DeepSeek-V3.1 vs o4-mini

    Comparison

    As of August 20, 2026, DeepSeek-V3.1 is 77% cheaper per million tokens than o4-mini. DeepSeek-V3.1 is $0.27 / $1.00 per million input/output tokens versus o4-mini at $1.10 / $4.40. Sources: https://api-docs.deepseek.com/quick_start/pricing and https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/pricing

    Sources: DeepSeek API pricing (https://api-docs.deepseek.com/quick_start/pricing); OpenAI API pricing (https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/pricing)

    Better value

    DeepSeek-V3.1

    DeepSeek

    $1.27blended / 1M

    Input

    $0.27

    Output

    $1.00

    163.8K ctx|Open Source
    77%
    cheaper

    o4-mini

    OpenAI

    $5.50blended / 1M

    Input

    $1.10

    Output

    $4.40

    200K ctx|Proprietary
    Save $4.23 per million tokens by choosing DeepSeek-V3.1 over o4-mini.

    DeepSeek-V3.1 vs o4-mini comparison

    Token pricing, specs, and benchmarks side by side

    Metric
    DeepSeek-V3.1
    o4-mini
    Provider
    Provider
    DeepSeek
    OpenAI
    License
    Open Source
    Proprietary
    Release Date
    2025-01-10
    2025-04-16
    Pricing (per 1M tokens)
    Input Price-75%
    $0.27
    $1.10
    Output Price-77%
    $1.00
    $4.40
    Blended (1M + 1M)
    $1.27
    $5.50
    Model Details
    Context Window
    163.8K
    200K
    Max Output Tokens
    163.8K
    100K
    Knowledge Cutoff
    N/A
    2024-05-31
    Throughput
    N/A
    115 tok/s
    Benchmarks
    15.9%
    14.7%
    74.9%
    81.4%
    81.4%
    56.4%
    82.2%
    30%
    51.5%
    93.4%
    21.9%
    6.1%
    68.1%
    72%
    25.3%
    10.7%
    50%
    49.8%
    92.7%
    66.3%
    93.4%
    94.2%
    53.2%
    68.4%
    68.9%
    81.6%
    97.8%
    69.7%
    59.0%
    0.6%
    33.5%
    4.8%
    84.3%
    33.8%
    96.0%
    69.1%
    93.4%
    83.7%
    80.6%
    91.8%
    41.1%
    40%
    38.7%
    74.8%
    Benchmark Wins
    DeepSeek-V3.1 4|8 o4-mini

    Verdict

    DeepSeek-V3.1 vs o4-mini: the bottom line

    DeepSeek-V3.1 offers significantly lower pricing, while o4-mini leads on benchmark performance. Your choice depends on whether cost efficiency or raw capability matters more for your use case.

    DeepSeek-V3.1 vs o4-mini FAQ

    Which is cheaper, DeepSeek-V3.1 or o4-mini?

    As of August 20, 2026, DeepSeek-V3.1 is 77% cheaper on blended LLM API pricing. DeepSeek-V3.1 costs $0.27 per million input tokens and $1.00 per million output tokens ($1.27 blended 1M-in + 1M-out). o4-mini costs $1.10 / $4.40 per million tokens ($5.50 blended). Sources: https://api-docs.deepseek.com/quick_start/pricing and https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/pricing. The cheapest LLM for your app still depends on how many output tokens you generate.

    How much does DeepSeek-V3.1 vs o4-mini cost per million tokens?

    DeepSeek-V3.1 DeepSeek API pricing is $0.27 input and $1.00 output per million tokens via DeepSeek. o4-mini OpenAI API pricing is $1.10 input and $4.40 output per million tokens via OpenAI. Use those four numbers, not ChatGPT Plus or Claude Pro subscription prices, when you are comparing APIs.

    Which is better for coding, DeepSeek-V3.1 or o4-mini?

    o4-mini leads on SWE-bench Verified: DeepSeek-V3.1 at 66% vs o4-mini at 68.1%. SWE-bench measures real GitHub fixes; LiveCodeBench measures contest programming.

    What is the context window for DeepSeek-V3.1 vs o4-mini?

    DeepSeek-V3.1 supports a 164K token context window, while o4-mini supports 200K tokens. o4-mini offers a larger context window. Filling a larger window bills more input tokens, so the cheaper-per-million model can still cost more on long documents.

    Which model performs better on benchmarks, DeepSeek-V3.1 or o4-mini?

    o4-mini leads on 8 of 12 shared benchmarks versus DeepSeek-V3.1's 4 wins. Check the comparison table for GPQA Diamond, SWE-bench, MMLU, HLE, and the other evals we track. Token price and benchmark score together are the usual LLM comparison, not either number alone.

    Is DeepSeek-V3.1 or o4-mini better for production use?

    Both DeepSeek-V3.1 and o4-mini are production API models. For cost-sensitive production traffic, DeepSeek-V3.1 has better economics on the blended 1M-in + 1M-out scale. For maximum capability, weight the benchmark table for your domain. Many production stacks route cheap models for drafts and a frontier model for the hard turn, which is usually cheaper than sending everything to the expensive API.

    Can I switch between DeepSeek-V3.1 and o4-mini in my app?

    Yes. Call DeepSeek-V3.1 through DeepSeek and o4-mini through OpenAI with separate API keys, or through a gateway that already wraps both. Keep prompts in tokens, not characters, when you estimate the invoice. AnotherWrapper templates can swap providers without rewriting auth and billing.

    How accurate is this DeepSeek-V3.1 vs o4-mini pricing data?

    List rates are the latest published DeepSeek API pricing and OpenAI API pricing, quoted per million tokens. Official rate sheets: https://api-docs.deepseek.com/quick_start/pricing and https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/pricing. Prompt caching, batch APIs, and committed-use discounts can change the invoice. Benchmark scores are from official publications and independent evals, updated as new numbers land.

    What is the output token limit for DeepSeek-V3.1 and o4-mini?

    DeepSeek-V3.1 supports up to 164K output tokens per request, while o4-mini supports up to 100K output tokens. Output tokens are usually the expensive half of API pricing, so a higher max output cap is a capability, not a discount.

    Which model has better throughput, DeepSeek-V3.1 or o4-mini?

    o4-mini has a measured throughput of approximately 115 tokens/second. Throughput data for DeepSeek-V3.1 is not yet available. Throughput (tokens per second) and time-to-first-token are why two models with the same per-million-token price can still feel different in chat and agents.

    How do I switch the models in this DeepSeek-V3.1 vs o4-mini comparison?

    Use the model pickers at the top of this LLM comparison. Search any model in the index and the URL updates. Open DeepSeek-V3.1 or o4-mini from the sidebar for the single-model API pricing page, or go back to the LLM pricing table to sort by cheapest blended cost.

    DeepSeek-V3.1 vs o4-mini pricing

    This comparison covers API pricing, context window, throughput, and benchmark scores. DeepSeek-V3.1 costs $0.27/M input and $1.00/M output. o4-mini costs $1.10/M input and $4.40/M output.

    Rank both on the LLM leaderboard, SWE-bench, and Humanity's Last Exam.

    The index

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