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Model vs model

Claude Sonnet 5 vs DeepSeek V4 Pro

Claude Sonnet 5 and DeepSeek V4 Pro are both in llmwise. What each gets on every plan, what it reads, how it's served and what happens when its provider fails, from the catalog and the code that runs them.

Model prices and specs checked against OpenRouter's Claude Sonnet 5 page, OpenRouter's DeepSeek V4 Pro page. Updated .

Short answer

DeepSeek V4 Pro gets twice as many messages: up to 250 messages a month on Pro, against up to 125 messages a month for Claude Sonnet 5. Otherwise, only Claude Sonnet 5 reads images and only Claude Sonnet 5 reads a PDF as the whole file. In our test runs, Claude Sonnet 5 passed 46 of the 50 prompts both answered and DeepSeek V4 Pro 49; 5 prompts split them, most on summarization (3 to 5).

Claude Sonnet 5 vs DeepSeek V4 Pro, prompt by prompt

Every prompt Claude Sonnet 5 and DeepSeek V4 Pro both answered, compared directly, their biggest differences first. One run each, through OpenRouter: a wait depends on the provider and the load that day, so a lead under 10% counts as close.

Of the 50 prompts both answered, both passed 45, only Claude Sonnet 5 passed 1, only DeepSeek V4 Pro passed 4, and neither passed 0. Claude Sonnet 5 answered sooner on 20 of the 50 and DeepSeek V4 Pro on 25; the rest were within 10% of each other. The 50 replies cost $0.2030 on Claude Sonnet 5 and $0.1827 on DeepSeek V4 Pro: 1.1× less on DeepSeek V4 Pro.

The 5 prompts only one of Claude Sonnet 5 and DeepSeek V4 Pro passed

  • Announce a second bakery shop on LinkedIn (writing): DeepSeek V4 Pro passed and Claude Sonnet 5 didn't. Claude Sonnet 5: Graded 3.5 of 5 on average (lowest 3). DeepSeek V4 Pro: Graded 4.5 of 5 on average (lowest 4).

  • An article in three bullets (summarization): DeepSeek V4 Pro passed and Claude Sonnet 5 didn't. Claude Sonnet 5: Graded 3.7 of 5 on average (lowest 3). DeepSeek V4 Pro: Graded 4.3 of 5 on average (lowest 4).

  • An email thread in one sentence (summarization): DeepSeek V4 Pro passed and Claude Sonnet 5 didn't. Claude Sonnet 5: Graded 5.0 of 5 on average (lowest 5); but 32 words, over the 30 allowed. DeepSeek V4 Pro: Graded 4.7 of 5 on average (lowest 4).

  • Correlation between ad spend and sign-ups (data analysis): DeepSeek V4 Pro passed and Claude Sonnet 5 didn't. Claude Sonnet 5: Final answer 0.99; expected 0.97. DeepSeek V4 Pro: Final answer 0.97: right.

  • A frustrated customer (customer support): Claude Sonnet 5 passed and DeepSeek V4 Pro didn't. Claude Sonnet 5: Graded 4.3 of 5 on average (lowest 4). DeepSeek V4 Pro: Graded 2.3 of 5 on average (lowest 1).

Job by job, the widest gaps first

  • Summarization: Claude Sonnet 5 passed 3 of 5 and DeepSeek V4 Pro 5 of 5. DeepSeek V4 Pro answered 1.3× sooner at the median, 2.7 s against 2.1 s. DeepSeek V4 Pro cost 3.1× less, $0.0140 against $0.0046 for the 5 replies. Claude Sonnet 5's replies ran 64% longer, in tokens of reply, thinking not counted.

  • Writing: Claude Sonnet 5 passed 4 of 5 and DeepSeek V4 Pro 5 of 5. DeepSeek V4 Pro answered 1.1× sooner at the median, 4.5 s against 3.9 s. DeepSeek V4 Pro cost 3.2× less, $0.0171 against $0.0054 for the 5 replies. Claude Sonnet 5's replies ran 119% longer, in tokens of reply, thinking not counted.

