GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark vs GPT-OSS 20B

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 35. 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 14.5. The single biggest benchmark swing on the page is LiveCodeBench, 80 to 11.

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark is the reasoning model in the pair, while GPT-OSS 20B 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 20B.

Quick Verdict

Pick GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark if you want the stronger benchmark profile. GPT-OSS 20B 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 20B

35.4

90
Terminal-Bench 2.0
35
82
BrowseComp
42
83
OSWorld-Verified
31

Coding

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

82.3

GPT-OSS 20B

14.5

91
HumanEval
23
80
SWE-bench Verified
14
80
LiveCodeBench
11
85
SWE-bench Pro
18

Multimodal & Grounded

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

88.3

GPT-OSS 20B

36

86
MMMU-Pro
31
91
OfficeQA Pro
42

Reasoning

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

92.7

GPT-OSS 20B

40.4

94
SimpleQA
29
92
MuSR
27
97
BBH
62
91
LongBench v2
48
92
MRCRv2
48

Knowledge

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

78.3

GPT-OSS 20B

29

97
MMLU
31
95
GPQA
30
93
SuperGPQA
28
91
OpenBookQA
26
88
MMLU-Pro
53
42
HLE
1
88
FrontierScience
34

Instruction Following

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

92

GPT-OSS 20B

67

92
IFEval
67

Multilingual

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

90.8

GPT-OSS 20B

59.7

94
MGSM
61
89
MMLU-ProX
59

Mathematics

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

96.7

GPT-OSS 20B

43.1

98
AIME 2023
31
98
AIME 2024
33
97
AIME 2025
32
94
HMMT Feb 2023
27
96
HMMT Feb 2024
29
95
HMMT Feb 2025
28
95
BRUMO 2025
30
98
MATH-500
59

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is better, GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark or GPT-OSS 20B?

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark is ahead overall, 87 to 35. The biggest single separator in this matchup is LiveCodeBench, where the scores are 80 and 11.

Which is better for knowledge tasks, GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark or GPT-OSS 20B?

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark has the edge for knowledge tasks in this comparison, averaging 78.3 versus 29. 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 20B?

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark has the edge for coding in this comparison, averaging 82.3 versus 14.5. 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 20B?

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark has the edge for math in this comparison, averaging 96.7 versus 43.1. 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 20B?

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark has the edge for reasoning in this comparison, averaging 92.7 versus 40.4. 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 20B?

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark has the edge for agentic tasks in this comparison, averaging 85.6 versus 35.4. 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 20B?

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark has the edge for multimodal and grounded tasks in this comparison, averaging 88.3 versus 36. 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 20B?

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark has the edge for instruction following in this comparison, averaging 92 versus 67. 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 20B?

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark has the edge for multilingual tasks in this comparison, averaging 90.8 versus 59.7. Inside this category, MGSM is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Last updated: March 12, 2026

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