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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

DeepSeek-R1 vs Grok 4.3

Grok 4.3 comes out ahead, 67 to 51 on our weighted score, though DeepSeek-R1 is 25% 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

    xAI

    Grok 4.3

    Released Apr 17, 2026

    67/100
    • ECI149.2
    • Price$1.25 / $2.50
    • Context1M
    Full specs Remove Grok 4.3

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Grok 4.3 is our pick

Grok 4.3 is the better all-round choice, scoring 67/100 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%.

  • CapabilityGrok 4.3Capabilities Index (ECI): Grok 4.3 149.2 · DeepSeek-R1 139.0
  • Lowest priceDeepSeek-R1DeepSeek-R1 $1.18 · Grok 4.3 $1.56 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextGrok 4.3Grok 4.3 1,000,000 · DeepSeek-R1 128,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsGrok 4.3DeepSeek-R1: Text · Grok 4.3: Text, Images, PDFs
  • Self-hostingDeepSeek-R1Publishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightDeepSeek-R1Grok 4.3
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%6477
Price25%4741
Inputs & features15%3580
Context window10%2460
Overall100%51/10067/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

DeepSeek-R1 vs Grok 4.3 specifications side by side
SpecificationDeepSeek-R1DeepSeekGrok 4.3xAI
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)139.0149.2 (best)
ECI rank#104 of 148#55 of 148 (best)
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions71.7%88.8% (best)
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics—42.8%
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics53.3%93.3% (best)
SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions—33.2%
Price per million tokens
Input$0.70 (best)$1.25
Output$2.60$2.50 (best)
Cached input—$0.20
Blended (3:1)$1.18 (best)$1.56
Long-context rateSame rateOver 200K: $2.50 / $5.00
Price sourceMedian of 11 providersOfficial xAI API
Limits
Context window128,000 tokens1,000,000 tokens (best)
Max output32,768 tokens (best)30,000 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesNoYes
PDFsNoYes
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningYesYeslow · medium · high
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputNoYes
Availability
WeightsOpenProprietary
API model ID—grok-4.3
API providers1227 (best)
ReleasedJan 20, 2025Apr 17, 2026
Knowledge cutoffJul 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
  • Grok 4.3$17.50
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: DeepSeek-R1 or Grok 4.3?

Grok 4.3 is the better all-round choice, scoring 67/100 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 Grok 4.3?

DeepSeek-R1 is cheaper at $0.70 input / $2.60 output per million tokens (median across 11 API providers). Grok 4.3 costs $1.25 input / $2.50 output per million tokens (official xAI 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 $1.56 for Grok 4.3 (1.3× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

Grok 4.3 scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Grok 4.3 149.2 (#55 of 148) and DeepSeek-R1 139.0 (#104 of 148). Their confidence ranges do not overlap (147.6–150.8 vs 136.2–140.4), so the gap is a real one. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Grok 4.3 88.8%, DeepSeek-R1 71.7%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Grok 4.3 93.3%, DeepSeek-R1 53.3%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for DeepSeek-R1 and Grok 4.3 yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Grok 4.3 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?

Grok 4.3 has the largest context window at 1,000,000 tokens, against 128,000 for DeepSeek-R1. Maximum output per response: DeepSeek-R1 up to 32,768, Grok 4.3 up to 30,000 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

DeepSeek-R1 accepts text; Grok 4.3 accepts text, images and PDFs. Grok 4.3 handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

DeepSeek-R1 publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Grok 4.3 is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Grok 4.3 is the newest, released Apr 17, 2026. DeepSeek-R1 came out Jan 20, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: DeepSeek-R1 Jul 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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