DeepSeek R1 Pricing and Performance Analysis Across Major Providers
As DeepSeek R1 gains popularity in the AI market, understanding the pricing and performance differences across various providers becomes crucial for making informed decisions. This analysis compares key metrics across major platforms offering DeepSeek R1 services.
Pricing Analysis
| Provider | Input Cost (per 1M tokens) | Output Cost (per 1M tokens) | Context Window | Speed (tokens/sec) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DeepSeek Official | $0.55 🥇 | $2.19 🥇 | 64k | ~34 🥇 |
| Hyperbolic (FP8) | $2.00 🥉 | $2.00 🥉 | 131k | ~23 🥈 |
| DeepInfra | $0.85 🥈 | $2.50 🥈 | 16k | ~9 |
| Fireworks | $8.00 | $8.00 | 160k | ~16 🥉 |
| Together | $7.00 | $7.00 | 164k | ~10 |
| Chutes | Free for now* | Free for now* | 128k | - |
| Azure | Free for now | Free for now | 128k | ~5 |
* Chutes is currently free via OpenRouter. Requires crypto deposit for direct API testing.
Speed and Performance Comparison
Our benchmarking tests reveal significant variations in processing speed. For context:
- DeepSeek Official API: ~34 tokens/second (3 seconds for 100 tokens)
- Hyperbolic: ~23 tokens/second (4.35 seconds for 100 tokens)
- Fireworks: ~16 tokens/second (6.25 seconds for 100 tokens)
- DeepInfra: ~9 tokens/second
- Together: ~10 tokens/second
- Azure: ~5 tokens/second
Comparison with Other Models
For reference, other leading models perform at:
- Claude 3.5 Sonnet: ~84 tokens/second (1.19 seconds for 100 tokens)
- GPT-4o: ~117 tokens/second (0.85 seconds for 100 tokens)
All DeepSeek R1 providers are notably slower than these models, with even the fastest provider (DeepSeek Official) taking 2.52x longer than Claude 3.5 Sonnet.
Key Findings
- DeepSeek's official API offers the best combination of price and performance
- Lowest pricing at $0.55/$2.19 per 1M tokens
- Fastest processing speed at ~34 tokens/second
- Significant price variations across providers
- Third-party providers charge 3-9x more than the official API
- Some providers like Fireworks and Together charge flat rates for both input/output
- Context window sizes vary dramatically
- Ranges from 16k (DeepInfra) to 164k (Together)
- Most providers offer >100k context windows
- Performance varies significantly
- Official API is 3-6x faster than slower providers
- All providers are slower than leading models like GPT-4o and Claude 3.5
Recommendations
Based on our comprehensive analysis:
- Best Overall Choice: DeepSeek Official API
- Offers the best pricing and fastest performance
- Suitable for most general applications
- For Large Context Needs: Together or Fireworks
- Offers largest context windows (160k+)
- Higher pricing but more suitable for large document processing
- Budget Option with Good Performance: Hyperbolic
- Good balance of speed and pricing
- Note: Uses FP8 quantization which may affect quality
- Testing/Development: Azure or Chutes
- Currently free, good for initial testing
- May not be suitable for production due to performance limitations