GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark vs Seed 1.6 Flash

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 56. 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 27.6. The single biggest benchmark swing on the page is SWE-bench Verified, 80 to 24.

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark is also the more expensive model on tokens at $2.00 input / $8.00 output per 1M tokens, versus $0.08 input / $0.30 output per 1M tokens for Seed 1.6 Flash. That is roughly 26.7x on output cost alone.

Quick Verdict

Pick GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark if you want the stronger benchmark profile. Seed 1.6 Flash only becomes the better choice if you want the cheaper token bill.

Agentic

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

85.6

Seed 1.6 Flash

54.5

90
Terminal-Bench 2.0
52
82
BrowseComp
62
83
OSWorld-Verified
52

Coding

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

82.3

Seed 1.6 Flash

27.6

91
HumanEval
59
80
SWE-bench Verified
24
80
LiveCodeBench
25
85
SWE-bench Pro
31

Multimodal & Grounded

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

88.3

Seed 1.6 Flash

73.1

86
MMMU-Pro
74
91
OfficeQA Pro
72

Reasoning

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

92.7

Seed 1.6 Flash

66.8

94
SimpleQA
61
92
MuSR
59
97
BBH
75
91
LongBench v2
70
92
MRCRv2
74

Knowledge

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

78.3

Seed 1.6 Flash

47.3

97
MMLU
65
95
GPQA
64
93
SuperGPQA
62
91
OpenBookQA
60
88
MMLU-Pro
65
42
HLE
3
88
FrontierScience
57

Instruction Following

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

92

Seed 1.6 Flash

81

92
IFEval
81

Multilingual

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

90.8

Seed 1.6 Flash

72.8

94
MGSM
76
89
MMLU-ProX
71

Mathematics

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

96.7

Seed 1.6 Flash

67.1

98
AIME 2023
64
98
AIME 2024
66
97
AIME 2025
65
94
HMMT Feb 2023
60
96
HMMT Feb 2024
62
95
HMMT Feb 2025
61
95
BRUMO 2025
63
98
MATH-500
72

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is better, GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark or Seed 1.6 Flash?

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark is ahead overall, 87 to 56. The biggest single separator in this matchup is SWE-bench Verified, where the scores are 80 and 24.

Which is better for knowledge tasks, GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark or Seed 1.6 Flash?

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark has the edge for knowledge tasks in this comparison, averaging 78.3 versus 47.3. Inside this category, HLE is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for coding, GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark or Seed 1.6 Flash?

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark has the edge for coding in this comparison, averaging 82.3 versus 27.6. Inside this category, SWE-bench Verified is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for math, GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark or Seed 1.6 Flash?

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark has the edge for math in this comparison, averaging 96.7 versus 67.1. 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 Seed 1.6 Flash?

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark has the edge for reasoning in this comparison, averaging 92.7 versus 66.8. 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 Seed 1.6 Flash?

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark has the edge for agentic tasks in this comparison, averaging 85.6 versus 54.5. 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 Seed 1.6 Flash?

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark has the edge for multimodal and grounded tasks in this comparison, averaging 88.3 versus 73.1. Inside this category, OfficeQA Pro is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for instruction following, GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark or Seed 1.6 Flash?

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark has the edge for instruction following in this comparison, averaging 92 versus 81. 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 Seed 1.6 Flash?

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark has the edge for multilingual tasks in this comparison, averaging 90.8 versus 72.8. Inside this category, MGSM is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Last updated: March 12, 2026

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