GPT-4o vs DeepSeek Reasoner (R1)
Performance benchmarks + pricing comparison — updated April 2026
GPT-4o
OpenAIOpenAI's flagship multimodal model. Strong coding and reasoning at competitive pricing.
| Input | $2.50/M |
| Output | $10.00/M |
| Context | 128K tokens |
| Best For | General coding, multimodal tasks, chatbots |
| Benchmark | 75/100 |
DeepSeek Reasoner (R1)
DeepSeekDeepSeek's reasoning model. Comparable to OpenAI's o1 but at much lower cost.
| Input | $0.550/M |
| Output | $2.19/M |
| Context | 128K tokens |
| Best For | Complex reasoning, math, advanced coding |
| Benchmark | 72/100 |
Benchmark Performance Comparison
Third-party benchmark scores — higher is better. Data sourced from SWE-bench, LiveCodeBench, HumanEval, and BigCodeBench.
| Benchmark | GPT-4o | DeepSeek Reasoner (R1) | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall Score | 75 | 72 | GPT-4o leads by 3pts |
| SWE-bench Verified | 70 | 68 | GPT-4o leads by 2pts |
| LiveCodeBench | 78 | 76 | GPT-4o leads by 2pts |
| HumanEval | 90 | 90 | GPT-4o leads by 0pts |
| BigCodeBench | 62 | 56 | GPT-4o leads by 6pts |
Cost Comparison by Scenario
Estimated cost per project with 30% cache hit rate. Actual costs may vary based on usage patterns.
| Scenario | GPT-4o | DeepSeek Reasoner (R1) | Savings |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small Script (1K lines) | $0.41 | $0.08 | DeepSeek Reasoner (R1) saves $0.32 (79%) |
| Medium Feature (10K lines) | $3.06 | $0.63 | DeepSeek Reasoner (R1) saves $2.43 (79%) |
| Large Project (50K lines) | $15.31 | $3.15 | DeepSeek Reasoner (R1) saves $12.16 (79%) |
| Code Review (5K lines) | $0.78 | $0.15 | DeepSeek Reasoner (R1) saves $0.63 (81%) |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPT-4o | 75 | $0.033/pt | Higher cost per point |
| DeepSeek Reasoner (R1) | 72 | $0.008/pt | Better value |
DeepSeek Reasoner (R1) delivers the best value at $0.008 per score point.
Strengths & Weaknesses
GPT-4o
- + Strong general-purpose
- + Good multimodal
- - Less consistent on coding than Claude
DeepSeek Reasoner (R1)
- + Strong reasoning chain
- + Good value
- - Slow on simple tasks
Verdict
DeepSeek Reasoner (R1) is cheaper at $0.550/M, but GPT-4o scores higher on benchmarks (75 vs 72).
Choose DeepSeek Reasoner (R1) for cost-sensitive projects, GPT-4o when performance matters most.
Compare with Other Models
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Claude Opus 4
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Claude 3.5 Sonnet
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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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