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Comparison · 3 models · Updated Nov 2, 2026

DeepSeek-R1 vs DeepSeek R1 0528 vs Gemini 2.5 Flash

Gemini 2.5 Flash comes out ahead, 66 to 53 and 48 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  1. DeepSeek

    DeepSeek-R1

    Released Jan 20, 2025

    48/100
    • ECI138.8
    • Price$0.70 / $4.88
    • Context128K
    Full specs Remove DeepSeek-R1

  2. DeepSeek

    DeepSeek R1 0528

    Released May 28, 2025

    53/100
    • ECI141.2
    • Price$0.512 / $2.19
    • Context164K
    Full specs Remove DeepSeek R1 0528
  3. Our pick

    Google

    Gemini 2.5 Flash

    Released Jun 17, 2025

    66/100
    • ECI140.6
    • Price$0.30 / $2.50
    • Context1.05M
    Full specs Remove Gemini 2.5 Flash
01 — Verdict

Gemini 2.5 Flash is our pick

Gemini 2.5 Flash is the better all-round choice, scoring 66/100 against DeepSeek R1 0528 (53) and DeepSeek-R1 (48). It leads on price, inputs & features and context window. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityDeepSeek R1 0528Capabilities Index (ECI): DeepSeek R1 0528 141.2 · Gemini 2.5 Flash 140.6 · DeepSeek-R1 138.8
  • Lowest priceGemini 2.5 FlashGemini 2.5 Flash $0.85 · DeepSeek R1 0528 $0.932 · DeepSeek-R1 $1.75 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextGemini 2.5 FlashGemini 2.5 Flash 1,048,576 · DeepSeek R1 0528 163,840 · DeepSeek-R1 128,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsGemini 2.5 FlashDeepSeek-R1: Text · DeepSeek R1 0528: Text · Gemini 2.5 Flash: Text, Images, PDFs, Audio, Video
  • Self-hostingDeepSeek-R1 and DeepSeek R1 0528Publishes downloadable weights (MIT)
How the score is built
MeasureWeightDeepSeek-R1DeepSeek R1 0528Gemini 2.5 Flash
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%636665
Price25%374951
Inputs & features15%3535100
Context window10%242861
Overall100%48/10053/10066/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

DeepSeek-R1 vs DeepSeek R1 0528 vs Gemini 2.5 Flash specifications side by side
SpecificationDeepSeek-R1DeepSeekDeepSeek R1 0528DeepSeekGemini 2.5 FlashGoogle
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)138.8141.2 (best)140.6
ECI rank#119 of 165#108 of 165 (best)#110 of 165
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions71.7%76.3% (best)—
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics53.3%66.4% (best)—
Price per million tokens
Input$0.70$0.512$0.30 (best)
Output$4.88$2.19 (best)$2.50
Cached input——$0.03
Blended (3:1)$1.75$0.932$0.85 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 11 providersMedian of 16 providersOfficial Google API
Limits
Context window128,000 tokens163,840 tokens1,048,576 tokens (best)
Max output32,768 tokens32,768 tokens65,536 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYesYes
ImagesNoNoYes
PDFsNoNoYes
AudioNoNoYes
VideoNoNoYes
ReasoningYesYesYes
Tool callingYesYesYes
Structured outputNoNoYes
Availability
WeightsOpenOpenMITProprietary
API model ID——gemini-2.5-flash
API providers121632 (best)
ReleasedJan 20, 2025May 28, 2025Jun 17, 2025
Knowledge cutoffJul 2024—Jan 2025
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$16.76
  • DeepSeek R1 0528$9.50
  • Gemini 2.5 Flash$8.00
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: DeepSeek-R1, DeepSeek R1 0528 or Gemini 2.5 Flash?

Gemini 2.5 Flash is the better all-round choice, scoring 66/100 against DeepSeek R1 0528 (53) and DeepSeek-R1 (48). It leads on price, inputs & features and context window. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, DeepSeek-R1, DeepSeek R1 0528 or Gemini 2.5 Flash?

Gemini 2.5 Flash is cheaper at $0.30 input / $2.50 output per million tokens (official Google API price). DeepSeek R1 0528 costs $0.512 input / $2.19 output per million tokens (median across 16 API providers); DeepSeek-R1 costs $0.70 input / $4.88 output per million tokens (median across 11 API providers). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.85 per million tokens for Gemini 2.5 Flash versus $0.932 for DeepSeek R1 0528 (1.1× as much) and $1.75 for DeepSeek-R1 (2.1× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

DeepSeek R1 0528 scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): DeepSeek R1 0528 141.2 (#108 of 165), Gemini 2.5 Flash 140.6 (#110 of 165) and DeepSeek-R1 138.8 (#119 of 165). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (139.0–142.9 vs 138.4–142.1), so treat the gap as small.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for DeepSeek-R1, DeepSeek R1 0528 and Gemini 2.5 Flash yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, DeepSeek R1 0528 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 has the largest context window at 1,048,576 tokens, against 163,840 for DeepSeek R1 0528 and 128,000 for DeepSeek-R1. Maximum output per response: DeepSeek-R1 up to 32,768, DeepSeek R1 0528 up to 32,768, Gemini 2.5 Flash up to 65,536 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

DeepSeek-R1 accepts text; DeepSeek R1 0528 accepts text; Gemini 2.5 Flash accepts text, images, PDFs, audio and video. Gemini 2.5 Flash handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

DeepSeek-R1 and DeepSeek R1 0528 publishes its weights (MIT) and can be self-hosted; Gemini 2.5 Flash is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Gemini 2.5 Flash is the newest, released Jun 17, 2025. DeepSeek R1 0528 came out May 28, 2025; DeepSeek-R1 came out Jan 20, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: DeepSeek-R1 Jul 2024, Gemini 2.5 Flash Jan 2025.

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.

05 — Keep comparing

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