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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

DeepSeek-R1 vs Gemini 2.5 Pro

Gemini 2.5 Pro comes out ahead, 63 to 51 on our weighted score, though DeepSeek-R1 is 2.9× cheaper per token.

  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

    Google

    Gemini 2.5 Pro

    Released Jun 17, 2025

    63/100
    • ECI145.3
    • Price$1.25 / $10.00
    • Context1.05M
    Full specs Remove Gemini 2.5 Pro

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Gemini 2.5 Pro is our pick

Gemini 2.5 Pro is the better all-round choice, scoring 63/100 against DeepSeek-R1 (51). It leads on capability, inputs & features and context window. DeepSeek-R1 wins on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityGemini 2.5 ProCapabilities Index (ECI): Gemini 2.5 Pro 145.3 · DeepSeek-R1 139.0
  • Lowest priceDeepSeek-R1DeepSeek-R1 $1.18 · Gemini 2.5 Pro $3.44 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextGemini 2.5 ProGemini 2.5 Pro 1,048,576 · DeepSeek-R1 128,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsGemini 2.5 ProDeepSeek-R1: Text · Gemini 2.5 Pro: Text, Images, PDFs, Audio, Video
  • Self-hostingDeepSeek-R1Publishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightDeepSeek-R1Gemini 2.5 Pro
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%6472
Price25%4724
Inputs & features15%35100
Context window10%2461
Overall100%51/10063/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

DeepSeek-R1 vs Gemini 2.5 Pro specifications side by side
SpecificationDeepSeek-R1DeepSeekGemini 2.5 ProGoogle
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)139.0145.3 (best)
ECI rank#104 of 148#78 of 148 (best)
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions71.7%85.3% (best)
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics—24.6%
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics53.3%84.7% (best)
SWE-bench VerifiedFixing real GitHub issues—57.6%
Price per million tokens
Input$0.70 (best)$1.25
Output$2.60 (best)$10.00
Cached input—$0.125
Blended (3:1)$1.18 (best)$3.44
Long-context rateSame rateOver 200K: $2.50 / $15.00
Price sourceMedian of 11 providersOfficial Google API
Limits
Context window128,000 tokens1,048,576 tokens (best)
Max output32,768 tokens65,536 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesNoYes
PDFsNoYes
AudioNoYes
VideoNoYes
ReasoningYesYes
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputNoYes
Availability
WeightsOpenProprietary
API model ID—gemini-2.5-pro
API providers1222 (best)
ReleasedJan 20, 2025Jun 17, 2025
Knowledge cutoffJul 2024Jan 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$12.20
  • Gemini 2.5 Pro$32.50
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: DeepSeek-R1 or Gemini 2.5 Pro?

Gemini 2.5 Pro is the better all-round choice, scoring 63/100 against DeepSeek-R1 (51). It leads on capability, inputs & features and context window. DeepSeek-R1 wins on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, DeepSeek-R1 or Gemini 2.5 Pro?

DeepSeek-R1 is cheaper at $0.70 input / $2.60 output per million tokens (median across 11 API providers). Gemini 2.5 Pro costs $1.25 input / $10.00 output per million tokens (official Google API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $1.18 per million tokens for DeepSeek-R1 versus $3.44 for Gemini 2.5 Pro (2.9× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

Gemini 2.5 Pro scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Gemini 2.5 Pro 145.3 (#78 of 148) and DeepSeek-R1 139.0 (#104 of 148). Their confidence ranges do not overlap (143.6–146.9 vs 136.2–140.4), so the gap is a real one. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Gemini 2.5 Pro 85.3%, DeepSeek-R1 71.7%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Gemini 2.5 Pro 84.7%, DeepSeek-R1 53.3%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for DeepSeek-R1 yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Gemini 2.5 Pro 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 Pro 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 Pro up to 65,536 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

DeepSeek-R1 accepts text; Gemini 2.5 Pro accepts text, images, PDFs, audio and video. Gemini 2.5 Pro 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 Pro is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Gemini 2.5 Pro is the newest, released Jun 17, 2025. DeepSeek-R1 came out Jan 20, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: DeepSeek-R1 Jul 2024, Gemini 2.5 Pro 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.

05 — Keep comparing

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