Head-to-head comparison across 3benchmark categories. Overall scores shown here use BenchLM's provisional ranking lane.
DeepSeek V3
36
GPT-4.1 mini
45
Pick GPT-4.1 mini if you want the stronger benchmark profile. DeepSeek V3 only becomes the better choice if coding is the priority or you want the cheaper token bill.
Coding
+15.6 difference
Knowledge
+5.8 difference
Inst. Following
+2.4 difference
DeepSeek V3
GPT-4.1 mini
$0.27 / $1.1
$0.4 / $1.6
N/A
80 t/s
N/A
0.76s
128K
1M
Pick GPT-4.1 mini if you want the stronger benchmark profile. DeepSeek V3 only becomes the better choice if coding is the priority or you want the cheaper token bill.
GPT-4.1 mini is clearly ahead on the provisional aggregate, 45 to 36. The gap is large enough that you do not need to squint at the spreadsheet to see the difference.
GPT-4.1 mini's sharpest advantage is in instruction following, where it averages 88.5 against 86.1. The single biggest benchmark swing on the page is SWE-bench Verified, 42% to 23.6%. DeepSeek V3 does hit back in coding, so the answer changes if that is the part of the workload you care about most.
GPT-4.1 mini is also the more expensive model on tokens at $0.40 input / $1.60 output per 1M tokens, versus $0.27 input / $1.10 output per 1M tokens for DeepSeek V3. GPT-4.1 mini gives you the larger context window at 1M, compared with 128K for DeepSeek V3.
GPT-4.1 mini is ahead on BenchLM's provisional leaderboard, 45 to 36. The biggest single separator in this matchup is SWE-bench Verified, where the scores are 42% and 23.6%.
DeepSeek V3 has the edge for knowledge tasks in this comparison, averaging 70 versus 64.2. Inside this category, GPQA is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.
DeepSeek V3 has the edge for coding in this comparison, averaging 39.2 versus 23.6. Inside this category, SWE-bench Verified 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 86.1. Inside this category, IFEval is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.
Estimates at 50,000 req/day · 1000 tokens/req average.
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