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Model comparison

GPT-5.3 Codex vs Qwen3.6-27B

Data verified

Head-to-head evidence from 16 shared benchmark results across 6 categories. Overall scores shown here use the public BenchAlign v5 ranking lane.

66.69/100
Margin
12.9pts
← winning
53.82/100
1 category wins1 category wins

Public leaderboard positions: GPT-5.3 Codex #26 (Supported); Qwen3.6-27B #93 (Estimated). Intervals and evidence labels describe ranking uncertainty, not a guarantee for a specific workload.

Evidence parity. GPT-5.3 Codex and Qwen3.6-27B share 16 comparable benchmark results. 2 of 8 categories are comparable. 5 results are unique to GPT-5.3 Codex; 38 to Qwen3.6-27B.

Updated July 21, 2026
Shared results
16
GPT-5.3 Codex only
5
Qwen3.6-27B only
38
Comparable categories
2 / 8

Pick GPT-5.3 Codex if you want the stronger benchmark profile. Qwen3.6-27B only becomes the better choice if coding is the priority or you want the cheaper token bill.

Confidence note. This is a partial-evidence comparison with 16 shared benchmark results across 6 evidence categories; 2 of 8 categories currently have scoreable aggregates for both models. Treat the verdict as directional until coverage is more balanced.

Why this result

GPT-5.3 Codex is clearly ahead on the BenchAlign aggregate, 66.69 to 53.82. The gap is large enough that you do not need to squint at the spreadsheet to see the difference.

GPT-5.3 Codex's sharpest advantage is in agentic, where it averages 71.4 against 59.3. The single biggest benchmark swing on the page is Terminal-Bench 2.0, 77.3% to 59.3%. Qwen3.6-27B does hit back in coding, so the answer changes if that is the part of the workload you care about most.

GPT-5.3 Codex is also the more expensive model on tokens at $1.75 input / $14.00 output per 1M tokens, versus $0.00 input / $0.00 output per 1M tokens for Qwen3.6-27B. That is roughly Infinityx on output cost alone. GPT-5.3 Codex gives you the larger context window at 400K, compared with 262K for Qwen3.6-27B.

Category breakdown

Exact category averages are shown below. Not measured means BenchLM does not have enough sourced public coverage for that model and category.

Category scores and score margins for GPT-5.3 Codex and Qwen3.6-27B
CategoryGPT-5.3 CodexΔQwen3.6-27B
AgenticGPT-5.3 Codex71.4Margin 12.1Qwen3.6-27B59.3
CodingGPT-5.3 Codex67.2Margin 10.3Qwen3.6-27B77.5
KnowledgeGPT-5.3 CodexNot measuredMarginNo overlapQwen3.6-27B53.3
MathGPT-5.3 CodexNot measuredMarginNo overlapQwen3.6-27B89.2
MultimodalGPT-5.3 CodexNot measuredMarginNo overlapQwen3.6-27B76.7

Decisive benchmark drivers

The largest measured benchmark gaps in this matchup, with exact reported values.

More
A · GPT-5.3 CodexB · Qwen3.6-27B
  1. Terminal-Bench 2.0

    Agentic
    Source ↗
    A 77.3%B 59.3%
    Winner: GPT-5.3 CodexΔ 18
    Terminal-Bench 2.0: GPT-5.3 Codex scored 77.3%; Qwen3.6-27B scored 59.3%. GPT-5.3 Codex wins this benchmark.
  2. SWE-bench Verified

    Coding
    Source ↗
    A 85%B 77.2%
    Winner: GPT-5.3 CodexΔ 7.8
    SWE-bench Verified: GPT-5.3 Codex scored 85%; Qwen3.6-27B scored 77.2%. GPT-5.3 Codex wins this benchmark.
  3. SWE-bench Pro

    Coding
    Source ↗
    A 56.8%B 53.5%
    Winner: GPT-5.3 CodexΔ 3.3
    SWE-bench Pro: GPT-5.3 Codex scored 56.8%; Qwen3.6-27B scored 53.5%. GPT-5.3 Codex wins this benchmark.

Operational comparison

Runtime and commercial metrics are compared only when both models have a complete sourced value.

MetricGPT-5.3 CodexQwen3.6-27BComparison
Input / output priceUSD per 1M tokensGPT-5.3 Codex$1.75 input / $14 outputQwen3.6-27B$0 input / $0 outputQwen3.6-27B has the lower combined listed price.
Generation speedtokens per secondGPT-5.3 Codex79 tok/sQwen3.6-27BNot availableA complete speed comparison is not available.
First-answer latencyseconds to first tokenGPT-5.3 Codex88.26 sQwen3.6-27BNot availableA complete latency comparison is not available.
Context windowmaximum listed tokensGPT-5.3 Codex400KQwen3.6-27B262KGPT-5.3 Codex lists the larger context window.

