DeepSeek R1 (0528) vs Grok Code Fast 1
Benchmarks, API pricing and specs, head to head. Data updated 2026-06-10.
DeepSeek · May 2025
The open reasoning model that started it all — RL-trained chain-of-thought, MIT licensed, and a research landmark.
xAI · Aug 2025
A speed-first coding model built for agentic IDE loops, popular as a cheap fast tier in Cursor and similar tools.
The verdict
These two models don't yet share verified results on the benchmarks we track, so judge them on specs, pricing and intended use. Grok Code Fast 1 is about 1.8x cheaper per blended million tokens (3:1 input:output mix). Grok Code Fast 1 also takes 256K of context versus 128K for DeepSeek R1 (0528). And DeepSeek R1 (0528) is open-weights (MIT), so it can be self-hosted — a structural advantage if data control or vendor independence matters.
Specs & pricing
| DeepSeek R1 (0528) | Grok Code Fast 1 | |
|---|---|---|
| modhub Index | 67.8 | — |
| Input price / 1M | $0.55 | $0.2 |
| Output price / 1M | $2.19 | $1.5 |
| Context window | 128K | 256K |
| Max output | 64K | — |
| Open weights | yes (MIT) | no |
| Reasoning model | yes | yes |
| Multimodal input | text | text |
| Knowledge cutoff | Mar 2025 | Aug 2025 |
| Released | May 2025 | Aug 2025 |
| Example monthly cost* | $8.79 | $4.25 |
* 10M input + 1.5M output tokens per month at list prices, no caching. Green = better value on that row.
Frequently asked questions
- Which is better, DeepSeek R1 (0528) or Grok Code Fast 1?
- These two models don't yet share verified results on the benchmarks we track, so judge them on specs, pricing and intended use. Grok Code Fast 1 is about 1.8x cheaper per blended million tokens (3:1 input:output mix). Grok Code Fast 1 also takes 256K of context versus 128K for DeepSeek R1 (0528). And DeepSeek R1 (0528) is open-weights (MIT), so it can be self-hosted — a structural advantage if data control or vendor independence matters.
- Which is cheaper, DeepSeek R1 (0528) or Grok Code Fast 1?
- DeepSeek R1 (0528) costs $0.55/$2.19 per million input/output tokens, while Grok Code Fast 1 costs $0.2/$1.5. For a typical workload of 10M input and 1.5M output tokens per month, that's $8.79 versus $4.25.
- Which model is better for coding, DeepSeek R1 (0528) or Grok Code Fast 1?
- We don't yet track SWE-bench Verified results for both models; check their individual pages for coding-related scores.