DeepSeek V3 vs GPT-5
Data reconciled August 15, 2026
Short answer
DeepSeek V3 and GPT-5 each win on different axes — neither is simply cheaper or better across the board.
DeepSeek V3 is 4.6× cheaper on input.
DeepSeek V3 is 9.1× cheaper on output.
GPT-5 holds a 4.2× larger context window.
GPT-5 returns a 15.6× longer answer per call.
Image input is supported only by GPT-5.
Reasoning mode is supported only by GPT-5.
Side by side
| Parameter | DeepSeek V3 | GPT-5 |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | DeepSeek | OpenAI |
| Input, $ per 1M tokens | $0.27 | $1.25 |
| Output, $ per 1M tokens | $1.10 | $10.00 |
| Cache read, $ per 1M | $0.07 | $0.13 |
| Context window | 65,536 | 272,000 |
| Max output | 8,192 | 128,000 |
| Vision | no | yes |
| Tools | yes | yes |
| Reasoning | no | yes |
| Status | available | available |
What it costs on your own workload
A price gap per million tokens says little until your volumes are plugged in: on a long fixed system prompt the winner is the model with cheap cache reads, not the one with a cheap input rate. Run DeepSeek V3 and GPT-5 against your own numbers.
Open the cost calculatorWhat is deliberately absent
We do not compare answer quality and we do not reprint third-party benchmarks. We have no quality measurements of our own, and external tables go stale faster than prices while being compiled, almost always, by someone with a stake in the result. What is here is only what we reconcile ourselves every day: prices, limits and supported capabilities.