reasoning
Deepseek R1 vs Claude Opus 4 7
Side-by-side pricing, context window, features, and per-use-case verdict. Data sourced from LiteLLM, updated regularly.
Specifications
| Feature | Deepseek R1 | Claude Opus 4 7 |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | deepseek | anthropic |
| Model ID | deepseek/deepseek-r1 | claude-opus-4-7 |
| Input / 1M tokens | $0.55 (89% cheaper) | $5.00 |
| Output / 1M tokens | $2.19 (91% cheaper) | $25.00 |
| Cached input / 1M | — | $0.50 |
| Context window | 66kk tokens | 1000kk tokens |
| Max output | 8kk tokens | 128kk tokens |
| Vision | ⬜ | ✅ |
| Function calling | ✅ | ✅ |
| Prompt caching | ✅ | ✅ |
| Web search | ⬜ | ⬜ |
| JSON schema | ⬜ | ✅ |
Monthly cost comparison
No cache discount applied — pure token costs at three usage scales.
| Scale | Deepseek R1 | Claude Opus 4 7 | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small 1M in / 0.2M out | $0.99 | $10.00 | Deepseek R1 saves 90% |
| Medium 10M in / 2M out | $9.88 | $100 | Deepseek R1 saves 90% |
| Large 100M in / 20M out | $98.80 | $1000 | Deepseek R1 saves 90% |
Category winners
Cheapest input
Deepseek R1
$0.55/M
· 89% less than the other
Cheapest output
Deepseek R1
$2.19/M
· 91% less than the other
Larger context
Claude Opus 4 7
1000kk tokens · 1426% larger window
More features
Claude Opus 4 7
4 / 5 capabilities
Better for…
High-volume RAG & repeated context
$0.50/M cached input — prompt caching makes repeated context retrieval significantly cheaper
Claude Opus 4 7
Short interactions & high-throughput APIs
$2.19/M output — 91% cheaper on output at scale
Deepseek R1
Long-document processing & large codebases
1000k context window vs 66k — 1426% larger context
Claude Opus 4 7
Agentic workflows & tool use
Supports 4 of 5 tracked capabilities (vision, function calling, caching, web search, JSON schema)
Claude Opus 4 7
Deep-dive on each model
Pricing data sourced from LiteLLM and refreshed regularly. Always verify with each provider's official pricing page before making business decisions.