GPT-5.2 Pro vs Step 3.5 Flash

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

GPT-5.2 Pro is clearly ahead on the aggregate, 90 to 66. The gap is large enough that you do not need to squint at the spreadsheet to see the difference.

GPT-5.2 Pro's sharpest advantage is in coding, where it averages 84.8 against 47.1. The single biggest benchmark swing on the page is SWE-bench Pro, 89 to 49.

GPT-5.2 Pro is also the more expensive model on tokens at $25.00 input / $150.00 output per 1M tokens, versus $0.10 input / $0.30 output per 1M tokens for Step 3.5 Flash. That is roughly 500.0x on output cost alone. GPT-5.2 Pro is the reasoning model in the pair, while Step 3.5 Flash 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. GPT-5.2 Pro gives you the larger context window at 400K, compared with 256K for Step 3.5 Flash.

Quick Verdict

Pick GPT-5.2 Pro if you want the stronger benchmark profile. Step 3.5 Flash only becomes the better choice if you want the cheaper token bill or you would rather avoid the extra latency and token burn of a reasoning model.

Agentic

GPT-5.2 Pro

GPT-5.2 Pro

85.9

Step 3.5 Flash

60.2

88
Terminal-Bench 2.0
62
88
BrowseComp
66
82
OSWorld-Verified
54

Coding

GPT-5.2 Pro

GPT-5.2 Pro

84.8

Step 3.5 Flash

47.1

93
HumanEval
77
83
SWE-bench Verified
48
81
LiveCodeBench
45
89
SWE-bench Pro
49

Multimodal & Grounded

GPT-5.2 Pro

GPT-5.2 Pro

96

Step 3.5 Flash

66.7

96
MMMU-Pro
64
96
OfficeQA Pro
70

Reasoning

GPT-5.2 Pro

GPT-5.2 Pro

95.2

Step 3.5 Flash

78.3

97
SimpleQA
82
95
MuSR
82
98
BBH
83
93
LongBench v2
74
95
MRCRv2
73

Knowledge

GPT-5.2 Pro

GPT-5.2 Pro

81.5

Step 3.5 Flash

60.8

99
MMLU
84
99
GPQA
83
97
SuperGPQA
81
95
OpenBookQA
79
90
MMLU-Pro
76
44
HLE
12
93
FrontierScience
71

Instruction Following

GPT-5.2 Pro

GPT-5.2 Pro

95

Step 3.5 Flash

87

95
IFEval
87

Multilingual

GPT-5.2 Pro

GPT-5.2 Pro

93.4

Step 3.5 Flash

82.8

96
MGSM
86
92
MMLU-ProX
81

Mathematics

GPT-5.2 Pro

GPT-5.2 Pro

98.2

Step 3.5 Flash

84.5

99
AIME 2023
85
99
AIME 2024
87
99
AIME 2025
86
96
HMMT Feb 2023
81
98
HMMT Feb 2024
83
97
HMMT Feb 2025
82
97
BRUMO 2025
84
99
MATH-500
85

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is better, GPT-5.2 Pro or Step 3.5 Flash?

GPT-5.2 Pro is ahead overall, 90 to 66. The biggest single separator in this matchup is SWE-bench Pro, where the scores are 89 and 49.

Which is better for knowledge tasks, GPT-5.2 Pro or Step 3.5 Flash?

GPT-5.2 Pro has the edge for knowledge tasks in this comparison, averaging 81.5 versus 60.8. Inside this category, HLE is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for coding, GPT-5.2 Pro or Step 3.5 Flash?

GPT-5.2 Pro has the edge for coding in this comparison, averaging 84.8 versus 47.1. Inside this category, SWE-bench Pro is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for math, GPT-5.2 Pro or Step 3.5 Flash?

GPT-5.2 Pro has the edge for math in this comparison, averaging 98.2 versus 84.5. Inside this category, HMMT Feb 2023 is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for reasoning, GPT-5.2 Pro or Step 3.5 Flash?

GPT-5.2 Pro has the edge for reasoning in this comparison, averaging 95.2 versus 78.3. Inside this category, MRCRv2 is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for agentic tasks, GPT-5.2 Pro or Step 3.5 Flash?

GPT-5.2 Pro has the edge for agentic tasks in this comparison, averaging 85.9 versus 60.2. Inside this category, OSWorld-Verified is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for multimodal and grounded tasks, GPT-5.2 Pro or Step 3.5 Flash?

GPT-5.2 Pro has the edge for multimodal and grounded tasks in this comparison, averaging 96 versus 66.7. Inside this category, MMMU-Pro is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for instruction following, GPT-5.2 Pro or Step 3.5 Flash?

GPT-5.2 Pro has the edge for instruction following in this comparison, averaging 95 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 Pro or Step 3.5 Flash?

GPT-5.2 Pro has the edge for multilingual tasks in this comparison, averaging 93.4 versus 82.8. Inside this category, MMLU-ProX is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Last updated: March 12, 2026

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