DeepSeek Chat V3 vs GPT-4.1
Performance benchmarks + pricing comparison — updated April 2026
DeepSeek Chat V3
DeepSeekVery affordable general-purpose model from DeepSeek. Strong coding and reasoning at low cost.
| Input | $0.270/M |
| Output | $1.10/M |
| Context | 128K tokens |
| Best For | Cost-sensitive projects, coding, general tasks |
| Benchmark | 62/100 |
GPT-4.1
OpenAIUpdated GPT-4 generation with improved instruction following and reduced hallucination. Better coding accuracy than GPT-4o.
| Input | $2.00/M |
| Output | $8.00/M |
| Context | 128K tokens |
| Best For | Production coding, API development, complex instructions |
| Benchmark | 80/100 |
Benchmark Performance Comparison
Third-party benchmark scores — higher is better. Data sourced from SWE-bench, LiveCodeBench, HumanEval, and BigCodeBench.
| Benchmark | DeepSeek Chat V3 | GPT-4.1 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall Score | 62 | 80 | GPT-4.1 leads by 18pts |
| SWE-bench Verified | 56 | 76 | GPT-4.1 leads by 20pts |
| LiveCodeBench | 64 | 82 | GPT-4.1 leads by 18pts |
| HumanEval | 84 | 94 | GPT-4.1 leads by 10pts |
| BigCodeBench | 46 | 68 | GPT-4.1 leads by 22pts |
Cost Comparison by Scenario
Estimated cost per project with 30% cache hit rate. Actual costs may vary based on usage patterns.
| Scenario | DeepSeek Chat V3 | GPT-4.1 | Savings |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small Script (1K lines) | $0.04 | $0.31 | DeepSeek Chat V3 saves $0.27 (86%) |
| Medium Feature (10K lines) | $0.31 | $2.30 | DeepSeek Chat V3 saves $1.99 (86%) |
| Large Project (50K lines) | $1.57 | $11.50 | DeepSeek Chat V3 saves $9.93 (86%) |
| Code Review (5K lines) | $0.07 | $0.55 | DeepSeek Chat V3 saves $0.48 (86%) |
Value Analysis (Price per Benchmark Score Point)
Lower is better — how much you pay for each point of benchmark performance.
| Model | Overall Score | Price per Score Point | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| DeepSeek Chat V3 | 62 | $0.004/pt | Better value |
| GPT-4.1 | 80 | $0.063/pt | Higher cost per point |
DeepSeek Chat V3 delivers the best value at $0.004 per score point.
Strengths & Weaknesses
DeepSeek Chat V3
- + Excellent value
- + Strong coding focus
- - Less general-purpose
GPT-4.1
- + Latest GPT model
- + Strong across all benchmarks
- - Premium pricing
Verdict
DeepSeek Chat V3 is cheaper at $0.270/M, but GPT-4.1 scores higher on benchmarks (80 vs 62).
Choose DeepSeek Chat V3 for cost-sensitive projects, GPT-4.1 when performance matters most.
Compare with Other Models
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Claude 3.5 Haiku
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Claude 3 Opus
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Claude 3 Sonnet
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