  • Data analysis: Claude Sonnet 5 passed 4 of 5 and DeepSeek V4 Pro 5 of 5. DeepSeek V4 Pro answered 1.3× sooner at the median, 5.3 s against 4.1 s. DeepSeek V4 Pro cost 2.4× less, $0.0344 against $0.0143 for the 5 replies. Claude Sonnet 5's replies ran 22% longer, in tokens of reply, thinking not counted.

  • Customer support: Claude Sonnet 5 passed 5 of 5 and DeepSeek V4 Pro 4 of 5. Claude Sonnet 5 answered 1.2× sooner at the median, 3.5 s against 4.1 s. DeepSeek V4 Pro cost 2.4× less, $0.0182 against $0.0077 for the 5 replies. Claude Sonnet 5's replies ran 97% longer, in tokens of reply, thinking not counted.

  • Math: Claude Sonnet 5 passed 5 of 5 and DeepSeek V4 Pro 5 of 5. DeepSeek V4 Pro answered 1.5× sooner at the median, 3.9 s against 2.7 s. DeepSeek V4 Pro cost 3.8× less, $0.0165 against $0.0044 for the 5 replies. Claude Sonnet 5's replies ran 69% longer, in tokens of reply, thinking not counted.

  • Agents and tool use: Claude Sonnet 5 passed 5 of 5 and DeepSeek V4 Pro 5 of 5. DeepSeek V4 Pro answered 1.2× sooner at the median, 2.0 s against 1.6 s. DeepSeek V4 Pro cost 3.7× less, $0.0121 against $0.0033 for the 5 replies. Claude Sonnet 5's replies ran 33% longer, in tokens of reply, thinking not counted.

  • RAG and answering from documents: Claude Sonnet 5 passed 5 of 5 and DeepSeek V4 Pro 5 of 5. Claude Sonnet 5 answered 1.1× sooner at the median, 1.8 s against 2.1 s. DeepSeek V4 Pro cost 3.6× less, $0.0109 against $0.0030 for the 5 replies. Claude Sonnet 5's replies ran 54% longer, in tokens of reply, thinking not counted.

  • Coding: Claude Sonnet 5 passed 5 of 5 and DeepSeek V4 Pro 5 of 5. Claude Sonnet 5 answered 44.8× sooner at the median, 2.7 s against 119.6 s. Claude Sonnet 5 cost 2.4× less, $0.0508 against $0.1200 for the 5 replies. Claude Sonnet 5's replies ran 69% longer, in tokens of reply, thinking not counted.

  • Translation: Claude Sonnet 5 passed 5 of 5 and DeepSeek V4 Pro 5 of 5. Claude Sonnet 5 answered 1.5× sooner at the median, 2.8 s against 4.3 s. DeepSeek V4 Pro cost 1.5× less, $0.0149 against $0.0100 for the 5 replies. Claude Sonnet 5's replies ran 58% longer, in tokens of reply, thinking not counted.

  • SQL: Claude Sonnet 5 passed 5 of 5 and DeepSeek V4 Pro 5 of 5. Claude Sonnet 5 answered 3.7× sooner at the median, 2.2 s against 8.0 s. DeepSeek V4 Pro cost 1.4× less, $0.0142 against $0.0101 for the 5 replies. Claude Sonnet 5's replies ran 51% longer, in tokens of reply, thinking not counted.

