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Comparison · 3 models · Updated Nov 2, 2026

DeepSeek R1 0528 vs Gemini 2.5 Flash Preview 05-20 vs QwQ 32B

Gemini 2.5 Flash Preview 05-20 comes out ahead, 67 to 53 and 53 on our weighted score.

  1. DeepSeek

    DeepSeek R1 0528

    Released May 28, 2025

    53/100
    • ECI141.2
    • Price$0.512 / $2.19
    • Context164K
  2. Our pick

    Google

    Gemini 2.5 Flash Preview 05-20

    Released May 20, 2025

    67/100
    • ECI141.5
    • Price$0.146 / $1.96
    • Context1.05M
  3. Alibaba (Qwen)

    QwQ 32B

    Released Mar 5, 2025

    53/100
    • ECI137.5
    • Price$0.53 / $0.70
    • Context131K
01 — Verdict

Gemini 2.5 Flash Preview 05-20 is our pick

Gemini 2.5 Flash Preview 05-20 is the better all-round choice, scoring 67/100 against DeepSeek R1 0528 (53) and QwQ 32B (53). It leads on inputs & features and context window. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityGemini 2.5 Flash Preview 05-20Capabilities Index (ECI): Gemini 2.5 Flash Preview 05-20 141.5 · DeepSeek R1 0528 141.2 · QwQ 32B 137.5
  • Lowest priceQwQ 32BQwQ 32B $0.573 · Gemini 2.5 Flash Preview 05-20 $0.60 · DeepSeek R1 0528 $0.932 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextGemini 2.5 Flash Preview 05-20Gemini 2.5 Flash Preview 05-20 1,048,576 · DeepSeek R1 0528 163,840 · QwQ 32B 131,072 tokens
  • Widest inputsGemini 2.5 Flash Preview 05-20DeepSeek R1 0528: Text · Gemini 2.5 Flash Preview 05-20: Text, Images, PDFs, Audio, Video · QwQ 32B: Text
  • Self-hostingDeepSeek R1 0528 and QwQ 32BPublishes downloadable weights (MIT)
How the score is built
MeasureWeightDeepSeek R1 0528Gemini 2.5 Flash Preview 05-20QwQ 32B
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%666661
Price25%495859
Inputs & features15%359035
Context window10%286125
Overall100%53/10067/10053/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.

DeepSeek R1 0528 vs Gemini 2.5 Flash Preview 05-20 vs QwQ 32B specifications side by side
SpecificationDeepSeek R1 0528DeepSeekGemini 2.5 Flash Preview 05-20GoogleQwQ 32BAlibaba (Qwen)
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)141.2141.5 (best)137.5
ECI rank#108 of 165#106 of 165 (best)#123 of 165
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions76.3% (best)—65.3%
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics66.4%70.8% (best)59.2%
Price per million tokens
Input$0.512$0.146 (best)$0.53
Output$2.19$1.96$0.70 (best)
Cached input———
Blended (3:1)$0.932$0.60$0.573 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 16 providersMedian of 2 providersMedian of 2 providers
Limits
Context window163,840 tokens1,048,576 tokens (best)131,072 tokens
Max output32,768 tokens65,536 tokens (best)8,192 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYesYes
ImagesNoYesNo
PDFsNoYesNo
AudioNoYesNo
VideoNoYesNo
ReasoningYesYesYes
Tool callingYesYesYes
Structured outputNoNoNo
Availability
WeightsOpenMITProprietaryOpen
API model ID———
API providers16 (best)22
ReleasedMay 28, 2025May 20, 2025Mar 5, 2025
Knowledge cutoff—Jan 2025Apr 2024
03 — Cost

What would a month cost?

Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.

  • DeepSeek R1 0528$9.50
  • Gemini 2.5 Flash Preview 05-20$5.39
  • QwQ 32B$6.70
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: DeepSeek R1 0528, Gemini 2.5 Flash Preview 05-20 or QwQ 32B?

Gemini 2.5 Flash Preview 05-20 is the better all-round choice, scoring 67/100 against DeepSeek R1 0528 (53) and QwQ 32B (53). It leads on inputs & features and context window. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, DeepSeek R1 0528, Gemini 2.5 Flash Preview 05-20 or QwQ 32B?

QwQ 32B is cheaper at $0.53 input / $0.70 output per million tokens (median across 2 API providers). Gemini 2.5 Flash Preview 05-20 costs $0.146 input / $1.96 output per million tokens (median across 2 API providers); DeepSeek R1 0528 costs $0.512 input / $2.19 output per million tokens (median across 16 API providers). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.573 per million tokens for QwQ 32B versus $0.60 for Gemini 2.5 Flash Preview 05-20 (1× as much) and $0.932 for DeepSeek R1 0528 (1.6× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

Gemini 2.5 Flash Preview 05-20 scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Gemini 2.5 Flash Preview 05-20 141.5 (#106 of 165), DeepSeek R1 0528 141.2 (#108 of 165) and QwQ 32B 137.5 (#123 of 165). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (139.3–142.9 vs 139.0–142.9), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Gemini 2.5 Flash Preview 05-20 70.8%, DeepSeek R1 0528 66.4%, QwQ 32B 59.2%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for DeepSeek R1 0528, Gemini 2.5 Flash Preview 05-20 and QwQ 32B yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Gemini 2.5 Flash Preview 05-20 leads, which tends to carry over to coding, but test on your own codebase. All three support tool calling for agent workflows.

Which has the bigger context window?

Gemini 2.5 Flash Preview 05-20 has the largest context window at 1,048,576 tokens, against 163,840 for DeepSeek R1 0528 and 131,072 for QwQ 32B. Maximum output per response: DeepSeek R1 0528 up to 32,768, Gemini 2.5 Flash Preview 05-20 up to 65,536, QwQ 32B up to 8,192 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

DeepSeek R1 0528 accepts text; Gemini 2.5 Flash Preview 05-20 accepts text, images, PDFs, audio and video; QwQ 32B accepts text. Gemini 2.5 Flash Preview 05-20 handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

DeepSeek R1 0528 and QwQ 32B publishes its weights (MIT) and can be self-hosted; Gemini 2.5 Flash Preview 05-20 is proprietary.

Which is newer?

DeepSeek R1 0528 is the newest, released May 28, 2025. Gemini 2.5 Flash Preview 05-20 came out May 20, 2025; QwQ 32B came out Mar 5, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Gemini 2.5 Flash Preview 05-20 Jan 2025, QwQ 32B Apr 2024.

How do you decide the winner?

Each model gets a 0–100 score on capability (50%, independent benchmark results); price (25%, blended price per million tokens (3 input : 1 output), log scale); inputs & features (15%, image, PDF, audio and video input, tool calling, structured output and reasoning); context window (10%, maximum tokens per request, log scale). Dimensions missing for any model are dropped and the remaining weights rescaled, so every model is judged on the same evidence. Specs and prices come from public model listings and the labs’ own API pages; capability scores come from independent benchmark runs. Data updated Nov 2, 2026.