API cost decision in 10 seconds

R1 0528 vs GPT-5.5 Pro

Pick R1 0528 for lower cost; pick GPT-5.5 Pro only if the larger context window matters more.

Page updated: 2026-05-26T15:08:08Z Data confirmed: 2026-05-26T20:08:05Z Prices normalized to USD per 1M tokens Sample workload: 1M input + 500K output

Budget verdict

Pick R1 0528 for lower cost; pick GPT-5.5 Pro only if the larger context window matters more.

On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, R1 0528 is estimated at $1.57 vs $120 for GPT-5.5 Pro, saving $118.42 (98.7% lower).

Cost-first pickR1 0528

Context-first pickGPT-5.5 Pro

Sample savings$118.4298.7%

10x traffic gap$1184.25

GPT-5.5 Pro has more context, but R1 0528 saves $118.42 on the standard workload. At 10x that traffic, the same price gap is about $1184.25. Use the calculator below to replace the sample workload with your own token volume.

Cost sensitivity

Workload Sensitivity

Same prices, different token mixes.

R1 0528 stays cheaper across input-heavy, balanced, and output-heavy sample workloads.

Workload shape	Token mix	Better pick	R1 0528	GPT-5.5 Pro
Input-heavy / RAG	5M input + 500K output	R1 0528	$3.58	$240
Balanced workload	1M input + 1M output	R1 0528	$2.65	$210
Output-heavy chatbot	1M input + 5M output	R1 0528	$11.25	$930

Cheaper input R1 0528 $0.5 vs $30 / 1M

R1 0528 is $29.5 cheaper per 1M input tokens (98.3% lower; 60x difference).

Cheaper output R1 0528 $2.15 vs $180 / 1M

R1 0528 is $177.85 cheaper per 1M output tokens (98.8% lower; 83.7x difference).

Larger context GPT-5.5 Pro 163.84K vs 1.05M

GPT-5.5 Pro has 886.16K more context (6.41x larger).

Sample workload R1 0528 $1.57 vs $120

R1 0528 is $118.42 cheaper on the standard workload (98.7% lower).

Estimate your workload cost

Your Workload Cost

Prices are normalized to USD per 1M tokens.

Monthly input tokens Monthly output tokens

R1 0528 Calculating… Estimated API cost

GPT-5.5 Pro Calculating… Estimated API cost

Cheaper for this workload Calculating… Difference: calculating…

This estimate uses normalized public API pricing per 1M tokens. It is a planning aid, not a billing quote. Verify provider pricing, limits, and terms before production use.

Quick Decision

Verdict

R1 0528 has the lower input price; R1 0528 has the lower output price; GPT-5.5 Pro offers the larger context window. For the 1M input plus 500K output sample, R1 0528 is cheaper for the standard workload.

For a 1M input token plus 500K output token workload, the estimated API cost is $1.57 for R1 0528 and $120 for GPT-5.5 Pro.

Best Fit

Choose R1 0528 when you care most about lower input-token price, and lower output-token price.

Choose GPT-5.5 Pro when you care most about larger context window.

Decision Notes

On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, R1 0528 is estimated at $1.57 vs $120 for GPT-5.5 Pro, saving $118.42 (98.7% lower).
R1 0528 is $118.42 cheaper on the standard workload (98.7% lower).
R1 0528 is $29.5 cheaper per 1M input tokens (98.3% lower; 60x difference).
R1 0528 is $177.85 cheaper per 1M output tokens (98.8% lower; 83.7x difference).
GPT-5.5 Pro has 886.16K more context (6.41x larger).

Head-to-Head Specs

Feature	R1 0528 (DeepSeek)	GPT-5.5 Pro (OpenAI)
Input Price prompt tokens per 1M	$0.5	$30
Completion Price per 1M tokens	$2.15	$180
Sample Workload Cost 1M input + 500K output	$1.57	$120
Context Window	163.84K	1.05M
Release Date	2025-05-28	2026-04-24
Popularity	#106	#122

Use-Case Decision Matrix

Use case	Better pick	Why
Budget-constrained production	R1 0528	On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, R1 0528 is estimated at $1.57 vs $120 for GPT-5.5 Pro, saving $118.42 (98.7% lower).
High-volume input processing	R1 0528	Lower prompt-token price matters most when prompts, retrieved passages, or documents dominate the bill.
Long responses and chatbots	R1 0528	Lower output-token price matters most when assistants generate many completion tokens.
RAG or long-document work	GPT-5.5 Pro	A larger context window leaves more room for retrieved passages, conversation history, or source files.

Related Alternatives

Same-provider lower-cost swaps

DeepSeek V4 Flash (free) can replace R1 0528 when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.
DeepSeek V4 Flash can replace R1 0528 when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.2.
R1 Distill Qwen 32B can replace R1 0528 when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.43.
DeepSeek V3.2 can replace R1 0528 when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.44.

Larger context near this budget

Llama 4 Scout offers 10M context with $0.23 sample workload cost.
Grok 4.20 offers 2M context with $2.5 sample workload cost.
Grok 4.20 Multi-Agent offers 2M context with $5 sample workload cost.

Popular competitors

DeepSeek V4 Flash · DeepSeek · #1
Hy3 preview · Tencent · #2
Claude Opus 4.7 · Anthropic · #3
Claude Sonnet 4.6 · Anthropic · #4

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DeepSeek catalog

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R1 0528

May 28th update to the [original DeepSeek R1](/deepseek/deepseek-r1) Performance on par with [OpenAI o1](/openai/o1), but open-sourced and with fully open reasoning tokens. It's 671B parameters in size, with 37B active...

GPT-5.5 Pro

GPT-5.5 Pro is OpenAI’s high-capability model optimized for deep reasoning and accuracy on complex, high-stakes workloads. It features a 1M+ token context window (922K input, 128K output) with support for...