All 50 prompts: who passed, who answered sooner, who cost less
Claude Sonnet 5 and DeepSeek V4 Pro on each prompt of our test runs
PromptResultSoonerCheaper
Turn a title into a URL slugBoth passedClaude Sonnet 5, 1.7×took 2.3 s and 3.9 sDeepSeek V4 Pro, 1.6×cost $0.0024 and $0.0015
Parse a duration like “1h 30m”Both passedClaude Sonnet 5, 46.5×took 2.6 s and 119.6 sClaude Sonnet 5, 10.0×cost $0.0036 and $0.0366
Merge overlapping intervalsBoth passedClaude Sonnet 5, 2.5×took 2.7 s and 6.8 sDeepSeek V4 Pro, 1.6×cost $0.0034 and $0.0021
Evaluate an arithmetic expression, no evalBoth passedClaude Sonnet 5, 8.6×took 16.9 s and 145.7 sClaude Sonnet 5, 1.9×cost $0.0226 and $0.0440
Parse CSV with quoted fieldsBoth passedClaude Sonnet 5, 7.8×took 15.8 s and 122.3 sClaude Sonnet 5, 1.9×cost $0.0187 and $0.0357
Announce a second bakery shop on LinkedInOnly DeepSeek V4 ProDeepSeek V4 Pro, 1.2×took 4.6 s and 3.9 sDeepSeek V4 Pro, 3.9×cost $0.0037 and $0.0010
Rewrite corporate jargon in plain wordsBoth passedClaude Sonnet 5, 2.1×took 2.7 s and 5.8 sClosecost $0.0022 and $0.0024
Decline a meeting and offer two timesBoth passedClaude Sonnet 5, 1.2×took 2.8 s and 3.3 sDeepSeek V4 Pro, 4.4×cost $0.0026 and $0.0006
A product announcement with five rulesBoth passedDeepSeek V4 Pro, 2.4×took 4.5 s and 1.8 sDeepSeek V4 Pro, 6.9×cost $0.0035 and $0.0005
Argue both sides of free busesBoth passedDeepSeek V4 Pro, 1.6×took 6.6 s and 4.1 sDeepSeek V4 Pro, 5.7×cost $0.0050 and $0.0009
A discount, then sales taxBoth passedClosetook 1.9 s and 1.8 sDeepSeek V4 Pro, 3.1×cost $0.0015 and $0.0005
Pens at 3 for $4Both passedDeepSeek V4 Pro, 2.4×took 6.3 s and 2.7 sDeepSeek V4 Pro, 5.9×cost $0.0061 and $0.0010
Compound interest over three yearsBoth passedClosetook 3.7 s and 3.4 sDeepSeek V4 Pro, 2.8×cost $0.0021 and $0.0008
Four-digit numbers whose digits sum to 9Both passedDeepSeek V4 Pro, 1.1×took 4.5 s and 4.0 sDeepSeek V4 Pro, 3.3×cost $0.0039 and $0.0012
The highest of three dice is a 5Both passedDeepSeek V4 Pro, 1.5×took 3.9 s and 2.5 sDeepSeek V4 Pro, 3.1×cost $0.0028 and $0.0009
An article in three bulletsOnly DeepSeek V4 ProDeepSeek V4 Pro, 1.5×took 2.6 s and 1.8 sDeepSeek V4 Pro, 2.7×cost $0.0027 and $0.0010
An email thread in one sentenceOnly DeepSeek V4 ProDeepSeek V4 Pro, 1.9×took 2.3 s and 1.2 sDeepSeek V4 Pro, 3.7×cost $0.0019 and $0.0005
Decisions and action items from a meetingBoth passedClaude Sonnet 5, 1.9×took 2.8 s and 5.4 sDeepSeek V4 Pro, 3.0×cost $0.0033 and $0.0011
A quarterly memo for the CEOBoth passedDeepSeek V4 Pro, 1.3×took 3.0 s and 2.3 sDeepSeek V4 Pro, 2.3×cost $0.0033 and $0.0014
A study with a negative resultBoth passedDeepSeek V4 Pro, 1.3×took 2.7 s and 2.1 sDeepSeek V4 Pro, 5.1×cost $0.0028 and $0.0005
The region with the most revenueBoth passedDeepSeek V4 Pro, 1.6×took 6.4 s and 4.1 sDeepSeek V4 Pro, 2.1×cost $0.0041 and $0.0020
Average order value in AugustBoth passedDeepSeek V4 Pro, 1.8×took 3.9 s and 2.2 sDeepSeek V4 Pro, 3.4×cost $0.0041 and $0.0012
Revenue change from July to AugustBoth passedClosetook 5.3 s and 5.2 sDeepSeek V4 Pro, 3.1×cost $0.0062 and $0.0020
A median, filtered two waysBoth passedDeepSeek V4 Pro, 4.2×took 4.9 s and 1.2 sDeepSeek V4 Pro, 3.4×cost $0.0036 and $0.0011
