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Claude Opus 4.6 vs DeepSeek R1
A detailed comparison of Claude Opus 4.6 (Anthropic) and DeepSeek R1 (DeepSeek) across pricing, performance, and features.
Pricing Comparison
| Metric | Claude Opus 4.6 | DeepSeek R1 | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Input / 1M tokens | $5.00 | $0.55 | -89% |
| Output / 1M tokens | $25.00 | $2.19 | -91% |
| Context window | 200K | 128K | — |
| Max output | 32K | 64K | — |
Benchmark Comparison
| Benchmark | Claude Opus 4.6 | DeepSeek R1 |
|---|---|---|
| MMLU-Pro | 89.5% | 84% |
| HumanEval | 95% | 92% |
| GPQA | 75.5% | 71.5% |
Capabilities
| Capability | Claude Opus 4.6 | DeepSeek R1 |
|---|---|---|
| code | ✓ | ✓ |
| reasoning | ✓ | ✓ |
| text | ✓ | ✓ |
| tool-use | ✓ | ✗ |
| vision | ✓ | ✗ |
Claude Opus 4.6 Strengths
- ✓Best-in-class agentic tool use and coding
- ✓1M context available in beta (Tier 4)
- ✓Strong at following complex multi-step instructions
Claude Opus 4.6 Weaknesses
- ✗Premium pricing ($10/$37.50 at 1M context)
- ✗1M context beta is Tier 4 only
DeepSeek R1 Strengths
- ✓Cheapest reasoning model available
- ✓Strong math and science performance
- ✓Open-source with off-peak discounts
DeepSeek R1 Weaknesses
- ✗Slower than non-reasoning models
- ✗No vision or tool-use
- ✗China-based — availability concerns
Quick Verdict
Best value: DeepSeek R1 is the more affordable option at $0.55/$2.19 per 1M tokens.
Higher benchmarks: Claude Opus 4.6 scores higher on average across available benchmarks (86.7% avg).
Larger context: Claude Opus 4.6 supports 200K tokens.
Choose DeepSeek R1 if cost matters most. Choose Claude Opus 4.6 if you need the best possible quality for complex tasks.