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Claude 4.1 Opus vs DeepSeek V3

Head-to-head comparison across 1benchmark categories. Overall scores shown here use BenchLM's provisional ranking lane.

Claude 4.1 Opus

52

VS

DeepSeek V3

36

1 categoriesvs0 categories

Pick Claude 4.1 Opus if you want the stronger benchmark profile. DeepSeek V3 only becomes the better choice if you want the cheaper token bill.

Category Radar

Head-to-Head by Category

Category Breakdown

Coding

Claude 4.1 Opus
74.5vs39.2

+35.3 difference

Operational Comparison

Claude 4.1 Opus

DeepSeek V3

Price (per 1M tokens)

$15 / $75

$0.27 / $1.1

Speed

29 t/s

N/A

Latency (TTFT)

1.66s

N/A

Context Window

200K

128K

Quick Verdict

Pick Claude 4.1 Opus if you want the stronger benchmark profile. DeepSeek V3 only becomes the better choice if you want the cheaper token bill.

Claude 4.1 Opus is clearly ahead on the provisional aggregate, 52 to 36. The gap is large enough that you do not need to squint at the spreadsheet to see the difference.

Claude 4.1 Opus's sharpest advantage is in coding, where it averages 74.5 against 39.2. The single biggest benchmark swing on the page is SWE-bench Verified, 74.5% to 42%.

Claude 4.1 Opus is also the more expensive model on tokens at $15.00 input / $75.00 output per 1M tokens, versus $0.27 input / $1.10 output per 1M tokens for DeepSeek V3. That is roughly 68.2x on output cost alone. Claude 4.1 Opus gives you the larger context window at 200K, compared with 128K for DeepSeek V3.

Benchmark Deep Dive

Frequently Asked Questions (2)

Which is better, Claude 4.1 Opus or DeepSeek V3?

Claude 4.1 Opus is ahead on BenchLM's provisional leaderboard, 52 to 36. The biggest single separator in this matchup is SWE-bench Verified, where the scores are 74.5% and 42%.

Which is better for coding, Claude 4.1 Opus or DeepSeek V3?

Claude 4.1 Opus has the edge for coding in this comparison, averaging 74.5 versus 39.2. Inside this category, SWE-bench Verified is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Self-host vs API cost

Estimates at 50,000 req/day · 1000 tokens/req average.

Claude 4.1 Opus
API / mo$67,500
Self-host / moN/A
Break-even
Proprietary model — self-hosting not applicable.
DeepSeek V3
API / mo$1,028
Self-host / mo$18,221
Break-even1.2B/day
Model the full break-even

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Last updated: May 1, 2026

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