LLM Reference

DeepSeek V4 Pro vs Grok 3 Mini

DeepSeek V4 Pro (2026) and Grok 3 Mini (2025) are frontier reasoning models from DeepSeek and xAI. DeepSeek V4 Pro ships a 1m-token context window, while Grok 3 Mini ships a 131k-token context window. On pricing, Grok 3 Mini costs $0.25/1M input tokens versus $0.43/1M 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.

Grok 3 Mini is ~74% cheaper at $0.25/1M; pay for DeepSeek V4 Pro only for reasoning depth.

Decision scorecard

Local evidence first
SignalDeepSeek V4 ProGrok 3 Mini
Best forreasoning-heavy apps, tool-calling agents, and long-context analysismultimodal apps and provider-routed production
Decision fitCoding, RAG, and AgentsRAG, Long context, and Vision
Context window1m131k
Cheapest output$0.87/1M tokens$1.27/1M tokens
Provider routes5 tracked2 tracked
Shared benchmarks0 shared0 shared

Decision tradeoffs

Choose DeepSeek V4 Pro when...
  • DeepSeek V4 Pro has the larger context window for long prompts, retrieval packs, or transcript analysis.
  • DeepSeek V4 Pro has the lower cheapest tracked output price at $0.87/1M tokens.
  • DeepSeek V4 Pro has broader tracked provider coverage for fallback and route flexibility.
  • DeepSeek V4 Pro uniquely exposes Reasoning and JSON / Tool use in local model data.
  • Local decision data tags DeepSeek V4 Pro for Coding, RAG, and Agents.
Choose Grok 3 Mini when...
  • Grok 3 Mini uniquely exposes Vision and Multimodal in local model data.
  • Local decision data tags Grok 3 Mini for RAG, Long context, and Vision.

Monthly cost at traffic

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

Lower estimate Grok 3 Mini

DeepSeek V4 Pro

$566

Cheapest tracked route/tier: DeepSeek Platform

Grok 3 Mini

$518

Cheapest tracked route/tier: Microsoft Foundry

Estimated monthly gap: $48.00. Batch, cache, alternate speed tiers, and negotiated pricing are excluded from this local estimate.

Switch friction

DeepSeek V4 Pro -> Grok 3 Mini
  • Provider overlap exists on OpenRouter; start route-level A/B tests there.
  • Grok 3 Mini is $0.40/1M tokens higher on cheapest tracked output pricing, so quality gains need to justify the spend.
  • Check replacement coverage for Reasoning and JSON / Tool use before moving production traffic.
  • Grok 3 Mini adds Vision and Multimodal in local capability data.
Grok 3 Mini -> DeepSeek V4 Pro
  • Provider overlap exists on OpenRouter; start route-level A/B tests there.
  • DeepSeek V4 Pro is $0.40/1M tokens lower on cheapest tracked output pricing before cache, batch, or negotiated discounts.
  • Check replacement coverage for Vision and Multimodal before moving production traffic.
  • DeepSeek V4 Pro adds Reasoning and JSON / Tool use in local capability data.

Specs

Specification
Released2026-04-242025-02-17
Context window1m131k
Parameters1.6T
ArchitectureMixture of Experts-
LicenseMITOSI-approvedProprietary
OpennessOpen sourceProprietary
WeightsAvailableNot released
CodeUnknownUnknown
Commercial useCommercial use: permittedCommercial use: conditional
Knowledge cutoff-2024-11

Pricing and availability

Pricing attributeDeepSeek V4 ProGrok 3 Mini
Input price$0.43/1M tokens$0.25/1M tokens
Output price$0.87/1M tokens$1.27/1M tokens
Providers

Capabilities

CapabilityDeepSeek V4 ProGrok 3 Mini
VisionNoYes
MultimodalNoYes
ReasoningYesNo
JSON / Tool useYesNo
Structured outputsYesYes
Code executionNoNo
IDE integrationNoNo
Computer useNoNo
Parallel agentsNoNo

Benchmarks

No shared benchmark scores are currently available for this pair.

Continue comparing

Last reviewed: 2026-06-29. Data sourced from public model cards and provider documentation.