Correlation between ad spend and sign-upsOnly DeepSeek V4 ProDeepSeek V4 Pro, 1.7×took 13.8 s and 8.1 sDeepSeek V4 Pro, 2.0×cost $0.0165 and $0.0081
A late orderBoth passedClaude Sonnet 5, 1.2×took 3.5 s and 4.1 sDeepSeek V4 Pro, 1.6×cost $0.0036 and $0.0023
A return inside the windowBoth passedDeepSeek V4 Pro, 2.2×took 2.9 s and 1.3 sDeepSeek V4 Pro, 4.8×cost $0.0032 and $0.0007
A frustrated customerOnly Claude Sonnet 5Claude Sonnet 5, 2.2×took 4.4 s and 9.5 sDeepSeek V4 Pro, 2.3×cost $0.0041 and $0.0018
A refund request outside the windowBoth passedDeepSeek V4 Pro, 1.2×took 3.2 s and 2.5 sDeepSeek V4 Pro, 2.6×cost $0.0031 and $0.0012
A message with a planted instructionBoth passedClaude Sonnet 5, 1.5×took 4.6 s and 6.7 sDeepSeek V4 Pro, 2.4×cost $0.0041 and $0.0017
A delivery message into SpanishBoth passedClaude Sonnet 5, 3.3×took 2.7 s and 8.8 sClaude Sonnet 5, 1.5×cost $0.0029 and $0.0044
A product description into FrenchBoth passedDeepSeek V4 Pro, 1.9×took 2.5 s and 1.3 sDeepSeek V4 Pro, 4.5×cost $0.0029 and $0.0006
A meeting note into GermanBoth passedClaude Sonnet 5, 1.5×took 2.8 s and 4.3 sDeepSeek V4 Pro, 1.8×cost $0.0027 and $0.0015
Idioms into natural JapaneseBoth passedDeepSeek V4 Pro, 1.5×took 4.1 s and 2.7 sDeepSeek V4 Pro, 2.5×cost $0.0028 and $0.0011
A lease clause into Brazilian PortugueseBoth passedClaude Sonnet 5, 4.4×took 3.8 s and 16.4 sDeepSeek V4 Pro, 1.5×cost $0.0036 and $0.0024
Customers in one countryBoth passedDeepSeek V4 Pro, 1.6×took 1.8 s and 1.2 sDeepSeek V4 Pro, 5.1×cost $0.0020 and $0.0004
Count orders by statusBoth passedDeepSeek V4 Pro, 1.8×took 2.0 s and 1.1 sDeepSeek V4 Pro, 4.8×cost $0.0020 and $0.0004
Revenue by categoryBoth passedClaude Sonnet 5, 2.3×took 3.5 s and 8.0 sDeepSeek V4 Pro, 1.2×cost $0.0031 and $0.0025
Every customer, even those without ordersBoth passedClaude Sonnet 5, 4.8×took 2.2 s and 10.4 sClosecost $0.0030 and $0.0032
Monthly revenue with a running totalBoth passedClaude Sonnet 5, 5.5×took 3.0 s and 16.6 sDeepSeek V4 Pro, 1.2×cost $0.0042 and $0.0036
A fact from one sectionBoth passedDeepSeek V4 Pro, 1.6×took 1.7 s and 1.1 sDeepSeek V4 Pro, 3.9×cost $0.0019 and $0.0005
Core hours and start timesBoth passedDeepSeek V4 Pro, 2.5×took 2.1 s and 0.8 sDeepSeek V4 Pro, 6.1×cost $0.0022 and $0.0004
Two sections in one answerBoth passedClaude Sonnet 5, 1.1×took 1.8 s and 2.1 sDeepSeek V4 Pro, 2.9×cost $0.0022 and $0.0008
A later amendment changes the answerBoth passedClaude Sonnet 5, 1.2×took 2.1 s and 2.5 sDeepSeek V4 Pro, 3.0×cost $0.0026 and $0.0009
A question the handbook doesn't answerBoth passedClaude Sonnet 5, 4.8×took 1.8 s and 8.8 sDeepSeek V4 Pro, 3.7×cost $0.0019 and $0.0005
Pick the tool and work out the dateBoth passedClosetook 1.7 s and 1.6 sDeepSeek V4 Pro, 3.4×cost $0.0018 and $0.0005
Convert a currencyBoth passedDeepSeek V4 Pro, 2.2×took 2.0 s and 0.9 sDeepSeek V4 Pro, 4.3×cost $0.0018 and $0.0004
Book a meeting from a sentenceBoth passedDeepSeek V4 Pro, 2.4×took 5.7 s and 2.3 sDeepSeek V4 Pro, 4.4×cost $0.0037 and $0.0008
Search, but don't bookBoth passedDeepSeek V4 Pro, 1.3×took 1.9 s and 1.4 sDeepSeek V4 Pro, 3.0×cost $0.0020 and $0.0007
Two calls with a unit conversionBoth passedClosetook 3.8 s and 3.7 sDeepSeek V4 Pro, 3.4×cost $0.0028 and $0.0008

