DeepSeek R1 vs GPT-4.5
Live Unit Economics, TTFT Latency & Reasoning Benchmark Analysis
Which model is better: DeepSeek R1 or GPT-4.5?
Verified Performance & Unit Economics Delta
Daily synchronized metrics from synthetic latency endpoints and benchmark evaluations.
| Metric / Dimension | DeepSeek R1 | GPT-4.5 | Net Delta / Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Input Cost / 1M Tokens | $0.55 | $75.00 | DeepSeek R1 is 136.4x cheaper |
| Output Cost / 1M Tokens | $2.19 | $150.00 | DeepSeek R1 (98.5% lower) |
| Prompt Cache Read / 1M | $0.140 | $37.500 | DeepSeek R1 is 267.9x cheaper |
| Prompt Cache Write / 1M | $0.55 | $75.00 | DeepSeek R1 is 136.4x cheaper |
| Avg TTFT Response Latency | 1800ms | 850ms | GPT-4.5 (+950ms faster) |
| SWE-bench Verified (Coding) | 49.2% | 38% | DeepSeek R1 (+11.2% lead) |
| Inference Value Score (IVR) | 64.5 / 100 | 22.1 / 100 | DeepSeek R1 (+42.4 pts) |
Interactive Monthly Token Economics & ROI Forecaster
Model your expected production workload across prompt (input) and completion (output) tokens with prompt caching economics.
Estimated Monthly Spend
$0.55/1M in · $2.19/1M out
Prompt Cache: $0.140/1M read · $0.55/1M write
$75.00/1M in · $150.00/1M out
Prompt Cache: $37.500/1M read · $75.00/1M write
When to Choose DeepSeek R1
Choose DeepSeek-R1 when you need Ultra-cost-effective open-weights reasoning for complex math derivation, competitive programming, and localized agent verification. and have an infrastructure budget aligned with $0.55/1M tokens.
When to Choose GPT-4.5
Choose GPT-4.5 when you need Deep world-knowledge synthesis, high-EQ conversational nuance, and long-form creative generation requiring massive pretraining breadth. and prioritize OpenAI ecosystem integration at $75.00/1M tokens.
Related Questions & Decision Factors
Which is cheaper: DeepSeek R1 or GPT-4.5?
DeepSeek R1 is cheaper at $0.55/1M input tokens compared to $75.00/1M for GPT-4.5.
Which model has lower latency: DeepSeek R1 or GPT-4.5?
GPT-4.5 delivers faster response times with an average TTFT of 850ms vs 1800ms for DeepSeek R1.
When should you choose DeepSeek R1?
Choose DeepSeek-R1 when you need Ultra-cost-effective open-weights reasoning for complex math derivation, competitive programming, and localized agent verification. and have an infrastructure budget aligned with $0.55/1M tokens.
When should you choose GPT-4.5?
Choose GPT-4.5 when you need Deep world-knowledge synthesis, high-EQ conversational nuance, and long-form creative generation requiring massive pretraining breadth. and prioritize OpenAI ecosystem integration at $75.00/1M tokens.