Key takeaways
- As of October 30, 2026, DeepSeek V4.1 Flash costs $0.30 input and $1.20 output per 1M tokens at peak, against $2.00 and $10.00 for GPT-6.1 Sol.
- OpenAI's GPT-6 Luna, at $0.10 input and $0.50 output, undercuts DeepSeek Flash even at its off-peak rates.
- Artificial Analysis scores GPT-6 Astra (max) at 57 and DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 (max) at 32 on its Intelligence Index.
DeepSeek vs ChatGPT comes down to price against peak scores. As of October 30, 2026, DeepSeek's API models cost a fraction of OpenAI's flagships, but OpenAI's GPT-6 models score far higher on the independent Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index: 57 for GPT-6 Astra against 32 for DeepSeek V4.1 Flash. This comparison is based on the products' docs and published results, not our own hands-on testing.
The two are not the same kind of product. ChatGPT is OpenAI's app with paid plans. DeepSeek is a model family you reach through its own chat and its API. So the fair comparison is mostly API against API, with a short look at what each charges people.
DeepSeek vs ChatGPT at a glance
| DeepSeek | ChatGPT / OpenAI | |
|---|---|---|
| Models in the comparison | deepseek-flash (V4.1 Flash 1017), deepseek-v4-pro (V4 Pro 0813) | GPT-6 Astra, GPT-6.1 Sol, GPT-6.1 Terra, GPT-6 Luna |
| Cheapest API input, per 1M tokens | $0.15 off-peak, $0.30 peak (Flash) | $0.10 (GPT-6 Luna) |
| Mid-range API input / output | Flash: $0.30 / $1.20 at peak | GPT-6.1 Sol: $2.00 / $10.00 |
| Top API input / output | V4 Pro: $1.32 / $3.96 at peak | GPT-6 Astra: $10.00 / $50.00 |
| Context length | 1M tokens, up to 384K output | Not listed on OpenAI's pricing page |
| Best Artificial Analysis score | 32 (V4.1 Flash 1017, max) | 57 (GPT-6 Astra, max) |
| App plans | See our DeepSeek pricing explainer | Free, Go $8, Plus $20, Pro from $100 a month |
API prices: DeepSeek is cheaper, but not against every OpenAI model
DeepSeek's pricing page lists two models and two rates. Off-peak rates are half the peak rates. Peak hours are 01:00 to 04:00 and 06:00 to 10:00 UTC, Monday to Friday, excluding Chinese public holidays. Prices are per 1M tokens, as of October 30, 2026.
| Per 1M tokens | deepseek-flash (peak / off-peak) | deepseek-v4-pro (peak / off-peak) |
|---|---|---|
| Input, cache hit | $0.006 / $0.003 | $0.044 / $0.022 |
| Input, cache miss | $0.30 / $0.15 | $1.32 / $0.66 |
| Output | $1.20 / $0.60 | $3.96 / $1.98 |
OpenAI's API pricing lists these standard-tier prices for short context, up to 272K input tokens, as of October 30, 2026.
| Per 1M tokens | Input | Cached input | Output |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPT-6 Astra | $10.00 | $1.00 | $50.00 |
| GPT-6.1 Sol | $2.00 | $0.10 | $10.00 |
| GPT-6.1 Terra | $1.00 | $0.05 | $5.00 |
| GPT-6 Luna | $0.10 | $0.01 | $0.50 |
Two things stand out. First, GPT-6.1 Sol costs about 6.7 times as much as DeepSeek Flash at peak for input ($2.00 against $0.30) and about 8.3 times as much for output ($10.00 against $1.20). Second, OpenAI's smallest model, GPT-6 Luna, is cheaper than DeepSeek Flash even at off-peak rates: $0.10 input and $0.50 output against $0.15 and $0.60. "DeepSeek is always cheaper" is not true.
Also note that DeepSeek's cheaper V4 Pro is not a bargain next to Sol. At peak it costs $1.32 input and $3.96 output, which is a lot closer to GPT-6.1 Sol than to Flash, as the next section shows.
