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Comparison · 3 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

DeepSeek-R1 vs DeepSeek-V3.1 vs o3-mini

DeepSeek-V3.1 comes out ahead, 55 to 52 and 51 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  1. DeepSeek

    DeepSeek-R1

    Released Jan 20, 2025

    51/100
    • ECI139.0
    • Price$0.70 / $2.60
    • Context128K
    Full specs Remove DeepSeek-R1
  2. Our pick

    DeepSeek

    DeepSeek-V3.1

    Released Aug 21, 2025

    55/100
    • ECI139.9
    • Price$0.385 / $1.25
    • Context131K
    Full specs Remove DeepSeek-V3.1

  3. OpenAI

    o3-mini

    Released Jan 31, 2025Deprecated

    52/100
    • ECI140.3
    • Price$1.10 / $4.40
    • Context200K
    Full specs Remove o3-mini
01 — Verdict

DeepSeek-V3.1 is our pick

DeepSeek-V3.1 is the better all-round choice, scoring 55/100 against o3-mini (52) and DeepSeek-R1 (51). It leads on price. o3-mini wins on inputs & features and context window. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • Capabilityo3-miniCapabilities Index (ECI): o3-mini 140.3 · DeepSeek-V3.1 139.9 · DeepSeek-R1 139.0
  • Lowest priceDeepSeek-V3.1DeepSeek-V3.1 $0.601 · DeepSeek-R1 $1.18 · o3-mini $1.93 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contexto3-minio3-mini 200,000 · DeepSeek-V3.1 131,072 · DeepSeek-R1 128,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsSame inputsDeepSeek-R1: Text · DeepSeek-V3.1: Text · o3-mini: Text
  • Self-hostingDeepSeek-R1 and DeepSeek-V3.1Publishes downloadable weights (MIT License)
How the score is built
MeasureWeightDeepSeek-R1DeepSeek-V3.1o3-mini
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%646566
Price25%476036
Inputs & features15%353545
Context window10%242432
Overall100%51/10055/10052/100
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-V3.1 vs o3-mini specifications side by side
SpecificationDeepSeek-R1DeepSeekDeepSeek-V3.1DeepSeeko3-miniOpenAI
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)139.0139.9140.3 (best)
ECI rank#104 of 148#100 of 148#98 of 148 (best)
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions71.7%—77.0% (best)
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics——18.6%
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics53.3%—76.9% (best)
SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions——15.3%
Price per million tokens
Input$0.70$0.385 (best)$1.10
Output$2.60$1.25 (best)$4.40
Cached input——$0.55
Blended (3:1)$1.18$0.601 (best)$1.93
Long-context rateSame rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 11 providersMedian of 8 providersOfficial OpenAI API
Limits
Context window128,000 tokens131,072 tokens200,000 tokens (best)
Max output32,768 tokens8,192 tokens100,000 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYesYes
ImagesNoNoNo
PDFsNoNoNo
AudioNoNoNo
VideoNoNoNo
ReasoningYesYesYeslow · medium · high
Tool callingYesYesYes
Structured outputNoNoYes
Availability
WeightsOpenOpenMIT LicenseProprietary
API model ID——o3-mini
API providers12815 (best)
ReleasedJan 20, 2025Aug 21, 2025Jan 31, 2025
Knowledge cutoffJul 2024—May 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$12.20
  • DeepSeek-V3.1$6.35
  • o3-mini$19.80
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: DeepSeek-R1, DeepSeek-V3.1 or o3-mini?

DeepSeek-V3.1 is the better all-round choice, scoring 55/100 against o3-mini (52) and DeepSeek-R1 (51). It leads on price. o3-mini wins on inputs & features and context window. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, DeepSeek-R1, DeepSeek-V3.1 or o3-mini?

DeepSeek-V3.1 is cheaper at $0.385 input / $1.25 output per million tokens (median across 8 API providers). DeepSeek-R1 costs $0.70 input / $2.60 output per million tokens (median across 11 API providers); o3-mini costs $1.10 input / $4.40 output per million tokens (official OpenAI API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.601 per million tokens for DeepSeek-V3.1 versus $1.18 for DeepSeek-R1 (2× as much) and $1.93 for o3-mini (3.2× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

o3-mini scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): o3-mini 140.3 (#98 of 148), DeepSeek-V3.1 139.9 (#100 of 148) and DeepSeek-R1 139.0 (#104 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (137.4–141.9 vs 136.1–143.3), so treat the gap as small.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for DeepSeek-R1, DeepSeek-V3.1 and o3-mini yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, o3-mini 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?

o3-mini has the largest context window at 200,000 tokens, against 131,072 for DeepSeek-V3.1 and 128,000 for DeepSeek-R1. Maximum output per response: DeepSeek-R1 up to 32,768, DeepSeek-V3.1 up to 8,192, o3-mini up to 100,000 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

DeepSeek-R1 accepts text; DeepSeek-V3.1 accepts text; o3-mini accepts text. They handle the same number of input types.

Are any of these open source?

DeepSeek-R1 and DeepSeek-V3.1 publishes its weights (MIT License) and can be self-hosted; o3-mini is proprietary.

Which is newer?

DeepSeek-V3.1 is the newest, released Aug 21, 2025. o3-mini came out Jan 31, 2025; DeepSeek-R1 came out Jan 20, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: DeepSeek-R1 Jul 2024, o3-mini May 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 Oct 4, 2026.

05 — Keep comparing

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