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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

o4-mini vs DeepSeek-R1

o4-mini comes out ahead, 59 to 51 on our weighted score, though DeepSeek-R1 is 39% cheaper per token.

  1. Our pick

    OpenAI

    o4-mini

    Released Apr 16, 2025Deprecated

    59/100
    • ECI145.6
    • Price$1.10 / $4.40
    • Context200K
    Full specs Remove o4-mini

  2. DeepSeek

    DeepSeek-R1

    Released Jan 20, 2025

    51/100
    • ECI139.0
    • Price$0.70 / $2.60
    • Context128K
    Full specs Remove DeepSeek-R1

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

o4-mini is our pick

o4-mini is the better all-round choice, scoring 59/100 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%.

  • Capabilityo4-miniCapabilities Index (ECI): o4-mini 145.6 · DeepSeek-R1 139.0
  • Lowest priceDeepSeek-R1DeepSeek-R1 $1.18 · o4-mini $1.93 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contexto4-minio4-mini 200,000 · DeepSeek-R1 128,000 tokens
  • Widest inputso4-minio4-mini: Text, Images · DeepSeek-R1: Text
  • Self-hostingDeepSeek-R1Publishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeighto4-miniDeepSeek-R1
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%7364
Price25%3647
Inputs & features15%7035
Context window10%3224
Overall100%59/10051/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

o4-mini vs DeepSeek-R1 specifications side by side
Specificationo4-miniOpenAIDeepSeek-R1DeepSeek
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)145.6 (best)139.0
ECI rank#76 of 148 (best)#104 of 148
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions79.6% (best)71.7%
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics36.1%—
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics81.7% (best)53.3%
SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions19.6%—
Price per million tokens
Input$1.10$0.70 (best)
Output$4.40$2.60 (best)
Cached input$0.275—
Blended (3:1)$1.93$1.18 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial OpenAI APIMedian of 11 providers
Limits
Context window200,000 tokens (best)128,000 tokens
Max output100,000 tokens (best)32,768 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesYesNo
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningYeslow · medium · highYes
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputYesNo
Availability
WeightsProprietaryOpen
API model IDo4-mini—
API providers19 (best)12
ReleasedApr 16, 2025Jan 20, 2025
Knowledge cutoffMay 2024Jul 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.

  • o4-mini$19.80
  • DeepSeek-R1$12.20
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: o4-mini or DeepSeek-R1?

o4-mini is the better all-round choice, scoring 59/100 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, o4-mini or DeepSeek-R1?

DeepSeek-R1 is cheaper at $0.70 input / $2.60 output per million tokens (median across 11 API providers). o4-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 $1.18 per million tokens for DeepSeek-R1 versus $1.93 for o4-mini (1.6× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

o4-mini scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): o4-mini 145.6 (#76 of 148) and DeepSeek-R1 139.0 (#104 of 148). Their confidence ranges do not overlap (143.0–147.4 vs 136.2–140.4), so the gap is a real one. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — o4-mini 79.6%, DeepSeek-R1 71.7%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — o4-mini 81.7%, DeepSeek-R1 53.3%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for o4-mini and DeepSeek-R1 yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, o4-mini 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?

o4-mini has the largest context window at 200,000 tokens, against 128,000 for DeepSeek-R1. Maximum output per response: o4-mini up to 100,000, DeepSeek-R1 up to 32,768 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

o4-mini accepts text and images; DeepSeek-R1 accepts text. o4-mini handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

DeepSeek-R1 publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; o4-mini is proprietary.

Which is newer?

o4-mini is the newest, released Apr 16, 2025. DeepSeek-R1 came out Jan 20, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: o4-mini May 2024, 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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