API cost decision in 10 seconds

🔥DeepSeek V4 Pro vs R1 0528

Pick DeepSeek V4 Pro when budget and context both matter.

Page updated:  Data confirmed:  Prices normalized to USD per 1M tokens Sample workload: 1M input + 500K output

Budget verdict

Pick DeepSeek V4 Pro when budget and context both matter.

On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, DeepSeek V4 Pro is estimated at $0.87 vs $1.57 for R1 0528, saving $0.7 (44.8% lower).

Cost-first pickDeepSeek V4 Pro
Context-first pickDeepSeek V4 Pro
Sample savings$0.744.8%
10x traffic gap$7.05

DeepSeek V4 Pro is cheaper on the standard workload and also has the larger context window. At 10x that traffic, the same price gap is about $7.05. Use the calculator below to replace the sample workload with your own token volume.

Cost sensitivity

Workload Sensitivity

Same prices, different token mixes.

DeepSeek V4 Pro stays cheaper across input-heavy, balanced, and output-heavy sample workloads.

Workload shapeToken mixBetter pickDeepSeek V4 ProR1 0528
Input-heavy / RAG5M input + 500K outputDeepSeek V4 Pro$2.61$3.58
Balanced workload1M input + 1M outputDeepSeek V4 Pro$1.3$2.65
Output-heavy chatbot1M input + 5M outputDeepSeek V4 Pro$4.78$11.25
Cheaper input DeepSeek V4 Pro $0.435 vs $0.5 / 1M

DeepSeek V4 Pro is $0.07 cheaper per 1M input tokens (13% lower; 1.15x difference).

Cheaper output DeepSeek V4 Pro $0.87 vs $2.15 / 1M

DeepSeek V4 Pro is $1.28 cheaper per 1M output tokens (59.5% lower; 2.47x difference).

Larger context DeepSeek V4 Pro 1.05M vs 163.84K

DeepSeek V4 Pro has 884.74K more context (6.4x larger).

Sample workload DeepSeek V4 Pro $0.87 vs $1.57

DeepSeek V4 Pro is $0.7 cheaper on the standard workload (44.8% lower).

Estimate your workload cost

Your Workload Cost

Prices are normalized to USD per 1M tokens.
DeepSeek V4 Pro Calculating… Estimated API cost
R1 0528 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

DeepSeek V4 Pro has the lower input price; DeepSeek V4 Pro has the lower output price; DeepSeek V4 Pro offers the larger context window. For the 1M input plus 500K output sample, DeepSeek V4 Pro is cheaper for the standard workload.

For a 1M input token plus 500K output token workload, the estimated API cost is $0.87 for DeepSeek V4 Pro and $1.57 for R1 0528.

Best Fit

Choose DeepSeek V4 Pro when you care most about lower input-token price, lower output-token price, and larger context window.

Choose R1 0528 when its provider, model quality, latency, or availability is more important than the numeric price/context winner.

Decision Notes
  • On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, DeepSeek V4 Pro is estimated at $0.87 vs $1.57 for R1 0528, saving $0.7 (44.8% lower).
  • DeepSeek V4 Pro is $0.7 cheaper on the standard workload (44.8% lower).
  • DeepSeek V4 Pro is $0.07 cheaper per 1M input tokens (13% lower; 1.15x difference).
  • DeepSeek V4 Pro is $1.28 cheaper per 1M output tokens (59.5% lower; 2.47x difference).
  • DeepSeek V4 Pro has 884.74K more context (6.4x larger).
Head-to-Head Specs
Feature🔥DeepSeek V4 Pro
(DeepSeek)
R1 0528
(DeepSeek)
Input Price
prompt tokens per 1M
$0.435$0.5
Completion Price
per 1M tokens
$0.87$2.15
Sample Workload Cost
1M input + 500K output
$0.87$1.57
Context Window1.05M163.84K
Release Date
Popularity#6#106

Use-Case Decision Matrix

Use caseBetter pickWhy
Budget-constrained productionDeepSeek V4 ProOn the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, DeepSeek V4 Pro is estimated at $0.87 vs $1.57 for R1 0528, saving $0.7 (44.8% lower).
High-volume input processingDeepSeek V4 ProLower prompt-token price matters most when prompts, retrieved passages, or documents dominate the bill.
Long responses and chatbotsDeepSeek V4 ProLower output-token price matters most when assistants generate many completion tokens.
RAG or long-document workDeepSeek V4 ProA 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 DeepSeek V4 Pro when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.
  • DeepSeek V4 Flash can replace DeepSeek V4 Pro when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.2.
  • R1 Distill Qwen 32B can replace DeepSeek V4 Pro when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.43.
  • DeepSeek V3.2 can replace DeepSeek V4 Pro 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.
  • Owl Alpha offers 1.05M context with $0 sample workload cost.

Cheaper alternatives

Review low-cost models sorted by a standard 1M input plus 500K output workload.

Open cheapest models

Larger context alternatives

Find models with larger context windows for RAG, long documents, and codebase review.

Open largest context models

Provider catalogs

Compare models within provider hubs before choosing a final API vendor.

Open provider hubs

DeepSeek catalog

Review all tracked DeepSeek models before deciding whether this matchup is the right shortlist.

Open DeepSeek models
DeepSeek V4 Pro

DeepSeek V4 Pro is a large-scale Mixture-of-Experts model from DeepSeek with 1.6T total parameters and 49B activated parameters, supporting a 1M-token context window. It is designed for advanced reasoning, coding,...

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...