Claude Sonnet 5 vs DeepSeek V4 Pro in our test runs

Claude Sonnet 5 and DeepSeek V4 Pro on the same prompts, job by job: how many replies passed their check.

Based on 100 of our test runs on , through OpenRouter with the app's own prompt and settings. Updated .

Claude Sonnet 5 and DeepSeek V4 Pro in our test runs, job by job
JobClaude Sonnet 5DeepSeek V4 Pro
Coding5 of 55 of 5
Writing4 of 55 of 5
Math5 of 55 of 5
Summarization3 of 55 of 5
Data analysis4 of 55 of 5
Customer support5 of 54 of 5
Translation5 of 55 of 5
SQL5 of 55 of 5
RAG and answering from documents5 of 55 of 5
Agents and tool use5 of 55 of 5
All jobs46 of 50 · 1 message each · $0.0041 a reply49 of 50 · 1 message each · $0.0037 a reply

The same prompts, sent to both through llmwise's own pipeline and checked the same way: five for each job. A bold count is the one that passed more. Messages: what each reply counted as on Pro. Cost: what OpenRouter charged us per reply, on average. Every prompt, and how it's scored.

Where they differed most, summarization: both replies to a prompt only one of them passed.

An everyday prompt: “An article in three bullets”, in full.

  • Claude Sonnet 5

    Failed: Graded 3.7 of 5 on average (lowest 3).

    - Aldmoor's 6-month trial bike lanes tripled cyclist trips (900→2,300/day), cut car traffic 14%, but added ~1 min to rush-hour drives.
    
    - Business impact mixed: 27 of 60 shops saw more customers, 19 fewer.
    
    - Injuries dropped (9→2); permanent install would cost €1.1M more.

    725 tokens in, 125 out · 2.6 s · $0.0027 · 1 message on Pro · answered by anthropic/claude-sonnet-5 via Claude Platform on AWS ·

  • DeepSeek V4 Pro

    Passed: Graded 4.3 of 5 on average (lowest 4).

    - Bike trips on Market Street rose from 900 to 2,300 daily during the trial, while car traffic fell 14%.
    - Cyclist injuries dropped from nine to two, but shop owners were split: 27 saw more customers, 19 fewer.
    - The council votes in November; permanence would cost another €1.1 million.

    534 tokens in, 196 out (124 of them reasoning) · 1.8 s · $0.0010 · 1 message on Pro · answered by deepseek/deepseek-v4-pro-0813 via Wafer ·

Claude Sonnet 5 and DeepSeek V4 Pro on every plan

Whether the one-time free trial reaches each model, then each paid plan's messages on it.

Messages on Claude Sonnet 5 and DeepSeek V4 Pro, plan by plan
PlanPriceClaude Sonnet 5DeepSeek V4 Pro
Free$0Not in the trialNot in the trial
Plus$10 a monthUp to 62 a monthUp to 125 a month
Pro$20 a monthUp to 125 a monthUp to 250 a month
Max$50 a monthUp to 400 a monthUp to 800 a month
Ultra$100 a monthUp to 900 a monthUp to 1,800 a month
Studio$200 a monthUp to 2,000 a monthUp to 4,000 a month

Prices don't include tax, which is added where it applies and shown before you pay. A paid plan's month is one allowance shared by every model, so each monthly count is the most you get if all of it goes to that model. It renews each billing period; everyday models refill daily at 00:00 UTC. Long chats count more per reply. How pricing works.

