ModelRefs / Claude 3 Opus vs DeepSeek R1
Claude 3 Opus vs DeepSeek R1
Claude 3 Opus vs DeepSeek R1: side-by-side benchmarks, pricing, context windows, coding ability and deployment. Pick the right model for your stack.
Overview
Claude 3 Opus: Claude 3 Opus is Anthropic's February 2024 frontier model and the most capable of the original Claude 3 family, accepting text and image input across a 200,000-token context window. The claude-3-opus-20240229 snapshot was deprecated on 30 June 2025 and retired on Anthropic-operated platforms on 5 January 2026, with Claude Opus 4.8 named as its replacement.
DeepSeek R1: DeepSeek R1 is DeepSeek's open-source reasoning model, trained with reinforcement learning to produce chain-of-thought reasoning before answering. Released in January 2025 under the MIT license, it matched or exceeded closed reasoning models on several math and coding benchmarks.
Context window: Claude 3 Opus accepts up to 200,000 tokens, DeepSeek R1 up to 128,000. Confirm the limit for your specific deployment channel before relying on it.
Claude 3 Opus vs DeepSeek R1 at a glance
| Attribute | Claude 3 Opus | DeepSeek R1 |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Anthropic | DeepSeek |
| Released | 2024-02-29 | 2025-01-20 |
| Context window | 200,000 tokens | 128,000 tokens |
| Input price | $15/M tokens | $0.55/M tokens |
| Output price | $75/M tokens | $2.19/M tokens |
| Licence | Proprietary | MIT |
| Self-hostable | No, hosted only | Yes, open weights |
| Modalities | text, vision | text |
Benchmarks reported for both
| Benchmark | Claude 3 Opus | DeepSeek R1 | Reported |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond (accuracy) | 50.4 | 71.5 | 2024-03-04 / 2025-01-20 |
Each row compares the same benchmark, the same reported metric, and the same task set. Scores are as published by their cited sources on the dates shown. Different runs still use different harnesses and prompts, so treat these as directional evidence rather than a head-to-head result.
Where they differ most
- Reasoning: Claude 3 Opus 38%, DeepSeek R1 75%. DeepSeek R1 leads on this dimension.
Capability scores are ModelRefs' own derived signals, not vendor claims or benchmark results. Validate against your own workload before relying on them.
Continue your research
Use these connected ModelRefs sections to compare alternatives, inspect implementation paths, and review the evidence and governance boundaries relevant to Claude 3 Opus vs DeepSeek R1.
Frequently asked questions
Which is better, Claude 3 Opus or DeepSeek R1?
Claude 3 Opus and DeepSeek R1 target different workloads — see the benchmark and pricing tables for a side-by-side answer.
Is Claude 3 Opus cheaper than DeepSeek R1?
Compare $0.0150 vs $0.00055 on this page.