Benchmarks: OpenAI's models score higher
Artificial Analysis runs the same tests on many models and combines them into one Intelligence Index. It also reports an average cost per task. These are the scores for the models above that the site lists, read on October 30, 2026. The page gives no date beyond "Updated".
| Model | Intelligence Index | Cost per task |
|---|---|---|
| GPT-6 Astra (max) | 57 | $6.24 |
| GPT-6.1 Sol (max) | 55 | $1.27 |
| GPT-6.1 Sol (xhigh) | 52 | $0.76 |
| DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 (max) | 32 | $0.60 |
| DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813 (max) | 23 | $1.77 |
The gap is large. Sol scores 55, 23 points above Flash, for about twice the cost per task ($1.27 against $0.60). V4 Pro scores lowest of the five and costs more per task than Sol at its max setting. The index is one source and it does not measure every job. We could not find a score for GPT-6 Terra or Luna on the page, so we can't say how Luna compares with Flash on quality.
For a closer look at DeepSeek's newest model, see our explainer on V4.1 Flash. For how it fares against another lab, see DeepSeek vs Claude.
ChatGPT plans and limits
OpenAI's ChatGPT pricing page, as of October 30, 2026, lists these plans. The page is written around Codex and ChatGPT Work, so the inclusions below are the coding-related ones.
| Plan | Price |
|---|---|
| Free | $0 a month |
| Go | $8 a month |
| Plus | $20 a month |
| Pro | From $100 a month, with $100, $200 and $500 tiers |
| Business | $20 per user a month on annual billing for 2 or more users, $25 billed monthly |
| Enterprise and Edu | Contact sales |
The page says Plus includes GPT-6.1 Sol and GPT-6 Luna, with local five-hour message estimates of 15 to 160 for Sol and 350 to 3,000 for Luna. Pro currently has no five-hour limit, according to the page. Our ChatGPT free-tier explainer covers the free plan in more detail, and our ChatGPT vs Claude comparison sets the plans against Anthropic's.
What DeepSeek's own site says
deepseek.com links to a web chat, an app download and the API platform. It highlights V4.1 Flash, updated to the 1017 version, and says the API now supports web search and page fetching. It does not state a price for the chat on that page. We cover what is and isn't free in Is DeepSeek free?.
DeepSeek's API docs say it follows OpenAI and Anthropic request formats, with base URLs at https://api.deepseek.com and https://api.deepseek.com/anthropic. That makes it easy to try DeepSeek in code written for OpenAI's SDK.
Which one to pick
Pick OpenAI's GPT-6 models if the task needs the highest score on published tests and the budget allows it. Pick DeepSeek Flash for high-volume work where cost matters most and a score of 32 is enough, and test GPT-6 Luna before assuming Flash is the cheapest option.
The prices on both sides change often. Check the two pricing pages before you commit to a budget.
Frequently asked questions
Is DeepSeek cheaper than ChatGPT?
Against GPT-6.1 Sol, yes: DeepSeek Flash costs $0.30 input and $1.20 output per 1M tokens at peak, against $2.00 and $10.00. OpenAI's GPT-6 Luna, at $0.10 and $0.50, is cheaper than Flash.
Is DeepSeek better than ChatGPT?
On Artificial Analysis's Intelligence Index, GPT-6 Astra (max) scores 57 and GPT-6.1 Sol (max) 55, against 32 for DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 and 23 for V4 Pro 0813. That is one benchmark and does not cover every task.
How much does ChatGPT cost compared with DeepSeek?
ChatGPT Plus is $20 a month and Go is $8, according to OpenAI's pricing page. DeepSeek's API is billed per token, and its pages we read did not list a paid chat plan.
What is the DeepSeek API context length?
Both deepseek-flash and deepseek-v4-pro list a 1M-token context and up to 384K tokens of output on DeepSeek's pricing page.
Sources
- Models & PricingDeepSeek
- API pricingOpenAI
- ChatGPT pricingOpenAI
- Model leaderboardArtificial Analysis
- DeepSeekDeepSeek