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Every score has a dated snapshot.

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  3. Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs DeepSeek R1

Pairwise benchmark snapshot · Aug 17, 2026noindex (thin pair)

Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs DeepSeek R1 benchmark

In this head-to-head showdown, DeepSeek R1 is more budget-friendly at $2.5/1M per 1M output tokens. Review the complete breakdown below to determine which model best fits your performance and budget requirements.

Executive Comparison Verdict

Bottom Line: Choose Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6 if your priority is peak reasoning, complex code generation, and top preference Elo. Choose DeepSeek R1 if you are optimizing for low latency, high throughput, and cost-efficient API deployment.
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Anthropic
Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6

Auto-discovered from OpenRouter (anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.6). Preview until a second source matches.

$15/1M out
DeepSeek
DeepSeek R1

Open-weights reasoning model trained with large-scale RL.

Elo 1,358$2.5/1M out

DeepSeek R1 Thinking Depth & Cost Scaler

Simulate accuracy gains vs added response time & token cost

Mode: Medium (Full RL CoT)

Reasoning models “think before answering” by generating internal reasoning tokens. Higher effort improves math, coding, and logic accuracy, but increases response delay and token costs.

Thinking Delay
420 ms
Standard speed
Reasoning Depth
~2,800
Internal tokens
Cost / 1k Calls
$8.10
7.4× standard bill
Accuracy Boost
+6.5% accuracy
STEM & SWE-bench
Top Rival Showdowns for Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6
All Matchups
Compare vs:vs GPT-5vs Gemini 3 Provs Grok 4.6vs DeepSeek V4 Provs Qwen 3 Max
Preference Leader

No shared data

Single model data

Throughput Leader

No shared data

No latency data

Value per Dollar Leader

DeepSeek R1

$2.5 / 1M output

Capability Percentiles

Relative percentile scores computed across all active models in the benchmark catalog.

Capability Matchup Radar

Multi-Dimensional Capability Radar

Each spoke is a skill. Farther from the center is better (0–100th percentile). Tap any dot to inspect details.

Tap any node to inspect
Percentile 0–100
Dimensional AdvantageDeepSeek R1 5/6
Head-to-Head Comparison

Overall Matchup Breakdown

Category wins across reasoning intelligence, generation speed, and token cost.

Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6 (1)vsDeepSeek R1 (8)
Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6: 1W (11%)Overall: DeepSeek R1DeepSeek R1: 8W (89%)
← Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6DeepSeek R1 →
DeepSeek R1 (4/5)

Intelligence & Reasoning

Preference Elo, Coding proficiency, SWE-bench & LiveBench accuracy

Preference Elo
—vs1,358
Coding Elo
—vs—
SWE-bench
—vs65.2%
LiveBench
—vs59%
GPQA Diamond
—vs79.8%
Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6: 0WDeepSeek R1: 4W
DeepSeek R1 (2/2)

Speed & Latency

Generation throughput and time to first token responsiveness

Output speed
—vs62 tok/s
Time to first token
—vs420 ms
Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6: 0WDeepSeek R1: 2W
DeepSeek R1 (2/3)

Pricing & Capacity

Cost per million tokens and max context window length

Output price
$15/1Mvs$2.5/1M
Input price
$3/1Mvs$0.7/1M
Context window
1Mvs64k
Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6: 1WDeepSeek R1: 2W

Side-by-Side Benchmark Matrix

Preference Elo
Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6—
DeepSeek R11,358
lmarena · Aug 17, 2026
LiveBench
Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6—
DeepSeek R159%
livebench · Aug 17, 2026
SWE-bench
Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6—
DeepSeek R165.2%
swebench · Aug 17, 2026
GPQA Diamond
Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6—
DeepSeek R179.8%
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
Time to first token
Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6—
DeepSeek R1420 ms
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
Output speed
Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6—
DeepSeek R162 tok/s
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
Input priceDeepSeek R1 (+$2.3/1M)
Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6$3/1M
openrouter · Aug 17, 2026
DeepSeek R1$0.7/1M
openrouter · Aug 17, 2026
Output priceDeepSeek R1 (+$12.5/1M)
Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6$15/1M
openrouter · Aug 17, 2026
DeepSeek R1$2.5/1M
openrouter · Aug 17, 2026
Context windowAnthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6 (+936k)
Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.61M
openrouter · Aug 17, 2026
DeepSeek R164k
openrouter · Aug 17, 2026
BenchmarkAnthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6DeepSeek R1Advantage Delta
Preference Elo—
1,358
lmarena · Aug 17, 2026
—
LiveBench—
59%
livebench · Aug 17, 2026
—
SWE-bench—
65.2%
swebench · Aug 17, 2026
—
GPQA Diamond—
79.8%
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
—
Time to first token—
420 ms
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
—
Output speed—
62 tok/s
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
—
Input price
$3/1M
openrouter · Aug 17, 2026
$0.7/1M
openrouter · Aug 17, 2026
DeepSeek R1 (+$2.3/1M)
Output price
$15/1M
openrouter · Aug 17, 2026
$2.5/1M
openrouter · Aug 17, 2026
DeepSeek R1 (+$12.5/1M)
Context window
1M
openrouter · Aug 17, 2026
64k
openrouter · Aug 17, 2026
Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6 (+936k)
Interactive Simulator (USD)

Workload Cost & Savings Calculator

Simulate monthly production API costs in USD (US Dollar).

