Leaderboard · Compare · Claude Opus 4.1 vs DeepSeek R1 · Updated
Claude Opus 4.1 vs DeepSeek R1
Claude Opus 4.1 edges out DeepSeek R1 on the composite (83.6 vs 75.4). The gap is meaningful but not decisive — see the per-benchmark breakdown below.
At a glance
| Spec | Claude Opus 4.1 | DeepSeek R1 |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Anthropic | DeepSeek |
| Released | 2025-08 | 2025-01 |
| Tier | frontier | open-weights |
| License | Closed | Open · MIT |
| Context window | 200k | 128k |
| $ in / out (per 1M) | $15.00 / $75.00 | $0.55 / $2.19 |
Benchmark scoreboard
Higher is better on every benchmark. Δ shows Claude Opus 4.1 − DeepSeek R1.
| Benchmark | Claude Opus 4.1 | DeepSeek R1 | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chatbot Arena Elo | 1390 | 1357 | +33 |
| MMLU-Pro | 87.0 | 84.0 | +3.0 |
| GPQA Diamond | 79.6 | 71.5 | +8.1 |
| MATH | 95.0 | 97.3 | -2.3 |
| HumanEval | 95.4 | 92.0 | +3.4 |
| SWE-Bench Verified | 74.5 | 49.2 | +25.3 |
Numbers compiled from provider technical reports and Chatbot Arena snapshots — see methodology.
OpenRouter routes Claude Opus 4.1, DeepSeek R1, and 100+ other LLMs behind a single API key — pay-as-you-go, no monthly minimum, fallback if a provider is down. Try OpenRouter → (affiliate · supports this site)
Claude Opus 4.1 vs DeepSeek R1: where each one wins
Claude Opus 4.1 is stronger on
- Arena
- MMLU-Pro
- GPQA
- HumanEval
- SWE-Bench
DeepSeek R1 is stronger on
- MATH
Cost comparison
At 10M tokens/day (50/50 split), Claude Opus 4.1 costs ~$450.00/day vs $13.70/day for DeepSeek R1 — DeepSeek R1 is the cheaper pick at this volume.
Verdict
Claude Opus 4.1 edges out DeepSeek R1 on the composite (83.6 vs 75.4). The gap is meaningful but not decisive — see the per-benchmark breakdown below.
If you can only pick one and your workload is unclear, route via OpenRouter and switch by request — same key, no lock-in.
Frequently asked questions
Which is better, Claude Opus 4.1 or DeepSeek R1?
Claude Opus 4.1 edges out DeepSeek R1 on the composite (83.6 vs 75.4). The gap is meaningful but not decisive — see the per-benchmark breakdown below. Claude Opus 4.1 wins on Arena, MMLU-Pro, GPQA, HumanEval, SWE-Bench; DeepSeek R1 wins on MATH.
What does Claude Opus 4.1 cost compared to DeepSeek R1?
At 10M tokens/day (50/50 split), Claude Opus 4.1 costs ~$450.00/day vs $13.70/day for DeepSeek R1 — DeepSeek R1 is the cheaper pick at this volume.
What is the context window of Claude Opus 4.1 vs DeepSeek R1?
Claude Opus 4.1: 200k tokens. DeepSeek R1: 128k tokens. Claude Opus 4.1 has the larger window — useful for long-document RAG and full-codebase prompting.
Is Claude Opus 4.1 or DeepSeek R1 open source?
Claude Opus 4.1: closed / proprietary. DeepSeek R1: open weights (MIT).
Can I try Claude Opus 4.1 and DeepSeek R1 on the same API key?
Yes — OpenRouter routes both models behind a single key, so you can A/B test Claude Opus 4.1 against DeepSeek R1 without juggling provider accounts.
Model deep-dives: Claude Opus 4.1 · DeepSeek R1 · Full leaderboard
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