DeepSeek-R1 vs Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite
Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite comes out ahead, 71 to 51 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.
DeepSeekDeepSeek-R1
51/100- ECI139.0
- Price$0.70 / $2.60
- Context128K
- Our pick
GoogleGemini 2.5 Flash-Lite
71/100- ECI133.9
- Price$0.10 / $0.40
- Context1.05M
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Make it a three-way comparison.
Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is our pick
Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is the better all-round choice, scoring 71/100 against DeepSeek-R1 (51). It leads on price, inputs & features and context window. DeepSeek-R1 wins on capability. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
- CapabilityDeepSeek-R1Capabilities Index (ECI): DeepSeek-R1 139.0 · Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite 133.9
- Lowest priceGemini 2.5 Flash-LiteGemini 2.5 Flash-Lite $0.175 · DeepSeek-R1 $1.18 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextGemini 2.5 Flash-LiteGemini 2.5 Flash-Lite 1,048,576 · DeepSeek-R1 128,000 tokens
- Widest inputsGemini 2.5 Flash-LiteDeepSeek-R1: Text · Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite: Text, Images, PDFs, Audio, Video
- Self-hostingDeepSeek-R1Publishes downloadable weights
| Measure | Weight | DeepSeek-R1 | Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite |
|---|---|---|---|
| CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI) | 50% | 64 | 58 |
| Price | 25% | 47 | 86 |
| Inputs & features | 15% | 35 | 100 |
| Context window | 10% | 24 | 61 |
| Overall | 100% | 51/100 | 71/100 |
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | DeepSeek-R1DeepSeek | Gemini 2.5 Flash-LiteGoogle |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | ||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | 139.0 (best) | 133.9 |
| ECI rank | #104 of 148 (best) | #118 of 148 |
| GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions | 71.7% | — |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics | 53.3% | — |
| Price per million tokens | ||
| Input | $0.70 | $0.10 (best) |
| Output | $2.60 | $0.40 (best) |
| Cached input | — | $0.01 |
| Blended (3:1) | $1.18 | $0.175 (best) |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Median of 11 providers | Official Google API |
| Limits | ||
| Context window | 128,000 tokens | 1,048,576 tokens (best) |
| Max output | 32,768 tokens | 65,536 tokens (best) |
| Inputs and features | ||
| Text | Yes | Yes |
| Images | No | Yes |
| PDFs | No | Yes |
| Audio | No | Yes |
| Video | No | Yes |
| Reasoning | Yes | Yes |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | No | Yes |
| Availability | ||
| Weights | Open | Proprietary |
| API model ID | — | gemini-2.5-flash-lite |
| API providers | 12 | 20 (best) |
| Released | Jan 20, 2025 | Jun 17, 2025 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Jul 2024 | Jan 2025 |
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
- Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite$1.80
Which should you choose?
Which is better: DeepSeek-R1 or Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite?
Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is the better all-round choice, scoring 71/100 against DeepSeek-R1 (51). It leads on price, inputs & features and context window. DeepSeek-R1 wins on capability. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
Which is cheaper, DeepSeek-R1 or Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite?
Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is cheaper at $0.10 input / $0.40 output per million tokens (official Google API price). DeepSeek-R1 costs $0.70 input / $2.60 output per million tokens (median across 11 API providers). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.175 per million tokens for Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite versus $1.18 for DeepSeek-R1 (6.7× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
DeepSeek-R1 scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): DeepSeek-R1 139.0 (#104 of 148) and Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite 133.9 (#118 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (136.2–140.4 vs 129.8–136.3), so treat the gap as small.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for DeepSeek-R1 and Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, DeepSeek-R1 leads, which tends to carry over to coding, but test on your own codebase. Both support tool calling for agent workflows.
Which has the bigger context window?
Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite has the largest context window at 1,048,576 tokens, against 128,000 for DeepSeek-R1. Maximum output per response: DeepSeek-R1 up to 32,768, Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite up to 65,536 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
DeepSeek-R1 accepts text; Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite accepts text, images, PDFs, audio and video. Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
DeepSeek-R1 publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is the newest, released Jun 17, 2025. DeepSeek-R1 came out Jan 20, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: DeepSeek-R1 Jul 2024, Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite 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 Oct 4, 2026.
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