Which API is cheaper: DeepSeek-R1 (Reasoner) or GPT-4o?

For a standard B2B workload of 5,000 requests/day (2,500 input tokens, 400 output tokens, 50% cache hit), DeepSeek-R1 (Reasoner) costs $260.77/month compared to $1303.12/month for GPT-4o—saving 80.0%.

How fast is DeepSeek-R1 (Reasoner) compared to GPT-4o?

GPT-4o delivers higher throughput at ~85 tokens/sec (DeepSeek-R1 (Reasoner): 50 tok/s vs GPT-4o: 85 tok/s).

DeepSeek-R1 (Reasoner) vs GPT-4o API Pricing & Speed Benchmark (2026)

Side-by-Side Specification & Billing Matrix

Metric	DeepSeek-R1 (Reasoner) (DeepSeek API)	GPT-4o (OpenAI)	Advantage
Standard Input / 1M Tokens	$0.550	$2.500	DeepSeek-R1 (Reasoner)
Cached Input / 1M Tokens	$0.140	$1.250	DeepSeek-R1 (Reasoner)
Output Generation / 1M Tokens	$2.19	$10.00	DeepSeek-R1 (Reasoner)
Intelligence / Benchmark Quality	1315 LMSYS Elo	1286 LMSYS Elo	DeepSeek-R1 (Reasoner)
Monthly Spend (5k req/day, 50% cache)	$260.77 / mo	$1303.12 / mo	DeepSeek-R1 (Reasoner) (-80.0%)
Context Window	64,000 tokens	128,000 tokens	GPT-4o
Output Speed (Throughput)	50 tokens/sec	85 tokens/sec	GPT-4o
Batch API Discount	-50% (DeepSeek API)	-50% (OpenAI)	DeepSeek API
Primary Workload Fit	Budget-friendly chain-of-thought logic, financial verification, logic synthesis	Complex multi-step customer facing workflows, vision + JSON structured outputs	Workload Dependent
Deploy / Console Access	Try DeepSeek-R1 (Reasoner) →	Try GPT-4o →	Open Full Simulator

DeepSeek-R1 (Reasoner) vs GPT-4o: API Price & Latency Comparison

Side-by-Side Specification & Billing Matrix