Side-by-side benchmark comparison across knowledge, coding, math, and reasoning.
DeepSeek-R1 is clearly ahead on the aggregate, 43 to 35. The gap is large enough that you do not need to squint at the spreadsheet to see the difference.
DeepSeek-R1's sharpest advantage is in mathematics, where it averages 45.6 against 23.1. The single biggest benchmark swing on the page is MMLU, 44 to 87.5. GPT-4.1 mini does hit back in knowledge, so the answer changes if that is the part of the workload you care about most.
DeepSeek-R1 is also the more expensive model on tokens at $0.55 input / $2.19 output per 1M tokens, versus $0.40 input / $1.60 output per 1M tokens for GPT-4.1 mini. DeepSeek-R1 is the reasoning model in the pair, while GPT-4.1 mini 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-4.1 mini gives you the larger context window at 1M, compared with 128K for DeepSeek-R1.
Pick DeepSeek-R1 if you want the stronger benchmark profile. GPT-4.1 mini only becomes the better choice if knowledge is the priority or you want the cheaper token bill.
DeepSeek-R1
38.8
GPT-4.1 mini
75.9
DeepSeek-R1
24
GPT-4.1 mini
23.6
DeepSeek-R1
45.6
GPT-4.1 mini
23.1
DeepSeek-R1
69
GPT-4.1 mini
88.5
DeepSeek-R1 is ahead overall, 43 to 35. The biggest single separator in this matchup is MMLU, where the scores are 44 and 87.5.
GPT-4.1 mini has the edge for knowledge tasks in this comparison, averaging 75.9 versus 38.8. Inside this category, MMLU is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.
DeepSeek-R1 has the edge for coding in this comparison, averaging 24 versus 23.6. Inside this category, SWE-bench Verified is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.
DeepSeek-R1 has the edge for math in this comparison, averaging 45.6 versus 23.1. Inside this category, AIME 2024 is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.
GPT-4.1 mini has the edge for instruction following in this comparison, averaging 88.5 versus 69. Inside this category, IFEval is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.
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