DeepSeek V4 vs GPT-4o
Benchmarks, API pricing and specs, head to head. Data updated 2026-06-10.
DeepSeek · Mar 2026
The open-weights shock of 2026: ~81% SWE-bench Verified, a 1M context and MIT license at $0.30/$0.50 per million tokens.
OpenAI · May 2024
The 2024 omni-modal classic with native audio in and out; superseded at the frontier but still everywhere in production.
The verdict
DeepSeek V4 wins 1 of the 1 benchmarks these models share, against 0 for GPT-4o. On price the gap is dramatic: DeepSeek V4 works out roughly 13x cheaper per blended million tokens. DeepSeek V4 also takes 1M of context versus 128K for GPT-4o. And DeepSeek V4 is open-weights (MIT), so it can be self-hosted — a structural advantage if data control or vendor independence matters.
Benchmark head-to-head 1–0
Specs & pricing
| DeepSeek V4 | GPT-4o | |
|---|---|---|
| modhub Index | — | — |
| Input price / 1M | $0.3 | $2.5 |
| Output price / 1M | $0.5 | $10 |
| Context window | 1M | 128K |
| Max output | 64K | 16K |
| Open weights | yes (MIT) | no |
| Reasoning model | yes | no |
| Multimodal input | text | text, image, audio |
| Knowledge cutoff | Dec 2025 | Oct 2023 |
| Released | Mar 2026 | May 2024 |
| Example monthly cost* | $3.75 | $40.00 |
* 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 V4 or GPT-4o?
- DeepSeek V4 wins 1 of the 1 benchmarks these models share, against 0 for GPT-4o. On price the gap is dramatic: DeepSeek V4 works out roughly 13x cheaper per blended million tokens. DeepSeek V4 also takes 1M of context versus 128K for GPT-4o. And DeepSeek V4 is open-weights (MIT), so it can be self-hosted — a structural advantage if data control or vendor independence matters.
- Which is cheaper, DeepSeek V4 or GPT-4o?
- DeepSeek V4 costs $0.3/$0.5 per million input/output tokens, while GPT-4o costs $2.5/$10. For a typical workload of 10M input and 1.5M output tokens per month, that's $3.75 versus $40.00.
- Which model is better for coding, DeepSeek V4 or GPT-4o?
- On SWE-bench Verified — the standard agentic-coding benchmark — DeepSeek V4 scores ~81% versus 33.2% for GPT-4o, making DeepSeek V4 the stronger pick for coding agents.