall, 85 to 47. The biggest single separator in this matchup is LiveCodeBench, where the scores are 74 and 21.

Which is better for knowledge tasks, GPT-5.2 Instant or Moonshot v1?

GPT-5.2 Instant has the edge for knowledge tasks in this comparison, averaging 79.8 versus 42.3. Inside this category, MMLU is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for coding, GPT-5.2 Instant or Moonshot v1?

GPT-5.2 Instant has the edge for coding in this comparison, averaging 75.5 versus 26.4. Inside this category, LiveCodeBench is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for math, GPT-5.2 Instant or Moonshot v1?

GPT-5.2 Instant has the edge for math in this comparison, averaging 97.2 versus 61. Inside this category, AIME 2023 is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for reasoning, GPT-5.2 Instant or Moonshot v1?

GPT-5.2 Instant has the edge for reasoning in this comparison, averaging 90.9 versus 55.5. 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 Moonshot v1?

GPT-5.2 Instant has the edge for agentic tasks in this comparison, averaging 79.6 versus 42.2. 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 Moonshot v1?

GPT-5.2 Instant has the edge for multimodal and grounded tasks in this comparison, averaging 93.1 versus 52.6. Inside this category, MMMU-Pro is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for instruction following, GPT-5.2 Instant or Moonshot v1?

GPT-5.2 Instant has the edge for instruction following in this comparison, averaging 95 versus 77. 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 Moonshot v1?

GPT-5.2 Instant has the edge for multilingual tasks in this comparison, averaging 94.4 versus 69.8. Inside this category, MMLU-ProX is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Last updated: March 12, 2026

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