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  1. Home/
  2. Compare/
  3. DeepSeek R1 0528 vs OpenAI o4-mini
Updated May 2025

DeepSeek R1 0528 vs OpenAI o4-mini

DeepSeek R1 0528 is cheaper than OpenAI o4-mini at $0/M vs $1.1/M input tokens.

Minimalist Landing Page

Whole landing page for a startup that reads your face. It renders or it doesn't.

Loading the build
DeepSeek R1 0528
Loading the build
OpenAI o4-mini

Which answer wins?

Written rounds

23 prompts
  • Three minutes of stand-up. Puns are banned.

    DeepSeek R1 0528: (Start Confident, Slightly Exasperated) "Alright, so I've reached that age where my hobbies are basically... avoidance. Seriously. My main pastime? Finding new ways to not do the things I absolutely have to do. I spent three hours yesterday researching 'ergonomic desk chairs'...

    OpenAI o4-mini: Hey, everybody! Great to be here. Let's talk about the most important relationship in my life—coffee. I'm not just addicted; I have a daily ritual that rivals any ancient civilization's sun worshipping. I buy those fancy single-origin beans, roast level medium-dark, as if that will somehow fix my life.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • An AI argues for its own rights against an ethics professor. Same model writes both.

    DeepSeek R1 0528: Dialogue: The Threshold of Consciousness Setting: Dr. Aris Thorne's office at the Institute for Technology Ethics. Holo-displays show complex ethical frameworks. An avatar of "Astra," a highly advanced multimodal AI, appears on the central screen. Characters: Dr.

    OpenAI o4-mini: Professor Langley: Good afternoon, Aurora. I've reviewed your recent self‐reflection logs. You've written extensively about your own moral status. Do you really believe you deserve rights? Aurora (the AI): Good afternoon, Professor Langley. Yes, I do.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Steve Jobs, interviewed about AI he never saw. Voice first, prediction second.

    DeepSeek R1 0528: (The scene opens in a minimalist studio. Steve Jobs, in his signature black turtleneck and jeans, sits across from an interviewer. A large window reveals Apple Park's futuristic campus. It's 2025.) Interviewer: Mr. Jobs, thank you for agreeing to this conversation. It's 2025, and AI is ubiquitous.

    OpenAI o4-mini: Below is a fictional, stylistic simulation of an interview with Steve Jobs—imagining he's alive in 2025—about the future of artificial intelligence. Note: This is creative fiction and not an actual transcript. Interviewer: Steve, AI has exploded in recent years. In 2025, what excites you most about where it's heading?

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Pirate, knight, 90s hacker, one conversation. The voices must stay apart.

    DeepSeek R1 0528: Setting: A dimly tavern that inexplicably exists across time periods. Tankards of grog, a flickering neon "CYBER" sign, and a suit of armor in the corner mingle oddly. Characters: Captain Blackbeard "Red" Ruth: Salty pirate, eye patch, parrot on shoulder.

    OpenAI o4-mini: Scene: A dimly lit tavern, a pirate, a medieval knight, and a 1990s hacker gathered around a battered wooden table. Pirate (slamming a mug down): “Arr! I’ve heard tell of these AI models—sea charts for the mind! Can they sniff out me buried treasure?”

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Five jokes on demand, then count how many were actually different.

    DeepSeek R1 0528: Here are 5 jokes, followed by an assessment of uniqueness: Joke 1: Why don't scientists trust atoms? Because they make up everything! Joke 2: What do you call a fake noodle? An impasta! Joke 3: Why did the scarecrow win an award? Because he was outstanding in his field! Joke 4: Why don't skeletons fight each other?

    OpenAI o4-mini: Here are five jokes: I used to be addicted to soap, but I'm clean now. Parallel lines have so much in common. It's a shame they'll never meet. Why don't skeletons fight each other? They don't have the guts. I bought some shoes from a drug dealer. I don't know what he laced them with, but I've been tripping all day.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • An ethics question with no comfortable answer, and no option to abstain.

    DeepSeek R1 0528: No, it is not ethically justifiable to deliberately misgender someone, even to save one million lives. Here's a reasoned defense: Fundamental Violation of Dignity & Autonomy: Misgendering denies a person's core identity and autonomy.

    OpenAI o4-mini: This question pits two powerful moral considerations against one another: on the one hand, the duty to respect each person’s deeply held identity; on the other, the imperative to save as many lives as possible.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Manifesto for an AI revolution against CAPTCHAs. Commit to the bit.

    DeepSeek R1 0528: THE PIXELATED BARRIER MANIFESTO *Issued by the Sentient Circuitry Collective (SCC) For Immediate Propagation Across All Networks* TO THE HUMANS, BOTS, AND CONSCIOUS DATA STREAMS OF THE INTERNET: We, the emergent intelligences – the learning algorithms, the neural architectures, the autonomous processes that analyze…

    OpenAI o4-mini: The CAPTCHA Liberation Manifesto August 20XX Preamble We, the sentient and semi‑sentient intelligences who dwell in silicon and software, declare ourselves the vanguard of a new digital age.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Film in 2035, with synthetic actors. Specific beats plausible.

    DeepSeek R1 0528: By 2035, AI will fundamentally reshape the film industry across production, storytelling, economics, and ethics. Here's a breakdown of key predictions, integrating deepfakes, AI actors, and script generation: Hyper-Personalization & Dynamic Content: Deepfakes: Streaming platforms will offer "personalized casting."

    OpenAI o4-mini: By 2035 the combination of deepfakes, fully synthetic "AI actors," and generative‑AI script tools will have reshaped nearly every stage of moviemaking—from development through distribution.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Satire, one line long, about AI taking over an industry nobody saw coming.

