GPT-5.3 Instant vs GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

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

GPT-5.3 Instant and GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark finish on the same overall score, so this is less about a single winner and more about where the edge shows up. The headline says tie; the benchmark table is where the real choice happens.

GPT-5.3 Instant is also the more expensive model on tokens at $1.75 input / $14.00 output per 1M tokens, versus $2.00 input / $8.00 output per 1M tokens for GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark. GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark gives you the larger context window at 256K, compared with 128K for GPT-5.3 Instant.

Quick Verdict

Treat this as a split decision. GPT-5.3 Instant makes more sense if multimodal & grounded is the priority; GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark is the better fit if coding is the priority or you want the cheaper token bill.

Agentic

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

GPT-5.3 Instant

82.9

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

85.6

86
Terminal-Bench 2.0
90
82
BrowseComp
82
80
OSWorld-Verified
83

Coding

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

GPT-5.3 Instant

78.7

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

82.3

88
HumanEval
91
76
SWE-bench Verified
80
75
LiveCodeBench
80
83
SWE-bench Pro
85

Multimodal & Grounded

GPT-5.3 Instant

GPT-5.3 Instant

95

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

88.3

95
MMMU-Pro
86
95
OfficeQA Pro
91

Reasoning

GPT-5.3 Instant

GPT-5.3 Instant

94.2

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

92.7

96
SimpleQA
94
94
MuSR
92
97
BBH
97
92
LongBench v2
91
94
MRCRv2
92

Knowledge

GPT-5.3 Instant

GPT-5.3 Instant

80.8

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

78.3

99
MMLU
97
98
GPQA
95
96
SuperGPQA
93
94
OpenBookQA
91
89
MMLU-Pro
88
44
HLE
42
92
FrontierScience
88

Instruction Following

GPT-5.3 Instant

GPT-5.3 Instant

96

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

92

96
IFEval
92

Multilingual

GPT-5.3 Instant

GPT-5.3 Instant

93.4

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

90.8

96
MGSM
94
92
MMLU-ProX
89

Mathematics

GPT-5.3 Instant

GPT-5.3 Instant

97.2

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

96.7

99
AIME 2023
98
99
AIME 2024
98
98
AIME 2025
97
95
HMMT Feb 2023
94
97
HMMT Feb 2024
96
96
HMMT Feb 2025
95
96
BRUMO 2025
95
98
MATH-500
98

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is better, GPT-5.3 Instant or GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark?

GPT-5.3 Instant and GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark are tied on overall score, so the right pick depends on which category matters most for your use case.

Which is better for knowledge tasks, GPT-5.3 Instant or GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark?

GPT-5.3 Instant has the edge for knowledge tasks in this comparison, averaging 80.8 versus 78.3. Inside this category, FrontierScience is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for coding, GPT-5.3 Instant or GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark?

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark has the edge for coding in this comparison, averaging 82.3 versus 78.7. Inside this category, LiveCodeBench is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for math, GPT-5.3 Instant or GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark?

GPT-5.3 Instant has the edge for math in this comparison, averaging 97.2 versus 96.7. Inside this category, AIME 2023 is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for reasoning, GPT-5.3 Instant or GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark?

GPT-5.3 Instant has the edge for reasoning in this comparison, averaging 94.2 versus 92.7. Inside this category, SimpleQA is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for agentic tasks, GPT-5.3 Instant or GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark?

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark has the edge for agentic tasks in this comparison, averaging 85.6 versus 82.9. 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-5.3 Instant or GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark?

GPT-5.3 Instant has the edge for multimodal and grounded tasks in this comparison, averaging 95 versus 88.3. Inside this category, MMMU-Pro is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for instruction following, GPT-5.3 Instant or GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark?

GPT-5.3 Instant has the edge for instruction following in this comparison, averaging 96 versus 92. Inside this category, IFEval is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for multilingual tasks, GPT-5.3 Instant or GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark?

GPT-5.3 Instant has the edge for multilingual tasks in this comparison, averaging 93.4 versus 90.8. Inside this category, MMLU-ProX is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Last updated: March 12, 2026

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