Save up to 81% with DeepSeek R1
Monthly Volume50M tokens/mo
Quick Presets:
Token Ratio (In vs Out)70% In / 30% Out
RAG / Search (10% out)Coding / Chat (50% out)
Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6$330.00 / mo
In: $105Out: $225
DeepSeek R1$62.00 / mo
In: $24.5Out: $37.5
Estimated Cost Delta

DeepSeek R1 is estimated to save $268.00/month ($3,216/year).

Based on 50M tokens (30% gen)

Key Selection Recommendations

  • 1
    DeepSeek R1:Pick DeepSeek R1 when you are optimizing output cost.
  • 2
    Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6:Pick Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6 for million-token RAG or long-document jobs.

Recommended Workload Routing

Repo / coding agentsinsufficient data

Need SWE-bench on both sides.

High-volume chatDeepSeek R1

Lower output list price ($2.5/1M).

Voice / low-latency UIinsufficient data

Need TTFT on both sides.

Long-document RAGAnthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6

Larger window (1M).

Screenshots / visionDeepSeek R1

DeepSeek R1 is the side marked multimodal in the catalog.

Target WorkloadRecommended PickEvaluation Rationale
Repo / coding agentsinsufficient dataNeed SWE-bench on both sides.
High-volume chatDeepSeek R1Lower output list price ($2.5/1M).
Voice / low-latency UIinsufficient dataNeed TTFT on both sides.
Long-document RAGAnthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6Larger window (1M).
Screenshots / visionDeepSeek R1DeepSeek R1 is the side marked multimodal in the catalog.

Related Editorial Dispatches & Benchmark Notes

View all news
launchJan 20, 2025

DeepSeek R1 stays as the open-weights RL baseline

Jan 2025 reasoning model. Still searched. V4 Pro is the newer DeepSeek buy.

Community Sentiment

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CompareLLM Matrix

Verified head-to-head card

LIVE
VS
Anthropic

Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6

Elo n/a
LiveBench—
SWE-bench—
Speed—
Output cost$15/1M
DeepSeek

DeepSeek R1

Elo 1,358
LiveBench59%
SWE-bench65.2%
Speed62 tok/s
Output cost$2.5/1M

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is better overall, Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6 or DeepSeek R1?
We do not have preference Elo for both models, so we do not declare an overall winner. Compare the metrics that exist.
Which is better at coding, Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6 or DeepSeek R1?
SWE-bench is missing for at least one model, so we do not rank coding from a single number.
Which is cheaper to run in production?
DeepSeek R1 output tokens are $2.5/1M versus $15/1M. Input prices and retry rates still move the real bill.
Which is faster, Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6 or DeepSeek R1?
We do not have TTFT for both models.
Which has the larger context window?
Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6 accepts 1M tokens versus 64k.
Can I self-host either model?
DeepSeek R1 is marked open-weights in our catalog. The other side is a closed API. Check the provider license before you ship weights.
Are these scores from CompareLLM’s own evals?
No. V1 aggregates public leaderboards (and optional first-party latency pings). Each cell names its source and date. Read /methodology.
What does preference Elo mean on this page?
Preference Elo is a crowd vote from LMArena / Arena. People see two hidden answers and pick the one they like more. The model that wins more often gets a higher Elo. That means people preferred it — not that it passed a school test. It is not SWE-bench, not accuracy, and not a number we invent. Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6 and DeepSeek R1 Elo cells are dated snapshots from the named source — we do not compute Arena ourselves.

Related news

  • launch · Jan 20, 2025

    DeepSeek R1 stays as the open-weights RL baseline

Similar Head-to-Head Comparisons

All Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6 matchups →|All DeepSeek R1 matchups →
DeepSeek R1 vs DeepSeek V3 (previous deepseek)DeepSeek R1 vs DeepSeek V4 Pro (next deepseek)Claude Opus 4.5 vs DeepSeek R1Claude Opus 4.6 vs DeepSeek R1Claude Sonnet 4.5 vs DeepSeek R1Claude Opus 5 vs DeepSeek R1