GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark vs GPT-OSS 120B

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

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark is clearly ahead on the aggregate, 87 to 48. The gap is large enough that you do not need to squint at the spreadsheet to see the difference.

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark's sharpest advantage is in coding, where it averages 82.3 against 28.1. The single biggest benchmark swing on the page is LiveCodeBench, 80 to 25.

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark is the reasoning model in the pair, while GPT-OSS 120B 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-5.3-Codex-Spark gives you the larger context window at 256K, compared with 128K for GPT-OSS 120B.

Quick Verdict

Pick GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark if you want the stronger benchmark profile. GPT-OSS 120B only becomes the better choice if you would rather avoid the extra latency and token burn of a reasoning model.

Agentic

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

85.6

GPT-OSS 120B

44.8

90
Terminal-Bench 2.0
43
82
BrowseComp
50
83
OSWorld-Verified
43

Coding

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

82.3

GPT-OSS 120B

28.1

91
HumanEval
43
80
SWE-bench Verified
29
80
LiveCodeBench
25
85
SWE-bench Pro
31

Multimodal & Grounded

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

88.3

GPT-OSS 120B

48.8

86
MMMU-Pro
42
91
OfficeQA Pro
57

Reasoning

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

92.7

GPT-OSS 120B

55.2

94
SimpleQA
49
92
MuSR
47
97
BBH
73
91
LongBench v2
58
92
MRCRv2
59

Knowledge

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

78.3

GPT-OSS 120B

41.5

97
MMLU
51
95
GPQA
50
93
SuperGPQA
48
91
OpenBookQA
46
88
MMLU-Pro
63
42
HLE
5
88
FrontierScience
49

Instruction Following

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

92

GPT-OSS 120B

79

92
IFEval
79

Multilingual

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

90.8

GPT-OSS 120B

70.7

94
MGSM
72
89
MMLU-ProX
70

Mathematics

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

96.7

GPT-OSS 120B

59.5

98
AIME 2023
51
98
AIME 2024
53
97
AIME 2025
52
94
HMMT Feb 2023
47
96
HMMT Feb 2024
49
95
HMMT Feb 2025
48
95
BRUMO 2025
50
98
MATH-500
71

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is better, GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark or GPT-OSS 120B?

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark is ahead overall, 87 to 48. The biggest single separator in this matchup is LiveCodeBench, where the scores are 80 and 25.

Which is better for knowledge tasks, GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark or GPT-OSS 120B?

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark has the edge for knowledge tasks in this comparison, averaging 78.3 versus 41.5. Inside this category, MMLU is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for coding, GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark or GPT-OSS 120B?

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark has the edge for coding in this comparison, averaging 82.3 versus 28.1. Inside this category, LiveCodeBench is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for math, GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark or GPT-OSS 120B?

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark has the edge for math in this comparison, averaging 96.7 versus 59.5. Inside this category, AIME 2023 is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for reasoning, GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark or GPT-OSS 120B?

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark has the edge for reasoning in this comparison, averaging 92.7 versus 55.2. Inside this category, SimpleQA is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for agentic tasks, GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark or GPT-OSS 120B?

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark has the edge for agentic tasks in this comparison, averaging 85.6 versus 44.8. 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-Codex-Spark or GPT-OSS 120B?

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark has the edge for multimodal and grounded tasks in this comparison, averaging 88.3 versus 48.8. Inside this category, MMMU-Pro is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for instruction following, GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark or GPT-OSS 120B?

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark has the edge for instruction following in this comparison, averaging 92 versus 79. Inside this category, IFEval is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for multilingual tasks, GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark or GPT-OSS 120B?

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark has the edge for multilingual tasks in this comparison, averaging 90.8 versus 70.7. Inside this category, MGSM is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Last updated: March 12, 2026

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