Claude Opus 4.5 vs DeepSeek V3.1
Claude Opus 4.5 (2025) and DeepSeek V3.1 (2026) are frontier reasoning models from Anthropic and DeepSeek. Claude Opus 4.5 ships a 200K-token context window, while DeepSeek V3.1 ships a 64K-token context window. On MMLU PRO, Claude Opus 4.5 leads by 5.6 pts. On pricing, DeepSeek V3.1 costs $0.56/1M input tokens versus $5/1M for the alternative. This comparison covers specs, pricing, capabilities, benchmarks, provider availability, and production fit.
DeepSeek V3.1 is ~793% cheaper at $0.56/1M; pay for Claude Opus 4.5 only for coding workflow support.
Specs
| Released | 2025-11-01 | 2026-03-01 |
| Context window | 200K | 64K |
| Parameters | — | — |
| Architecture | decoder only | mixture of experts |
| License | Proprietary | Open Source |
| Knowledge cutoff | 2025-12 | - |
Pricing and availability
| Claude Opus 4.5 | DeepSeek V3.1 | |
|---|---|---|
| Input price | $5/1M tokens | $0.56/1M tokens |
| Output price | $25/1M tokens | $1.68/1M tokens |
| Providers |
Capabilities
| Claude Opus 4.5 | DeepSeek V3.1 | |
|---|---|---|
| Vision | ||
| Multimodal | ||
| Reasoning | ||
| Function calling | ||
| Tool use | ||
| Structured outputs | ||
| Code execution |
Benchmarks
| Benchmark | Claude Opus 4.5 | DeepSeek V3.1 |
|---|---|---|
| MMLU PRO | 88.9 | 83.3 |
Deep dive
On shared benchmark coverage, MMLU PRO has Claude Opus 4.5 at 88.9 and DeepSeek V3.1 at 83.3, with Claude Opus 4.5 ahead by 5.6 points. The largest visible gap is 5.6 points on MMLU PRO, which matters most when that benchmark mirrors your workload. Treat isolated benchmark wins as directional, because provider routing, prompt style, and tool access can move real application results.
The capability footprint differs most on reasoning mode: Claude Opus 4.5, function calling: Claude Opus 4.5, and tool use: Claude Opus 4.5. Both models share vision, multimodal input, structured outputs, and code execution, so the practical split is not just feature count. Use those differences to decide whether the page is about raw model quality, agentic coding support, multimodal ingestion, or predictable structured API behavior.
For cost, Claude Opus 4.5 lists $5/1M input and $25/1M output tokens, while DeepSeek V3.1 lists $0.56/1M input and $1.68/1M output tokens on the cheapest tracked provider. A 70/30 input-output blend puts DeepSeek V3.1 lower by about $10.10 per million blended tokens. Availability is 6 providers versus 6, so concentration risk also matters.
Choose Claude Opus 4.5 when coding workflow support and larger context windows are central to the workload. Choose DeepSeek V3.1 when coding workflow support and lower input-token cost are more important. For production, rerun your own prompts through the exact provider, region, and tool stack you plan to ship.
FAQ
Which has a larger context window, Claude Opus 4.5 or DeepSeek V3.1?
Claude Opus 4.5 supports 200K tokens, while DeepSeek V3.1 supports 64K tokens. That gap matters most for long documents, large codebases, retrieval-heavy agents, and conversations where earlier context must remain visible.
Which is cheaper, Claude Opus 4.5 or DeepSeek V3.1?
DeepSeek V3.1 is cheaper on tracked token pricing. Claude Opus 4.5 costs $5/1M input and $25/1M output tokens. DeepSeek V3.1 costs $0.56/1M input and $1.68/1M output tokens. Provider discounts or batch pricing can still change the final bill.
Is Claude Opus 4.5 or DeepSeek V3.1 open source?
Claude Opus 4.5 is listed under Proprietary. DeepSeek V3.1 is listed under Open Source. License labels affect whether you can self-host, redistribute weights, or rely only on hosted APIs, so confirm the upstream license before deployment.
Which is better for vision, Claude Opus 4.5 or DeepSeek V3.1?
Both Claude Opus 4.5 and DeepSeek V3.1 expose vision. The better choice depends on benchmark fit, context budget, pricing, and whether your provider route exposes the same capability surface. Use this as a quick comparison signal, then confirm the provider-specific limits before committing to production.
Which is better for multimodal input, Claude Opus 4.5 or DeepSeek V3.1?
Both Claude Opus 4.5 and DeepSeek V3.1 expose multimodal input. The better choice depends on benchmark fit, context budget, pricing, and whether your provider route exposes the same capability surface.
Where can I run Claude Opus 4.5 and DeepSeek V3.1?
Claude Opus 4.5 is available on Microsoft Foundry, Anthropic, GCP Vertex AI, AWS Bedrock, and OpenRouter. DeepSeek V3.1 is available on Microsoft Foundry, Fireworks AI, NVIDIA NIM, Together AI, and AWS Bedrock. Provider coverage can affect latency, region availability, compliance posture, and fallback options.
Continue comparing
Last reviewed: 2026-04-24. Data sourced from public model cards and provider documentation.