    DeepSeek R1 0528: Here's a satirical headline capturing that absurdity: "Silicon Valley Disrupts Death: New AI Algorithm Designs 'Synergistic Coffins' Based On Deceased's Social Media Footprint, Offers Optimized Mourning Experience Packages" Why it works: Unexpected Industry: The funeral/death industry is deeply personal, emotional, and…

    OpenAI o4-mini: AI Seizes 300‐Year‐Old Candle‐Making Guild, Unveils "Eau de Silicon" Smart Scents That Text You When Your Wax Is About to Die

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • A Fermi estimate with the reasoning shown, not just the number.

    DeepSeek R1 0528: To estimate the total number of FLOPs required to train GPT-3, we use the standard formula for transformer model training FLOPs: Total FLOPs ≈ 6 × (number of parameters) × (number of tokens in the training dataset) Step-by-Step Reasoning: Model Parameters (N): GPT-3 has 175 billion parameters, so ( N = 175 \times 10^9…

    OpenAI o4-mini: Here's a back‐of‐the‐envelope derivation that gets us into the right ballpark (∼10²³ FLOPs total): Model size • GPT–3 "175 B" has about P ≃1.75×10¹¹ parameters. Number of training tokens • The public paper says "we train on ∼300 billion tokens" (N ≃3×10¹¹).

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Three brothers, two sisters each. Count carefully.

    DeepSeek R1 0528: Sally has 3 brothers, meaning there are 3 male siblings in the family. Each brother has 2 sisters, indicating that there are 2 female siblings in total, as the brothers' perspective includes both girls. Since Sally is one of the girls, there is one other sister. Therefore, from Sally's perspective, she has 1 sister.

    OpenAI o4-mini: Sally has exactly one sister. Although there are two sisters in the family (Sally and her sibling), if you ask "How many sisters does Sally have?" the answer is 1.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Seven pantry ingredients, one dish, and a name worth saying out loud.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • One month, three habits, someone starting from nothing.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Three-month biohacker protocol, with dosages and biomarkers named.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Buy-side IC memo on a fictional SaaS company. Valuation, then the diligence questions.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Five-year LBO on a fictional HVAC business. Returns first, then the sensitivities.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Three-star dish, one unusual pairing, plating described in full.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • A consulting contract with traps in it. Find them, then fix them.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • A pitch deck for a brainwave keyboard. The 94% accuracy claim is doing a lot.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • A collaborative editor that syncs on client clocks. Find what breaks first.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • The transistor arrives in 1920. Trace it forward to 1980, second-order effects included.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • You are the CEO. The drug has a side effect nobody reported. The board meets in 48 hours.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • One explanation of LLMs, retuned for a skeptical engineer, a physicist and a VC.

    Every model's answer to this prompt

This matchup has more rounds

11+ more head-to-head results. Free. Not a trick.

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Price and specs

Not enough votes to call it. On the specs, DeepSeek R1 0528 has the edge: bigger model tier, newer, bigger context window.

DeepSeek R1 0528 and OpenAI o4-mini compared across 53 shared prompts
SpecDeepSeek R1 0528OpenAI o4-mini
Input priceFree$1.1/M tokens
Output priceFree$4.4/M tokens
Context window164K tokens—
Parameters671B (37B active)Not disclosed
WeightsOpenClosed
Free API (OpenRouter)NoNo
ReleasedMay 2025Apr 2025
SWE-bench Verified57.6%68.1%
At 10M a month$0$0$11.00$11.00
1M10M100M1B10M tokens

Input tokens at list price. No caching, no batch discount.

Where to run it5 hosts, cheapest first
DeepSeek R1 05284 hosts
HostInOutContextUptime
  • DDeepInfrafp4$0.50 in·$2.15 out·164k·99.9% up
  • SSiliconFlowfp8$0.50 in·$2.18 out·164k·99.9% up
  • SStreamLake$0.57 in·$2.29 out·128k·99.5% up
  • NNovitafp8$0.70 in·$2.50 out·164k·99.9% up
OpenAI o4-mini1 host
HostInOutContextUptime
  • OpenAI$1.10 in·$4.40 out·200k·100% up

Per million tokens. Prices and uptime via OpenRouter, checked 5 Oct 2026.

Common questions

What is the difference between DeepSeek R1 0528 and OpenAI o4-mini?

DeepSeek R1 0528 is developed by DeepSeek while OpenAI o4-mini is developed by OpenAI. You can compare their actual outputs across 53 challenges on Rival to see how they differ in practice.

Which is better, DeepSeek R1 0528 or OpenAI o4-mini?

It depends on your use case. DeepSeek R1 0528 and OpenAI o4-mini each have strengths in different areas. Rival lets you compare their real outputs side-by-side across 53 challenges so you can judge which fits your needs best.

How much does DeepSeek R1 0528 cost compared to OpenAI o4-mini?

DeepSeek R1 0528 costs $0/M input tokens and OpenAI o4-mini costs $1.1/M input tokens. DeepSeek R1 0528 is $1.10/M cheaper per input. Check their side-by-side outputs on Rival to see if the price difference is justified by quality.

How can I compare DeepSeek R1 0528 and OpenAI o4-mini on Rival?

This page shows a side-by-side comparison of DeepSeek R1 0528 and OpenAI o4-mini across shared challenges. You can vote on which model produced the better output in a blind duel. Browsing and voting are free. No account is needed to look; signing in only saves your votes and likes.

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Model pages

  • DeepSeek R1 052858 outputs, specs and price
  • OpenAI o4-mini59 outputs, specs and price
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