Benchmark Deep Dive

AgenticGPT-5.3 Codex wins
BenchmarkGPT-5.3 CodexQwen3.6-27BResult
Terminal-Bench 2.0Source 77.3%59.3%GPT-5.3 Codex leads
OSWorld-VerifiedSource 64.7%Not comparable
τ²-bench resultsSource 86%94.2%Qwen3.6-27B leads
Gert LabsSource 57.47%54.84%GPT-5.3 Codex leads
JobBenchSource 33.7%Not comparable
Claw-EvalSource 72.4%Not comparable
QwenClawBenchSource 53.4%Not comparable
QwenWebBenchSource 1487Not comparable
AndroidWorldSource 70.3%Not comparable
AA Agentic IndexSource 27.0%Not comparable
GDPval-AASource 32.0%Not comparable
GDPval-AASource 1140Not comparable
CodingQwen3.6-27B wins
BenchmarkGPT-5.3 CodexQwen3.6-27BResult
SWE-bench VerifiedSource 85%77.2%GPT-5.3 Codex leads
SWE-bench ProSource 56.8%53.5%GPT-5.3 Codex leads
SWE-RebenchSource 58.2%Not comparable
Vibe Code BenchSource 61.77%Not comparable
AA-SciCodeSource 53.2%39.8%GPT-5.3 Codex leads
SWE MultilingualSource 71.3%Not comparable
Terminal-Bench 2.0Source 59.3%Not comparable
LiveCodeBenchSource 83.9%Not comparable
NL2RepoSource 36.2%Not comparable
AA Coding IndexSource 53.7%Not comparable
Reasoning
BenchmarkGPT-5.3 CodexQwen3.6-27BResult
AA-LCRSource 74.0%68.7%GPT-5.3 Codex leads
CritPtSource 16.9%1.1%GPT-5.3 Codex leads
Knowledge
BenchmarkGPT-5.3 CodexQwen3.6-27BResult
Artificial Analysis Intelligence IndexSource 44.3%37.0%GPT-5.3 Codex leads
AA-GPQA DiamondSource 91.5%84.2%GPT-5.3 Codex leads
AA-HLESource 39.9%21.6%GPT-5.3 Codex leads
AA-Omniscience IndexSource 9.9%-19.8%GPT-5.3 Codex leads
AA-Omniscience AccuracySource 51.8%19.2%GPT-5.3 Codex leads
AA-Omniscience Hallucination RateSource 86.9%48.3%Qwen3.6-27B leads
MMLU-ProSource 86.2%Not comparable
MMLU-ReduxSource 93.5%Not comparable
SuperGPQASource 66%Not comparable
C-EvalSource 91.4%Not comparable
GPQASource 87.8%Not comparable
HLESource 24%Not comparable
Math
BenchmarkGPT-5.3 CodexQwen3.6-27BResult
HMMT Feb 2025Source 93.8%Not comparable
HMMT Nov 2025Source 90.7%Not comparable
HMMT Feb 2026Source 84.3%Not comparable
MMAnswerBenchSource 80.8%Not comparable
AIME26Source 94.1%Not comparable
Multimodal
BenchmarkGPT-5.3 CodexQwen3.6-27BResult
AA-MMMU-ProSource 78.5%74.6%GPT-5.3 Codex leads
Design Arena WebsiteSource 1193Not comparable
MMMUSource 82.9%Not comparable
MMMU-ProSource 75.8%Not comparable
RealWorldQASource 84.1%Not comparable
DynaMathSource 85.6%Not comparable
MStarSource 81.4%Not comparable
SimpleVQASource 56.1%Not comparable
CharXivSource 78.4%Not comparable
CC-OCRSource 81.2%Not comparable
CountBenchSource 97.8%Not comparable
RefCOCO (avg)Source 92.5%Not comparable
ERQASource 62.5%Not comparable
Video-MME (with subtitle)Source 87.7%Not comparable
VideoMMMUSource 84.4%Not comparable
MLVU (M-Avg)Source 86.6%Not comparable
V*Source 94.7%Not comparable
Inst. Following
BenchmarkGPT-5.3 CodexQwen3.6-27BResult
AA-IFBenchSource 75.4%67.6%GPT-5.3 Codex leads
Frequently Asked Questions (3)

Which is better, GPT-5.3 Codex or Qwen3.6-27B?

GPT-5.3 Codex is ahead on BenchLM's BenchAlign leaderboard, 66.69 to 53.82. The biggest single separator in this matchup is Terminal-Bench 2.0, where the scores are 77.3% and 59.3%.

Which is better for coding, GPT-5.3 Codex or Qwen3.6-27B?

Qwen3.6-27B has the edge for coding in this comparison, averaging 77.5 versus 67.2. Inside this category, AA-SciCode is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for agentic tasks, GPT-5.3 Codex or Qwen3.6-27B?

GPT-5.3 Codex has the edge for agentic tasks in this comparison, averaging 71.4 versus 59.3. Inside this category, Terminal-Bench 2.0 is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Self-host vs API cost

Estimates at 50,000 req/day · 1000 tokens/req average.

GPT-5.3 Codex
API / mo$11,813
Self-host / moNot listed
Break-even
Proprietary model — self-hosting not applicable.
Qwen3.6-27B
API / mo$0
Self-host / mo$429
Break-even
Model the full break-even

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Last updated: July 21, 2026

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