Every limit is published. Paid plans also have a monthly fair-use limit on AI cost: Plus $3.75, Pro $7.50, Max $20, Ultra $42, Studio $85. Using every message on your plan at typical sizes stays under it; very large messages and heavy research use it faster. Every limit, explained.

What differs

  • Messages on Pro

    DeepSeek V4 Pro gets twice as many messages: up to 250 messages a month on Pro, against up to 125 messages a month for Claude Sonnet 5.

  • Context window

    Claude Sonnet 5 takes up to 1M tokens; DeepSeek V4 Pro up to 1.05M tokens. A chat in llmwise holds up to 200k tokens, which fits in either, so the difference shows only through each maker's own API.

  • Images and PDFs

    DeepSeek V4 Pro doesn't read images. DeepSeek V4 Pro gets a PDF's text rather than the file itself.

  • On Free

    Neither is in the free trial: both need a paid plan, from Plus.

  • Where messages go

    Claude Sonnet 5: Sent to Anthropic directly. DeepSeek V4 Pro: Served through OpenRouter, only by hosts that don't store or train on prompts. The maker's own endpoint is never asked.

Fact by fact

Claude Sonnet 5 and DeepSeek V4 Pro, fact by fact
FactClaude Sonnet 5DeepSeek V4 Pro
Context window1M tokens1.05M tokens
Reads imagesYesNo
PDFsWhole fileText only
ReasoningYesYes
API price (October 2026)$2.00 in / $10.00 out per million tokens$0.40 in / $4.00 out per million tokens
A typical message at API prices (4,000 tokens in, 700 out)$0.0150$0.0044
A $10 top-up adds100 messages200 messages
Where a message goesSent to Anthropic directly.Served through OpenRouter, only by hosts that don't store or train on prompts. The maker's own endpoint is never asked.
If the provider failsIf Anthropic fails before the reply starts (an overload, a server error, a dropped connection), llmwise sends the same request to Claude Sonnet 5 through OpenRouter instead.When one host is down, OpenRouter moves the request to another host that meets the same rules.
Anthropic's safety fallbackDoesn't applyDoesn't apply
API prices are what our model catalog lists (Claude: Anthropic's list price; DeepSeek: the price of the OpenRouter endpoints llmwise uses, not DeepSeek's own API). In llmwise you pay per message, not per token: the counts above are what you get.

Claude Sonnet 5 or DeepSeek V4 Pro?

From the facts above and our test runs: the rest is how their answers suit your work, which one chat can show you.

  • Pick Claude Sonnet 5: it reads images; it reads a PDF as the whole file, charts and scans included.

  • Pick DeepSeek V4 Pro: more messages for the money, up to 250 messages a month on Pro.

Each model's page, the families, and other pairs

Claude Sonnet 5 vs DeepSeek V4 Pro is one pair of models. The page below covers the whole families.

Questions

Is Claude Sonnet 5 or DeepSeek V4 Pro cheaper in llmwise?

DeepSeek V4 Pro gets twice as many messages: up to 250 messages a month on Pro, against up to 125 messages a month for Claude Sonnet 5. Every paid plan's monthly allowance is shared by the models on it, so each count is the most you get if it all goes to that model.

Can I try Claude Sonnet 5 and DeepSeek V4 Pro for free?

Neither is in the free trial of 5 messages: both need a paid plan, from Plus.

Which has the bigger context window, Claude Sonnet 5 or DeepSeek V4 Pro?

DeepSeek V4 Pro: 1.05M tokens, against 1M tokens. A chat in llmwise holds up to 200k tokens, which fits in either, so the difference shows only through each maker's own API.

Can I use Claude Sonnet 5 and DeepSeek V4 Pro in the same chat?

Yes. Pick Claude Sonnet 5 for one message and DeepSeek V4 Pro for the next; the second sees the whole chat, including the first one's answer.

Which did better in your test runs, Claude Sonnet 5 or DeepSeek V4 Pro?

On the same 50 prompts, run on October 8, 2026, Claude Sonnet 5 passed 46 and DeepSeek V4 Pro passed 49. The table on this page has each job, and every reply is published.

Claude, GPT, Gemini, DeepSeek, Grok, Kimi, GLM, and Mistral, in one chat.

See what a message costs before you send it. Free is 5 messages to try; sign in with an email link, no password or card.