Leaderboard · Compare · DeepSeek R1 vs GPT-5 · Updated
DeepSeek R1 vs GPT-5
GPT-5 edges out DeepSeek R1 on the composite (86.0 vs 75.4). The gap is meaningful but not decisive — see the per-benchmark breakdown below.
At a glance
| Spec | DeepSeek R1 | GPT-5 |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | DeepSeek | OpenAI |
| Released | 2025-01 | 2025-08 |
| Tier | open-weights | frontier |
| License | Open · MIT | Closed |
| Context window | 128k | 400k |
| $ in / out (per 1M) | $0.55 / $2.19 | $1.25 / $10.00 |
Benchmark scoreboard
Higher is better on every benchmark. Δ shows DeepSeek R1 − GPT-5.
| Benchmark | DeepSeek R1 | GPT-5 | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chatbot Arena Elo | 1357 | 1410 | -53 |
| MMLU-Pro | 84.0 | 86.8 | -2.8 |
| GPQA Diamond | 71.5 | 87.3 | -15.8 |
| MATH | 97.3 | 96.7 | +0.6 |
| HumanEval | 92.0 | 95.1 | -3.1 |
| SWE-Bench Verified | 49.2 | 74.9 | -25.7 |
Numbers compiled from provider technical reports and Chatbot Arena snapshots — see methodology.
OpenRouter routes DeepSeek R1, GPT-5, 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)
DeepSeek R1 vs GPT-5: where each one wins
DeepSeek R1 is stronger on
- MATH
GPT-5 is stronger on
- Arena
- MMLU-Pro
- GPQA
- HumanEval
- SWE-Bench
Cost comparison
At 10M tokens/day (50/50 split), DeepSeek R1 costs ~$13.70/day vs $56.25/day for GPT-5 — DeepSeek R1 is the cheaper pick at this volume.
Verdict
GPT-5 edges out DeepSeek R1 on the composite (86.0 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, DeepSeek R1 or GPT-5?
GPT-5 edges out DeepSeek R1 on the composite (86.0 vs 75.4). The gap is meaningful but not decisive — see the per-benchmark breakdown below. DeepSeek R1 wins on MATH; GPT-5 wins on Arena, MMLU-Pro, GPQA, HumanEval, SWE-Bench.
What does DeepSeek R1 cost compared to GPT-5?
At 10M tokens/day (50/50 split), DeepSeek R1 costs ~$13.70/day vs $56.25/day for GPT-5 — DeepSeek R1 is the cheaper pick at this volume.
What is the context window of DeepSeek R1 vs GPT-5?
DeepSeek R1: 128k tokens. GPT-5: 400k tokens. GPT-5 has the larger window — useful for long-document RAG and full-codebase prompting.
Is DeepSeek R1 or GPT-5 open source?
DeepSeek R1: open weights (MIT). GPT-5: closed / proprietary.
Can I try DeepSeek R1 and GPT-5 on the same API key?
Yes — OpenRouter routes both models behind a single key, so you can A/B test DeepSeek R1 against GPT-5 without juggling provider accounts.
Model deep-dives: DeepSeek R1 · GPT-5 · Full leaderboard
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