LLM Reference

Claude Opus 4.5 vs DeepSeek R1 0528

Claude Opus 4.5 (2025) and DeepSeek R1 0528 (2025) are frontier-tier reasoning models from Anthropic and DeepSeek. Claude Opus 4.5 ships a 200k-token context window, while DeepSeek R1 0528 ships a 130k-token context window. On MMLU PRO, Claude Opus 4.5 leads by 3.9 pts. On pricing, DeepSeek R1 0528 costs $0.50/1M input tokens versus $5/1M for the alternative. This comparison covers specs, pricing, API access, capabilities, benchmarks, input and output token costs, and production fit for coding and agent workloads.

DeepSeek R1 0528 is ~900% cheaper at $0.50/1M; pay for Claude Opus 4.5 only for coding workflow support.

Decision scorecard

Local evidence first
SignalClaude Opus 4.5DeepSeek R1 0528
Best forreasoning-heavy apps, multimodal apps, and tool-calling agentsreasoning-heavy apps and provider-routed production
Decision fitCoding, RAG, and AgentsCoding, RAG, and Agents
Context window200k130k
Cheapest output$25/1M tokens$2.15/1M tokens
Provider routes6 tracked7 tracked
Shared benchmarksMMLU PRO leader4 shared

Decision tradeoffs

Choose Claude Opus 4.5 when...
  • Claude Opus 4.5 holds a shared-benchmark lead on MMLU PRO, ahead by 3.9 points.
  • Claude Opus 4.5 has the larger context window for long prompts, retrieval packs, or transcript analysis.
  • Claude Opus 4.5 uniquely exposes Vision, Multimodal, and JSON / Tool use in local model data.
  • Local decision data tags Claude Opus 4.5 for Coding, RAG, and Agents.
Choose DeepSeek R1 0528 when...
  • DeepSeek R1 0528 has the lower cheapest tracked output price at $2.15/1M tokens.
  • DeepSeek R1 0528 has broader tracked provider coverage for fallback and route flexibility.
  • Local decision data tags DeepSeek R1 0528 for Coding, RAG, and Agents.

Monthly cost at traffic

Estimate token spend from the cheapest tracked input and output route or tier on this page.

Lower estimate DeepSeek R1 0528

Claude Opus 4.5

$10,250

Cheapest tracked route/tier: Microsoft Foundry

DeepSeek R1 0528

$938

Cheapest tracked route/tier: OpenRouter

Estimated monthly gap: $9,313. Batch, cache, alternate speed tiers, and negotiated pricing are excluded from this local estimate.

Switch friction

Claude Opus 4.5 -> DeepSeek R1 0528
  • Provider overlap exists on GCP Vertex AI, OpenRouter, and Microsoft Foundry; start route-level A/B tests there.
  • DeepSeek R1 0528 is $22.85/1M tokens lower on cheapest tracked output pricing before cache, batch, or negotiated discounts.
  • Check replacement coverage for Vision, Multimodal, and JSON / Tool use before moving production traffic.
DeepSeek R1 0528 -> Claude Opus 4.5
  • Provider overlap exists on Microsoft Foundry, GCP Vertex AI, and OpenRouter; start route-level A/B tests there.
  • Claude Opus 4.5 is $22.85/1M tokens higher on cheapest tracked output pricing, so quality gains need to justify the spend.
  • Claude Opus 4.5 adds Vision, Multimodal, and JSON / Tool use in local capability data.

Specs

Specification
Released2025-11-012025-05-28
Context window200k130k
Parameters—685B total, 37B active (MoE)
ArchitectureDecoder OnlyDecoder Only
LicenseProprietaryMITOSI-approved
OpennessProprietaryOpen source
WeightsNot releasedUnknown
CodeUnknownUnknown
Commercial useCommercial use: conditionalCommercial use: permitted
Knowledge cutoff2025-12-

Pricing and availability

Pricing attributeClaude Opus 4.5DeepSeek R1 0528
Input price$5/1M tokens$0.50/1M tokens
Output price$25/1M tokens$2.15/1M tokens
Providers
Microsoft FoundryAnthropicGCP Vertex AIAWS BedrockOpenRouterVercel AI Gateway
Together AIFireworks AIGCP Vertex AINovita AIOpenRouterMicrosoft Foundry

Capabilities

CapabilityClaude Opus 4.5DeepSeek R1 0528
VisionYesNo
MultimodalYesNo
ReasoningYesYes
JSON / Tool useYesNo
Structured outputsYesYes
Code executionYesYes
IDE integrationNoNo
Computer useNoNo
Parallel agentsNoNo

Benchmarks

BenchmarkClaude Opus 4.5DeepSeek R1 0528
MMLU PRO88.985.0
SWE-bench Verified80.957.6
Google-Proof Q&A87.081.0
Aider Polyglot72.071.4

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Last reviewed: 2026-07-26. Data sourced from public model cards and provider documentation.