GPT-5.3-Codex vs Llama 3.2 3B Instruct
| Signal | GPT-5.3-Codex | Delta | Llama 3.2 3B Instruct |
|---|---|---|---|
Capabilities | 100 | +67 | |
Benchmarks | 88 | +57 | |
Pricing | 86 | -14 | |
Context window size | 89 | +8 | |
Recency | 86 | +86 | |
Output Capacity | 82 | +4 | |
| Overall Result | 5 wins | of 6 | 1 wins |
Score History
90.5
current score
GPT-5.3-Codex
right now
29.4
current score
GPT-5.3-Codex
OpenAI
Llama 3.2 3B Instruct
Meta
Llama 3.2 3B Instruct saves you $853.16/month
That's $10237.92/year compared to GPT-5.3-Codex at your current usage level of 100K calls/month.
| Metric | GPT-5.3-Codex | Llama 3.2 3B Instruct | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall Score | 91 | 29 | GPT-5.3-Codex |
| Rank | #18 | #430 | GPT-5.3-Codex |
| Quality Rank | #18 | #430 | GPT-5.3-Codex |
| Adoption Rank | #18 | #430 | GPT-5.3-Codex |
| Parameters | -- | 3B | -- |
| Context Window | 400K | 131K | GPT-5.3-Codex |
| Pricing | $1.75/$14.00/M | $0.05/$0.34/M | -- |
| Signal Scores | |||
| Capabilities | 100 | 33 | GPT-5.3-Codex |
| Benchmarks | 88 | 30 | GPT-5.3-Codex |
| Pricing | 86 | 100 | Llama 3.2 3B Instruct |
| Context window size | 89 | 81 | GPT-5.3-Codex |
| Recency | 86 | 0 | GPT-5.3-Codex |
| Output Capacity | 82 | 78 | GPT-5.3-Codex |
Our score (0-100) is driven by benchmark performance (90%) from Arena Elo ratings, MMLU, GPQA, HumanEval, SWE-bench, and 15+ standardized evaluations. Capabilities and context window serve as tiebreakers (10%). Learn more about our methodology.
Scores 91/100 (rank #18), placing it in the top 94% of all 290 models tracked.
Scores 29/100 (rank #430), placing it in the top -48% of all 290 models tracked.
GPT-5.3-Codex has a 61-point advantage, which typically translates to noticeably stronger performance on complex reasoning, code generation, and multi-step tasks.
Choose GPT-5.3-Codex when you need:
- Processing long documents or large codebases (400K token context)
- Multimodal workflows that require image understanding
- Agentic applications using tool/function calling
- Step-by-step reasoning and chain-of-thought problem solving
Choose Llama 3.2 3B Instruct when you need:
- High-volume production workloads where API costs must be minimized
- Self-hosted deployments where you need full control over the model
Llama 3.2 3B Instruct offers 98% better value per quality point. At 1M tokens/day, you'd spend $5.79/month with Llama 3.2 3B Instruct vs $236.25/month with GPT-5.3-Codex - a $230.46 monthly difference.
Both models have comparable response speeds. For most applications, the latency difference is negligible.
When latency matters most: Interactive chatbots, IDE code completion, real-time translation, and user-facing applications where response time directly impacts experience. For batch processing, background summarization, or offline analysis, latency is less critical.
Code generation & review
Based on overall model capabilities and architecture for coding tasks like generating functions, debugging, and refactoring
Customer support chatbot
Suitable for user-facing chat with competitive response times. Llama 3.2 3B Instruct also offers lower per-token costs for high-volume support
Long document analysis
Larger context window (400K tokens) can process longer documents, contracts, and research papers in a single pass
Batch data extraction
Lower output pricing ($0.34/M) reduces costs when processing thousands of records daily
Creative writing & content
Higher overall composite score (91/100) correlates with better nuance, coherence, and style in long-form content
Image understanding & OCR
Supports vision input - can analyze screenshots, diagrams, photos, and scanned documents directly
GPT-5.3-Codex clearly outperforms Llama 3.2 3B Instruct with a significant 61.1-point lead. For most general use cases, GPT-5.3-Codex is the stronger choice. However, Llama 3.2 3B Instruct may still excel in niche scenarios.
By Use Case
Best for Quality
GPT-5.3-Codex
Marginally better benchmark scores; both are excellent
Best for Cost
Llama 3.2 3B Instruct
98% lower pricing; better value at scale
Best for Reliability
GPT-5.3-Codex
Higher uptime and faster response speeds
Best for Prototyping
GPT-5.3-Codex
Stronger community support and better developer experience
Best for Production
GPT-5.3-Codex
Wider enterprise adoption and proven at scale
by OpenAI
- Choose for Quality - Marginally better benchmark scores; both are excellent
- Choose for Reliability - Higher uptime and faster response speeds
- Choose for Prototyping - Stronger community support and better developer experience
- Choose for Production - Wider enterprise adoption and proven at scale
| Capability | GPT-5.3-Codex | Llama 3.2 3B Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| Vision (Image Input)differs | ||
| Function Callingdiffers | ||
| Streaming | ||
| JSON Mode | ||
| Reasoningdiffers | ||
| Web Searchdiffers | ||
| Image Output |
GPT-5.3-Codex
OpenAI
Llama 3.2 3B Instruct
Meta
Llama 3.2 3B Instruct saves you $19.46/month
That's 98% cheaper than GPT-5.3-Codex at 1,000 tokens/request and 100 requests/day.
Assumes 60% input / 40% output token ratio per request. Actual costs may vary based on your usage pattern.
| Parameter | GPT-5.3-Codex | Llama 3.2 3B Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| Context Window | 400K | 131K |
| Max Output Tokens | 128,000 | 72,000 |
| Open Source | No | Yes |
| Created | Feb 24, 2026 | Sep 25, 2024 |