ModelRefs / DeepSeek R1 vs GPT-4.1
DeepSeek R1 vs GPT-4.1
DeepSeek R1 vs GPT-4.1: side-by-side benchmarks, pricing, context windows, coding ability and deployment. Pick the right model for your stack.
Overview
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.
GPT-4.1: GPT-4.1 is OpenAI's April 2025 API-only model, built for instruction following and tool calling without a reasoning step. It accepts text and image input across a 1,047,576-token context window, returns up to 32,768 tokens, and carries a June 2024 knowledge cutoff — roughly eight times GPT-4o's context at lower per-token pricing. OpenAI has since deprecated it, scheduling the gpt-4.1-2025-04-14 snapshot to shut down on 14 January 2027 with gpt-6-luna as the replacement.
Context window: DeepSeek R1 accepts up to 128,000 tokens, GPT-4.1 up to 1,000,000. Confirm the limit for your specific deployment channel before relying on it.
DeepSeek R1 vs GPT-4.1 at a glance
| Attribute | DeepSeek R1 | GPT-4.1 |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | DeepSeek | OpenAI |
| Released | 2025-01-20 | 2025-04-14 |
| Context window | 128,000 tokens | 1,000,000 tokens |
| Input price | $0.55/M tokens | $2/M tokens |
| Output price | $2.19/M tokens | $8/M tokens |
| Licence | MIT | Proprietary |
| Self-hostable | Yes, open weights | No, hosted only |
| Modalities | text | text, vision |
Benchmarks reported for both
| Benchmark | DeepSeek R1 | GPT-4.1 | Reported |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond (accuracy) | 71.5 | 66.3 | 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
- Cost Efficiency: DeepSeek R1 75%, GPT-4.1 51%. DeepSeek R1 leads on this dimension.
- Reasoning: DeepSeek R1 75%, GPT-4.1 62%. 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 DeepSeek R1 vs GPT-4.1.
Frequently asked questions
Which is better, DeepSeek R1 or GPT-4.1?
DeepSeek R1 and GPT-4.1 target different workloads — see the benchmark and pricing tables for a side-by-side answer.
Is DeepSeek R1 cheaper than GPT-4.1?
Compare $0.00055 vs $0.00200 on this page.