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Comparison · 3 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Qwen3 8B vs DeepSeek-R1 vs DeepSeek V3 0324

Too close to call on our weighted score (Qwen3 8B 56, DeepSeek V3 0324 54, DeepSeek-R1 51). The right pick depends on what you value most.

  1. Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3 8B

    Released Apr 28, 2025

    56/100
    • ECI136.2
    • Price$0.18 / $0.70
    • Context131K
    Full specs Remove Qwen3 8B

  2. DeepSeek

    DeepSeek-R1

    Released Jan 20, 2025

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

  3. DeepSeek

    DeepSeek V3 0324

    Released Mar 24, 2025

    54/100
    • ECI135.9
    • Price$0.24 / $0.90
    • Context164K
    Full specs Remove DeepSeek V3 0324
01 — Verdict

Too close to call

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 3 points (Qwen3 8B 56/100, DeepSeek V3 0324 54/100, DeepSeek-R1 51/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: DeepSeek-R1 for raw capability, Qwen3 8B on price and DeepSeek V3 0324 for long inputs. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityDeepSeek-R1Capabilities Index (ECI): DeepSeek-R1 139.0 · Qwen3 8B 136.2 · DeepSeek V3 0324 135.9
  • Lowest priceQwen3 8BQwen3 8B $0.31 · DeepSeek V3 0324 $0.405 · DeepSeek-R1 $1.18 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextDeepSeek V3 0324DeepSeek V3 0324 163,840 · Qwen3 8B 131,072 · DeepSeek-R1 128,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsSame inputsQwen3 8B: Text · DeepSeek-R1: Text · DeepSeek V3 0324: Text
  • Self-hostingAll open weightsEvery model here can be downloaded and run on your own hardware
How the score is built
MeasureWeightQwen3 8BDeepSeek-R1DeepSeek V3 0324
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%616460
Price25%744768
Inputs & features15%353525
Context window10%242428
Overall100%56/10051/10054/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

Qwen3 8B vs DeepSeek-R1 vs DeepSeek V3 0324 specifications side by side
SpecificationQwen3 8BAlibaba (Qwen)DeepSeek-R1DeepSeekDeepSeek V3 0324DeepSeek
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)136.2139.0 (best)135.9
ECI rank#113 of 148#104 of 148 (best)#114 of 148
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions56.8%71.7% (best)67.6%
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics56.1% (best)53.3%37.8%
Price per million tokens
Input$0.18 (best)$0.70$0.24
Output$0.70 (best)$2.60$0.90
Cached input———
Blended (3:1)$0.31 (best)$1.18$0.405
Long-context rateSame rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial Alibaba APIMedian of 11 providersMedian of 5 providers
Limits
Context window131,072 tokens128,000 tokens163,840 tokens (best)
Max output8,192 tokens32,768 tokens163,840 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYesYes
ImagesNoNoNo
PDFsNoNoNo
AudioNoNoNo
VideoNoNoNo
ReasoningYesYesNo
Tool callingYesYesYes
Structured outputNoNoNo
Availability
WeightsOpenOpenOpen
API model IDqwen3-8b——
API providers112 (best)5
ReleasedApr 28, 2025Jan 20, 2025Mar 24, 2025
Knowledge cutoffApr 2025Jul 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.

  • Qwen3 8B$3.20
  • DeepSeek-R1$12.20
  • DeepSeek V3 0324$4.20
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Qwen3 8B, DeepSeek-R1 or DeepSeek V3 0324?

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 3 points (Qwen3 8B 56/100, DeepSeek V3 0324 54/100, DeepSeek-R1 51/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: DeepSeek-R1 for raw capability, Qwen3 8B on price and DeepSeek V3 0324 for long inputs. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, Qwen3 8B, DeepSeek-R1 or DeepSeek V3 0324?

Qwen3 8B is cheaper at $0.18 input / $0.70 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). DeepSeek V3 0324 costs $0.24 input / $0.90 output per million tokens (median across 5 API providers); DeepSeek-R1 costs $0.70 input / $2.60 output per million tokens (median across 11 API providers). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.31 per million tokens for Qwen3 8B versus $0.405 for DeepSeek V3 0324 (1.3× as much) and $1.18 for DeepSeek-R1 (3.8× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

DeepSeek-R1 scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): DeepSeek-R1 139.0 (#104 of 148), Qwen3 8B 136.2 (#113 of 148) and DeepSeek V3 0324 135.9 (#114 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (136.2–140.4 vs 129.7–138.1), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — DeepSeek-R1 71.7%, DeepSeek V3 0324 67.6%, Qwen3 8B 56.8%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Qwen3 8B 56.1%, DeepSeek-R1 53.3%, DeepSeek V3 0324 37.8%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Qwen3 8B, DeepSeek-R1 and DeepSeek V3 0324 yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, DeepSeek-R1 leads, which tends to carry over to coding, but test on your own codebase. All three support tool calling for agent workflows.

Which has the bigger context window?

DeepSeek V3 0324 has the largest context window at 163,840 tokens, against 131,072 for Qwen3 8B and 128,000 for DeepSeek-R1. Maximum output per response: Qwen3 8B up to 8,192, DeepSeek-R1 up to 32,768, DeepSeek V3 0324 up to 163,840 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Qwen3 8B accepts text; DeepSeek-R1 accepts text; DeepSeek V3 0324 accepts text. They handle the same number of input types.

Are any of these open source?

Yes, all three publish their weights, so you can self-host them.

Which is newer?

Qwen3 8B is the newest, released Apr 28, 2025. DeepSeek V3 0324 came out Mar 24, 2025; DeepSeek-R1 came out Jan 20, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Qwen3 8B Apr 2025, 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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