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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

GPT-4.1 vs DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B

GPT-4.1 comes out ahead, 63 to 47 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  1. Our pick

    OpenAI

    GPT-4.1

    Released Apr 14, 2025

    63/100
    • ECI136.8
    • Price$2.00 / $8.00
    • Context1.05M
  2. DeepSeek

    DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B

    Released Jan 20, 2025

    47/100
    • ECI137.4
    • Price—
    • Context131K
  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

GPT-4.1 is our pick

GPT-4.1 is the better all-round choice, scoring 63/100 against DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B (47). It leads on inputs & features and context window. The score weighs capability 67%, inputs & features 20%, context window 13%.

  • CapabilityDeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32BCapabilities Index (ECI): DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B 137.4 · GPT-4.1 136.8
  • Lowest priceGPT-4.1GPT-4.1 $3.50 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend) · DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B unpriced
  • Longest contextGPT-4.1GPT-4.1 1,047,576 · DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B 131,072 tokens
  • Widest inputsGPT-4.1GPT-4.1: Text, Images, PDFs · DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B: Text
  • Self-hostingDeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32BPublishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightGPT-4.1DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)67%6162
Inputs & features20%7010
Context window13%6124
Overall100%63/10047/100

Left out because at least one model lacks the data: price. The remaining weights were rescaled.

02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

GPT-4.1 vs DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B specifications side by side
SpecificationGPT-4.1OpenAIDeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32BDeepSeek
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)136.8137.4 (best)
ECI rank#111 of 148#110 of 148 (best)
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions66.9% (best)64.1%
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics6.0%—
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics38.3%55.6% (best)
SWE-bench VerifiedFixing real GitHub issues48.5%—
SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions31.1%—
Price per million tokens
Input$2.00—
Output$8.00—
Cached input$0.50—
Blended (3:1)$3.50—
Long-context rateSame rate—
Price sourceOfficial OpenAI API—
Limits
Context window1,047,576 tokens (best)131,072 tokens
Max output32,768 tokens32,768 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesYesNo
PDFsYesNo
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningNoYes
Tool callingYesNo
Structured outputYesNo
Availability
WeightsProprietaryOpen
API model IDgpt-4.1—
API providers25—
ReleasedApr 14, 2025Jan 20, 2025
Knowledge cutoffApr 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.

  • GPT-4.1$36.00
  • DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B—
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: GPT-4.1 or DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B?

GPT-4.1 is the better all-round choice, scoring 63/100 against DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B (47). It leads on inputs & features and context window. The score weighs capability 67%, inputs & features 20%, context window 13%.

Which is cheaper, GPT-4.1 or DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B?

GPT-4.1 is cheaper at $2.00 input / $8.00 output per million tokens (official OpenAI API price). . At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $3.50 per million tokens for GPT-4.1 versus . DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B has no published per-token price.

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B 137.4 (#110 of 148) and GPT-4.1 136.8 (#111 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (130.7–138.7 vs 133.6–138.4), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — GPT-4.1 66.9%, DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B 64.1%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B 55.6%, GPT-4.1 38.3%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B leads, which tends to carry over to coding, but test on your own codebase. Note that DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B does not support tool calling, which most coding agents need.

Which has the bigger context window?

GPT-4.1 has the largest context window at 1,047,576 tokens, against 131,072 for DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B. Maximum output per response: GPT-4.1 up to 32,768, DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B up to 32,768 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

GPT-4.1 accepts text, images and PDFs; DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B accepts text. GPT-4.1 handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; GPT-4.1 is proprietary.

Which is newer?

GPT-4.1 is the newest, released Apr 14, 2025. DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B came out Jan 20, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: GPT-4.1 Apr 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.