Best AI for coding / head-to-head

GPT-5.3-Codex vs GPT-5.5for coding

The verdict

GPT-5.3-Codex wins, 9291

Same 18 coding tasks, marked blind by three rival labs. GPT-5.3-Codex took 6 tasks, GPT-5.5 took 5, 7 tied. Tested 16 Aug 2026.

Where they differed most

The task — Retry with backoff

Write an async retry wrapper in TypeScript: exponential backoff with jitter, a maximum attempt count, and it must NOT retry on 4xx responses other than 429. Maximum 30 lines. State what happens on the final failure.

```ts
type RetryOptions = {
  maxAttempts: number;
  baseDelayMs?: number;
  maxDelayMs?: number;
  jitterRatio?: number; // 0.2 => ±20%
};

export async function retryWithBackoff<T>(
  op: () => Promise<T>,
  { maxAttempts, baseDelayMs = 200, maxDelayMs = 10_000, jitterRatio = 0.2 }: RetryOptions
): Promise<T> {
  for (let attempt = 1; attempt <= maxAttempts; attempt++) {
    try {
      return await op();
    } catch (err: any) {
      const status = err?.status ?? err?.response?.status;
      const nonRetriable4xx = status >= 400 && status <…
```ts
type RetryOptions = { attempts?: number; baseMs?: number; maxMs?: number };

const sleep = (ms: number) => new Promise(r => setTimeout(r, ms));

const statusOf = (x: any): number | undefined =>
  typeof x?.status === "number" ? x.status :
  typeof x?.response?.status === "number" ? x.response.status :
  undefined;

const isNonRetryable4xx = (s?: number) =>
  s !== 429 && s !== undefined && s >= 400 && s < 500;

export async function retry<T>(
  fn: () => Promise<T>,
  { attempts = 5, baseMs = 200, maxMs = 5000 }: RetryOptions = {}
): Prom…

Task by task

TaskGPT-5.3-CodexGPT-5.5
Duration parser98
Find the bug1010
SQL without window functions1010
Infinite useEffect910
Typed debounce109
Leftmost binary search1010
Security review910
Safe migration89
Fix the code not the test109
Race condition910
Retry with backoff85
Recursive type910
Bash one-liner99
Explain and cost1010
Regex with limits98
Callback to async99
Diagnose from a trace88
Idempotency109

Full receipts: GPT-5.3-Codex, GPT-5.5 · judges claude-sonnet-5, gemini-3.1-pro-preview, grok-4.5

Questions people ask

Which is better for coding: GPT-5.3-Codex or GPT-5.5?

GPT-5.3-Codex — it scored 92/100 against 91/100 on our 18-task coding suite, winning 6 tasks to 5 with 7 tied. Every answer was marked blind by three judges from three rival AI labs.

How was this tested?

Both models answered the identical published coding tasks. Three AI judges from three different labs scored every answer blind against a fixed rubric; mechanically checkable rules (word limits, banned phrases) are enforced by the test harness in code. The raw outputs and judge verdicts are downloadable.

More coding head-to-heads: GPT-5.3-Codex vs GPT-5.6 Luna · GPT-5.5 vs GPT-5.6 Luna · GPT-5.3-Codex vs GPT-5.6 Sol · GPT-5.5 vs GPT-5.6 Sol · GPT-5.3-Codex vs GPT-5.6 Terra · GPT-5.5 vs GPT-5.6 Terra

Full ranking: Best AI for coding · model pages: GPT-5.3-Codex, GPT-5.5