GPT-4o mini vs DeepSeek R1

Performance benchmarks + pricing comparison — updated April 2026

GPT-4o mini

OpenAI

Affordable small model. Fast and cost-effective for high-volume coding tasks.

Input$0.150/M
Output$0.600/M
Context128K tokens
Best ForHigh-volume tasks, simple coding, cost-sensitive projects
Benchmark58/100

DeepSeek R1

DeepSeek

DeepSeek's reasoning model. Open-weight model that rivals o1 for complex reasoning tasks.

Input$0.140/M
Output$0.550/M
Context128K tokens
Best ForMath, coding, science reasoning at low cost

Cost Comparison by Scenario

Estimated cost per project with 30% cache hit rate. Actual costs may vary based on usage patterns.

ScenarioGPT-4o miniDeepSeek R1Savings
Small Script (1K lines) $0.02 $0.02 DeepSeek R1 saves <$0.01 (12%)
Medium Feature (10K lines) $0.18 $0.16 DeepSeek R1 saves $0.02 (13%)
Large Project (50K lines) $0.92 $0.80 DeepSeek R1 saves $0.12 (13%)
Code Review (5K lines) $0.05 $0.04 DeepSeek R1 saves <$0.01 (18%)

Verdict

DeepSeek R1 wins on both price and performance — $0.140/M input with a benchmark score of N/A/100.

For most developers, this is the clear choice between these two models.

Compare with Other Models