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

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

Sibling matchup inside the GPT-5.3 Codex family.

GPT-5.3 Codex and GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark sit in the same GPT-5.3 Codex family. This page is less about two unrelated model lineages and more about how the siblings trade off on benchmark shape, token costs, and practical limits like context window.

GPT-5.3 Codex has the cleaner overall profile here, landing at 89 versus 87. It is a real lead, but still close enough that category-level strengths matter more than the headline number.

GPT-5.3 Codex's sharpest advantage is in coding, where it averages 87.3 against 82.3. The single biggest benchmark swing on the page is BrowseComp, 88 to 82.

GPT-5.3 Codex is also the more expensive model on tokens at $2.50 input / $10.00 output per 1M tokens, versus $2.00 input / $8.00 output per 1M tokens for GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark. GPT-5.3 Codex gives you the larger context window at 400K, compared with 256K for GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark.

Quick Verdict

GPT-5.3 Codex makes more sense if coding is the priority or you need the larger 400K context window, while GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark is the cleaner fit if you want the cheaper token bill.

Agentic

GPT-5.3 Codex

GPT-5.3 Codex

88.1

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

85.6

90
Terminal-Bench 2.0
90
88
BrowseComp
82
86
OSWorld-Verified
83

Coding

GPT-5.3 Codex

GPT-5.3 Codex

87.3

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

82.3

95
HumanEval
91
85
SWE-bench Verified
80
85
LiveCodeBench
80
90
SWE-bench Pro
85

Multimodal & Grounded

GPT-5.3 Codex

GPT-5.3 Codex

91.3

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

88.3

89
MMMU-Pro
86
94
OfficeQA Pro
91

Reasoning

GPT-5.3 Codex

GPT-5.3 Codex

93.7

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

92.7

95
SimpleQA
94
93
MuSR
92
98
BBH
97
92
LongBench v2
91
93
MRCRv2
92

Knowledge

GPT-5.3 Codex

GPT-5.3 Codex

80.3

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

78.3

99
MMLU
97
97
GPQA
95
95
SuperGPQA
93
93
OpenBookQA
91
90
MMLU-Pro
88
44
HLE
42
90
FrontierScience
88

Instruction Following

GPT-5.3 Codex

GPT-5.3 Codex

93

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

92

93
IFEval
92

Multilingual

GPT-5.3 Codex

GPT-5.3 Codex

92.8

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark

90.8

96
MGSM
94
91
MMLU-ProX
89

Mathematics

GPT-5.3 Codex

GPT-5.3 Codex

97.7

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
99
MATH-500
98

Frequently Asked Questions

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

GPT-5.3 Codex and GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark are sibling variants in the GPT-5.3 Codex family, so the right pick depends on whether you value the better benchmark line, cheaper tokens, or the larger context window. GPT-5.3 Codex is ahead overall 89 to 87.

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

GPT-5.3 Codex has the edge for knowledge tasks in this comparison, averaging 80.3 versus 78.3. Inside this category, MMLU is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

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

GPT-5.3 Codex has the edge for coding in this comparison, averaging 87.3 versus 82.3. 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 or GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark?

GPT-5.3 Codex has the edge for math in this comparison, averaging 97.7 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 Codex or GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark?

GPT-5.3 Codex has the edge for reasoning in this comparison, averaging 93.7 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 Codex or GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark?

GPT-5.3 Codex has the edge for agentic tasks in this comparison, averaging 88.1 versus 85.6. Inside this category, BrowseComp is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for multimodal and grounded tasks, GPT-5.3 Codex or GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark?

GPT-5.3 Codex has the edge for multimodal and grounded tasks in this comparison, averaging 91.3 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 Codex or GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark?

GPT-5.3 Codex has the edge for instruction following in this comparison, averaging 93 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 Codex or GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark?

GPT-5.3 Codex has the edge for multilingual tasks in this comparison, averaging 92.8 versus 90.8. Inside this category, MGSM is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Last updated: March 12, 2026

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