# GPT-5.2 Codex vs Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct

> GPT-5.2 Codex is the stronger model overall, scoring 42.2 to 37.7 on the Noometry Index. Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct costs 1.6× less per token, which makes it the better buy when GPT-5.2 Codex's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

- Canonical page: https://noometry.com/compare/gpt-5-2-codex-vs-qwen3-coder-480b-a35b-instruct
- Last updated: 2026-10-10
- Shared benchmarks: 4

## Summary

- They share 4 benchmarks with published results for both. GPT-5.2 Codex scores higher in 2 categories and Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct in 0 categories; 2 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in agentic & tool use, where GPT-5.2 Codex leads 40.7 to 23.7.
- The biggest single-benchmark swing is Terminal-Bench: 66.5% for GPT-5.2 Codex and 27.2% for Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct.
- Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct is cheaper at $1.50 / $7.50 per million input/output tokens, against $1.75 / $14 for GPT-5.2 Codex.
- GPT-5.2 Codex accepts more context: 400K tokens versus 262K.
- Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.

## Snapshot

| | GPT-5.2 Codex | Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | OpenAI | Alibaba (Qwen) |
| Noometry Index | 42.2 | 37.7 |
| Rank | 107 | 186 |
| Context | 400K | 262K |
| Input $/M | $1.75 | $1.50 |
| Output $/M | $14 | $7.50 |
| Weights | Proprietary | Open |

## Coding

- GPT-5.2 Codex: 45.4 (#66)
- Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct: 36.2 (#199)

| Benchmark | GPT-5.2 Codex | Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| SWE-bench Verified (bash only) | 72.8% | 55.4% |
| LMArena WebDev | 1339 | 1275 |
| ALE-Bench | 1,300 | 461.45 |
| SWE-bench Multilingual | 66.3% | — |
| GSO | — | 4.9% |
| WeirdML | — | 41.2% |
| LMArena Coding | — | 1413 |
| AlgoTune | — | 1.44 |

## Agentic & Tool Use

- GPT-5.2 Codex: 40.7 (#20)
- Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct: 23.7 (#116)

| Benchmark | GPT-5.2 Codex | Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| Terminal-Bench | 66.5% | 27.2% |

## Reasoning

- GPT-5.2 Codex: —
- Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct: 24.7 (#141)

| Benchmark | GPT-5.2 Codex | Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| Kagi LLM Benchmark | — | 49.5% |
| LMArena Hard Prompts | — | 1372 |

## Math

- GPT-5.2 Codex: —
- Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct: 34.9 (#151)

| Benchmark | GPT-5.2 Codex | Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Math | — | 1364 |

## Knowledge

- GPT-5.2 Codex: —
- Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct: 36.4 (#159)

| Benchmark | GPT-5.2 Codex | Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Expert | — | 1337 |

## Multilingual

- GPT-5.2 Codex: —
- Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct: 47.8 (#143)

| Benchmark | GPT-5.2 Codex | Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | — | 1345 |
| LMArena Chinese | — | 1356 |
| LMArena French | — | 1394 |
| LMArena German | — | 1324 |
| LMArena Japanese | — | 1309 |
| LMArena Korean | — | 1307 |
| LMArena Russian | — | 1367 |
| LMArena Spanish | — | 1360 |

## Instruction Following

- GPT-5.2 Codex: —
- Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct: 71.8 (#142)

| Benchmark | GPT-5.2 Codex | Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | — | 1356 |

## Long Context

- GPT-5.2 Codex: —
- Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct: 42.0 (#126)

| Benchmark | GPT-5.2 Codex | Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | — | 1379 |

## Writing & Preference

- GPT-5.2 Codex: —
- Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct: 55.5 (#142)

| Benchmark | GPT-5.2 Codex | Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | — | 1356 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | — | 1333 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | — | 1365 |

## FAQ

### Is GPT-5.2 Codex better than Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct?

GPT-5.2 Codex is the stronger model overall, scoring 42.2 to 37.7 on the Noometry Index. Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct costs 1.6× less per token, which makes it the better buy when GPT-5.2 Codex's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

### Which is cheaper, GPT-5.2 Codex or Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct?

Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct is cheaper. It lists at $1.50 per million input tokens and $7.50 per million output tokens; GPT-5.2 Codex lists at $1.75 and $14.

### Is GPT-5.2 Codex or Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct better for coding?

GPT-5.2 Codex scores higher on coding benchmarks: 45.4 versus 36.2 in the Noometry coding category.

### Which has the bigger context window?

GPT-5.2 Codex does, with 400K tokens against 262K.

### How many benchmarks do GPT-5.2 Codex and Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct share?

4 benchmarks have published results for both models. GPT-5.2 Codex has 5 scored results on Noometry and Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct has 25.