DeepSeek-R1 vs o3-mini vs solar-mini
solar-mini comes out ahead, 52 to 39 and 38 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.
DeepSeekDeepSeek-R1
39/100- ECI139.0
- Price$0.70 / $2.60
- Context128K
OpenAIo3-mini
38/100- ECI140.3
- Price$1.10 / $4.40
- Context200K
- Our pick
Upstage
solar-mini
52/100- ECI—
- Price$0.15 / $0.15
- Context33K
solar-mini is our pick
solar-mini is the better all-round choice, scoring 52/100 against DeepSeek-R1 (39) and o3-mini (38). It leads on price. o3-mini wins on inputs & features and context window. The score weighs price 50%, inputs & features 30%, context window 20%. None of the shared benchmarks cover every model here yet, so capability is left out of this verdict.
- CapabilityNot enough dataNo independent benchmark covers every model here yet
- Lowest pricesolar-minisolar-mini $0.15 · DeepSeek-R1 $1.18 · o3-mini $1.93 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contexto3-minio3-mini 200,000 · DeepSeek-R1 128,000 · solar-mini 32,768 tokens
- Widest inputsSame inputsDeepSeek-R1: Text · o3-mini: Text · solar-mini: Text
- Self-hostingDeepSeek-R1Publishes downloadable weights
| Measure | Weight | DeepSeek-R1 | o3-mini | solar-mini |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 47 | 36 | 89 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 35 | 45 | 25 |
| Context window | 20% | 24 | 32 | 0 |
| Overall | 100% | 39/100 | 38/100 | 52/100 |
Left out because at least one model lacks the data: capability. The remaining weights were rescaled.
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | DeepSeek-R1DeepSeek | o3-miniOpenAI | solar-miniUpstage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | 139.0 | 140.3 (best) | — |
| ECI rank | #104 of 148 | #98 of 148 (best) | — |
| GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions | 71.7% | 77.0% (best) | — |
| FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics | — | 18.6% | — |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics | 53.3% | 76.9% (best) | — |
| SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions | — | 15.3% | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.70 | $1.10 | $0.15 (best) |
| Output | $2.60 | $4.40 | $0.15 (best) |
| Cached input | — | $0.55 | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $1.18 | $1.93 | $0.15 (best) |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Median of 11 providers | Official OpenAI API | Official Upstage API |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 128,000 tokens | 200,000 tokens (best) | 32,768 tokens |
| Max output | 32,768 tokens | 100,000 tokens (best) | 4,096 tokens |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | No | No | No |
| PDFs | No | No | No |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | No | No | No |
| Reasoning | Yes | Yeslow · medium · high | No |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | No | Yes | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Open | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| API model ID | — | o3-mini | solar-mini |
| API providers | 12 | 15 (best) | 1 |
| Released | Jan 20, 2025 | Jan 31, 2025 | Jun 12, 2024 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Jul 2024 | May 2024 | Sep 2024 |
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
- o3-mini$19.80
- solar-mini$1.80
Which should you choose?
Which is better: DeepSeek-R1, o3-mini or solar-mini?
solar-mini is the better all-round choice, scoring 52/100 against DeepSeek-R1 (39) and o3-mini (38). It leads on price. o3-mini wins on inputs & features and context window. The score weighs price 50%, inputs & features 30%, context window 20%. None of the shared benchmarks cover every model here yet, so capability is left out of this verdict.
Which is cheaper, DeepSeek-R1, o3-mini or solar-mini?
solar-mini is cheaper at $0.15 input / $0.15 output per million tokens (official Upstage API price). 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 $0.15 per million tokens for solar-mini versus $1.18 for DeepSeek-R1 (7.8× as much) and $1.93 for o3-mini (13× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. DeepSeek-R1 has an ECI of 139.0, o3-mini has an ECI of 140.3 and solar-mini has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for DeepSeek-R1, o3-mini and solar-mini yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. 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 128,000 for DeepSeek-R1 and 32,768 for solar-mini. Maximum output per response: DeepSeek-R1 up to 32,768, o3-mini up to 100,000, solar-mini up to 4,096 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
DeepSeek-R1 accepts text; o3-mini accepts text; solar-mini accepts text. They handle the same number of input types.
Are any of these open source?
DeepSeek-R1 publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; o3-mini and solar-mini is proprietary.
Which is newer?
o3-mini is the newest, released Jan 31, 2025. DeepSeek-R1 came out Jan 20, 2025; solar-mini came out Jun 12, 2024. Knowledge cutoff: DeepSeek-R1 Jul 2024, o3-mini May 2024, solar-mini Sep 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.
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