DeepSeek Coder 2.0 vs GPT-5 nano

Side-by-side benchmark comparison across knowledge, coding, math, and reasoning.

DeepSeek Coder 2.0 is clearly ahead on the aggregate, 73 to 31. The gap is large enough that you do not need to squint at the spreadsheet to see the difference.

DeepSeek Coder 2.0 is also the more expensive model on tokens at $0.27 input / $1.10 output per 1M tokens, versus $0.05 input / $0.40 output per 1M tokens for GPT-5 nano. That is roughly 2.8x on output cost alone. GPT-5 nano is the reasoning model in the pair, while DeepSeek Coder 2.0 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. GPT-5 nano gives you the larger context window at 400K, compared with 128K for DeepSeek Coder 2.0.

Quick Verdict

Pick DeepSeek Coder 2.0 if you want the stronger benchmark profile. GPT-5 nano only becomes the better choice if mathematics is the priority or you want the cheaper token bill.

Knowledge

GPT-5 nano

DeepSeek Coder 2.0

66.3

GPT-5 nano

71.2

80
MMLU
-
79
GPQA
71.2
77
SuperGPQA
-
75
OpenBookQA
-
73
MMLU-Pro
-
14
HLE
-

Coding

DeepSeek Coder 2.0
82
HumanEval
-
51
SWE-bench Verified
-
45
LiveCodeBench
-

Mathematics

GPT-5 nano

DeepSeek Coder 2.0

80.1

GPT-5 nano

85.2

81
AIME 2023
-
83
AIME 2024
-
82
AIME 2025
85.2
77
HMMT Feb 2023
-
79
HMMT Feb 2024
-
78
HMMT Feb 2025
-
80
BRUMO 2025
-
81
MATH-500
-

Reasoning

DeepSeek Coder 2.0
78
SimpleQA
-
76
MuSR
-
84
BBH
-

Instruction Following

DeepSeek Coder 2.0
86
IFEval
-

Multilingual

DeepSeek Coder 2.0
83
MGSM
-

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is better, DeepSeek Coder 2.0 or GPT-5 nano?

DeepSeek Coder 2.0 is ahead overall, 73 to 31. The biggest single separator in this matchup is GPQA, where the scores are 79 and 71.2.

Which is better for knowledge tasks, DeepSeek Coder 2.0 or GPT-5 nano?

GPT-5 nano has the edge for knowledge tasks in this comparison, averaging 71.2 versus 66.3. Inside this category, GPQA is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for math, DeepSeek Coder 2.0 or GPT-5 nano?

GPT-5 nano has the edge for math in this comparison, averaging 85.2 versus 80.1. Inside this category, AIME 2025 is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Last updated: March 9, 2026

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