DeepSeek-R1 Chat vs Grok 3: which model should you choose?
We compared DeepSeek-R1 Chat and Grok 3 on price, context window and 12 benchmarks. Grok 3 has the stronger average benchmark score; DeepSeek-R1 Chat is cheaper on a blended 3:1 basis.
DeepSeek-R1 Chat
DeepSeek-R1 Chat is a multimodal model from DeepSeek. It offers a 400,000-token context window, costs $5.62 per million input tokens and $21.49 per million output tokens, and averages 82.4 across the index's benchmark suite.
- Input
- $5.62 / 1M
- Output
- $21.49 / 1M
- Context
- 400,000
- Avg score
- 82.4
- Open weights
- Yes
Grok 3
Grok 3 is a multimodal model from xAI. It offers a 128,000-token context window, costs $15.84 per million input tokens and $70.31 per million output tokens, and averages 82.8 across the index's benchmark suite.
- Input
- $15.84 / 1M
- Output
- $70.31 / 1M
- Context
- 128,000
- Avg score
- 82.8
- Open weights
- No
Specification comparison
| Spec | DeepSeek-R1 Chat | Grok 3 | Edge |
|---|---|---|---|
| Input price / 1M | $5.62 | $15.84 | A |
| Output price / 1M | $21.49 | $70.31 | A |
| Context window | 400,000 | 128,000 | A |
| Max output | 128,000 | 4,096 | A |
| Average score | 82.4 | 82.8 | B |
| Arena Elo | 1433.3 | 1447.2 | B |
| Open weights | Yes | No | A |
Benchmark comparison
DeepSeek-R1 Chat wins 3, Grok 3 wins 8, and 1 benchmarks are tied. The table shows the modelled score for each model and the gap.
| Benchmark | DeepSeek-R1 Chat | Grok 3 | Gap | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MMLU-Pro | 83.4 | 81.9 | 1.5 | DeepSeek-R1 Chat |
| GPQA Diamond | 80.0 | 80.0 | 0.0 | Tie |
| SWE-bench Verified | 71.7 | 72.6 | 0.9 | Grok 3 |
| HumanEval | 84.9 | 85.3 | 0.4 | Grok 3 |
| MATH-500 | 89.1 | 88.7 | 0.4 | DeepSeek-R1 Chat |
| AIME 2025 | 78.6 | 81.1 | 2.5 | Grok 3 |
| LiveCodeBench | 79.3 | 74.3 | 5.0 | DeepSeek-R1 Chat |
| IFEval | 89.5 | 91.0 | 1.5 | Grok 3 |
| TruthfulQA | 82.3 | 85.4 | 3.1 | Grok 3 |
| HellaSwag | 90.6 | 91.4 | 0.8 | Grok 3 |
| MMMU | 77.1 | 79.1 | 2.0 | Grok 3 |
| Arena Elo | 1433.3 | 1447.2 | 13.9 | Grok 3 |
Price analysis
On a blended 3:1 input-to-output basis, DeepSeek-R1 Chat costs about $9.59 per million tokens and Grok 3 costs about $29.46. DeepSeek-R1 Chat is roughly 67% cheaper than Grok 3. At high volume, that gap compounds quickly, so price should carry real weight unless the quality difference is decisive.
DeepSeek-R1 Chat has the larger context window at 400,000 tokens, compared with 128,000 for Grok 3. That matters for long documents, large codebases and multi-step agent traces.
Verdict
Across 12 shared benchmarks, DeepSeek-R1 Chat wins 3, Grok 3 wins 8, and 1 are tied. On the index average, Grok 3 leads DeepSeek-R1 Chat by 0.4 points (82.8 versus 82.4).
The price picture favours DeepSeek-R1 Chat. The context picture favours DeepSeek-R1 Chat. Those two dimensions often matter more than a few benchmark points once a model is good enough for the task.
If you need a single default, start with Grok 3 for quality-sensitive work and DeepSeek-R1 Chat for high-volume, well-scoped tasks. Run both on a sample of your own traffic before locking in a choice.
Choose DeepSeek-R1 Chat if
- Unit cost matters and you want the cheaper blended price.
- You need the larger 400,000-token context window.
- You need the larger 128,000-token output limit.
- You need open weights for self-hosting or fine-tuning.
Choose Grok 3 if
- You want the higher average benchmark score in this index.
FAQ
Is DeepSeek-R1 Chat better than Grok 3?
On the index average, Grok 3 leads DeepSeek-R1 Chat by 0.4 points (82.8 versus 82.4). The better choice depends on price, context and your task. DeepSeek-R1 Chat wins 3 benchmarks, Grok 3 wins 8.
Which is cheaper, DeepSeek-R1 Chat or Grok 3?
DeepSeek-R1 Chat is cheaper on a blended 3:1 basis at about $9.59 per million tokens, versus $29.46 for Grok 3.
Which has the larger context window?
DeepSeek-R1 Chat has the larger context window at 400,000 tokens. Grok 3 has 128,000 tokens.
Are these models open weights?
DeepSeek-R1 Chat is open weights; Grok 3 is proprietary.
Which should I choose for production?
If you need a single default, start with Grok 3 for quality-sensitive work and DeepSeek-R1 Chat for high-volume, well-scoped tasks. Run both on a sample of your own traffic before locking in a choice.