Head-to-head comparison across 3benchmark categories. Overall scores shown here use BenchLM's provisional ranking lane.
Claude Opus 4.6
87
DeepSeek V4 Pro (Max)
87
Verified leaderboard positions: Claude Opus 4.6 #7 · DeepSeek V4 Pro (Max) #5
Treat this as a split decision. Claude Opus 4.6 makes more sense if knowledge is the priority or you would rather avoid the extra latency and token burn of a reasoning model; DeepSeek V4 Pro (Max) is the better fit if coding is the priority or you want the cheaper token bill.
Agentic
+1.4 difference
Coding
+11.5 difference
Knowledge
+10.1 difference
Claude Opus 4.6
DeepSeek V4 Pro (Max)
$5 / $25
$1.74 / $3.48
40 t/s
N/A
1.78s
N/A
1M
1M
Treat this as a split decision. Claude Opus 4.6 makes more sense if knowledge is the priority or you would rather avoid the extra latency and token burn of a reasoning model; DeepSeek V4 Pro (Max) is the better fit if coding is the priority or you want the cheaper token bill.
Claude Opus 4.6 and DeepSeek V4 Pro (Max) finish on the same provisional overall score, so this is less about a single winner and more about where the edge shows up. The provisional headline says tie; the benchmark table is where the real choice happens.
Claude Opus 4.6 is also the more expensive model on tokens at $5.00 input / $25.00 output per 1M tokens, versus $1.74 input / $3.48 output per 1M tokens for DeepSeek V4 Pro (Max). That is roughly 7.2x on output cost alone. DeepSeek V4 Pro (Max) is the reasoning model in the pair, while Claude Opus 4.6 is not. That usually helps on harder chain-of-thought-heavy tests, but it can also mean more latency and more token spend in real use.
Claude Opus 4.6 and DeepSeek V4 Pro (Max) are tied on the provisional overall score, so the right pick depends on which category matters most for your use case.
Claude Opus 4.6 has the edge for knowledge tasks in this comparison, averaging 76.2 versus 66.1. Inside this category, AA-Omniscience Hallucination Rate is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.
DeepSeek V4 Pro (Max) has the edge for coding in this comparison, averaging 75.9 versus 64.4. Inside this category, Vibe Code Bench is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.
DeepSeek V4 Pro (Max) has the edge for agentic tasks in this comparison, averaging 74 versus 72.6. Inside this category, GDPval-AA is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.
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