reasoning
O4 Mini vs Deepseek R1
Side-by-side pricing, context window, features, and per-use-case verdict. Data sourced from LiteLLM, updated regularly.
Specifications
| Feature | O4 Mini | Deepseek R1 |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | openai | deepseek |
| Model ID | o4-mini | deepseek/deepseek-r1 |
| Input / 1M tokens | $1.10 | $0.55 (50% cheaper) |
| Output / 1M tokens | $4.40 | $2.19 (50% cheaper) |
| Cached input / 1M | $0.28 | — |
| Context window | 200kk tokens | 66kk tokens |
| Max output | 100kk tokens | 8kk 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 | O4 Mini | Deepseek R1 | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small 1M in / 0.2M out | $1.98 | $0.99 | Deepseek R1 saves 50% |
| Medium 10M in / 2M out | $19.80 | $9.88 | Deepseek R1 saves 50% |
| Large 100M in / 20M out | $198 | $98.80 | Deepseek R1 saves 50% |
Category winners
Cheapest input
Deepseek R1
$0.55/M
· 50% less than the other
Cheapest output
Deepseek R1
$2.19/M
· 50% less than the other
Larger context
O4 Mini
200kk tokens · 205% larger window
More features
O4 Mini
5 / 5 capabilities
Better for…
High-volume RAG & repeated context
$0.28/M cached input — prompt caching makes repeated context retrieval significantly cheaper
O4 Mini
Short interactions & high-throughput APIs
$2.19/M output — 50% cheaper on output at scale
Deepseek R1
Long-document processing & large codebases
200k context window vs 66k — 205% larger context
O4 Mini
Agentic workflows & tool use
Supports 5 of 5 tracked capabilities (vision, function calling, caching, web search, JSON schema)
O4 Mini
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.