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Every score has a dated snapshot.

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  3. DeepSeek V3 vs GPT-5 mini

Pairwise benchmark snapshot · Aug 1, 2026

DeepSeek V3 vs GPT-5 mini benchmark

In this head-to-head showdown, GPT-5 mini delivers higher overall intelligence and human-preferred responses (Elo 1,410 vs 1,310), while GPT-5 mini leads in SWE-bench software engineering benchmarks (52.4%), while DeepSeek V3 is more budget-friendly at $1.1/1M per 1M output tokens, while GPT-5 mini provides faster response streaming (155 tok/s). Review the complete breakdown below to determine which model best fits your performance and budget requirements.

Executive Comparison Verdict

Bottom Line: Choose GPT-5 mini if your priority is peak reasoning, complex code generation, and top preference Elo. Choose DeepSeek V3 if you are optimizing for low latency, high throughput, and cost-efficient API deployment.
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Verified Head-to-Head Advantage Breakdown

9 direct benchmark disciplines evaluated across capability, speed, and cost

DeepSeek V3 (1)GPT-5 mini (8)
DeepSeek V3
1 of 9 Wins
✓Output price
GPT-5 mini
8 of 9 Wins
✓Preference Elo✓LiveBench✓SWE-bench✓GPQA Diamond✓Time to first token✓Output speed✓Input price✓Context window
DeepSeek
Leads 1 of 9 metrics
DeepSeek V3

Prior DeepSeek flagship. Baseline for v3 vs v4.

Elo 1,310$1.1/1M out
OpenAI
Leads 8 of 9 metrics
GPT-5 mini

Cost-efficient GPT-5 distill for high-volume agents.

Mini DistillElo 1,410$2/1M out
Top Rival Showdowns for DeepSeek V3
All Matchups
Compare vs:vs Claude Opus 4.5vs GPT-5vs Gemini 3 Provs Grok 4.6vs Qwen 3 Max
Preference LeaderGPT-5 mini Wins

GPT-5 mini

Δ 100 Arena Elo pts

Throughput LeaderGPT-5 mini Wins

GPT-5 mini

155 tok/s

Value per Dollar LeaderDeepSeek V3 Wins

DeepSeek V3

$1.1 / 1M output

Capability Percentiles

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

Multi-Dimensional Capability Radar

Leaders Matchup Capability Radar

Comparing top Western standard models with China's leading frontier rival across 6 skill dimensions. Tap any spoke or dot to inspect.

Tap any node to inspect
0–100 %ile
Head-to-Head Comparison

Overall Matchup Breakdown

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

DeepSeek V3 (1)vsGPT-5 mini (9)
DeepSeek V3: 1W (10%)Overall: GPT-5 miniGPT-5 mini: 9W (90%)
← DeepSeek V3GPT-5 mini →
🏆GPT-5 mini(5/5)

Intelligence & Reasoning

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

Benchmark
DeepSeek V3vsGPT-5 mini
Preference Elo
1,310vs1,410+100
Coding Elo
—vs1,395
SWE-bench
48.6%vs52.4%+3.8%
LiveBench
55.4%vs61.2%+5.8%
GPQA Diamond
59.1%vs72%+12.9%
DeepSeek V3: 0WGPT-5 mini: 5W
🏆GPT-5 mini(2/2)

Speed & Latency

Generation throughput and time to first token responsiveness

Benchmark
DeepSeek V3vsGPT-5 mini
Output speed
66 tok/svs155 tok/s+89 tok/s
Time to first token
380 msvs140 ms+240 ms
DeepSeek V3: 0WGPT-5 mini: 2W
🏆GPT-5 mini(2/3)

Pricing & Capacity

Cost per million tokens and max context window length

Benchmark
DeepSeek V3vsGPT-5 mini
Output price
$1.1/1Mvs$2/1M+$0.9/1M
Input price
$0.27/1Mvs$0.25/1M+$0.02/1M
Context window
128kvs400k+272k
DeepSeek V3: 1WGPT-5 mini: 2W

Side-by-Side Benchmark Matrix

Preference Elo+100
DeepSeek V31,310
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
GPT-5 mini1,410
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
Coding Elo
DeepSeek V3—
GPT-5 mini1,395
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
LiveBench+5.8%
DeepSeek V355.4%
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
GPT-5 mini61.2%
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
SWE-bench+3.8%
DeepSeek V348.6%
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
GPT-5 mini52.4%
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
GPQA Diamond+12.9%
DeepSeek V359.1%
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
GPT-5 mini72%
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
Time to first token+240 ms
DeepSeek V3380 ms
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
GPT-5 mini140 ms
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
Output speed+89 tok/s
DeepSeek V366 tok/s
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
GPT-5 mini155 tok/s
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
Input price+$0.02/1M
DeepSeek V3$0.27/1M
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
GPT-5 mini$0.25/1M
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
Output price+$0.9/1M
DeepSeek V3$1.1/1M
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
GPT-5 mini$2/1M
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
Context window+272k
DeepSeek V3128k
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
GPT-5 mini400k
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
BenchmarkDeepSeek V3GPT-5 miniAdvantage Delta
Preference Elo
1,310
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
1,410
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
+100
Coding Elo—
1,395
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
—
LiveBench
55.4%
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
61.2%
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
+5.8%
SWE-bench
48.6%
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
52.4%
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
+3.8%
GPQA Diamond
59.1%
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
72%
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
+12.9%
Time to first token
380 ms
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
140 ms
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
+240 ms
Output speed
66 tok/s
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
155 tok/s
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
+89 tok/s
Input price
$0.27/1M
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
$0.25/1M
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
+$0.02/1M
Output price
$1.1/1M
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
$2/1M
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
+$0.9/1M
Context window
128k
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
400k
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
+272k
Interactive Simulator (USD)

Workload Cost & Savings Calculator

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

Save up to 33% with DeepSeek V3
Monthly Volume50M tokens/mo
Quick Presets:
Token Ratio (In vs Out)70% In / 30% Out
RAG / Search (10% out)Coding / Chat (50% out)
DeepSeek V3$25.95 / mo
In: $9.45Out: $16.5
GPT-5 mini$38.75 / mo
In: $8.75Out: $30
Estimated Cost Delta

DeepSeek V3 is estimated to save $12.80/month ($154/year).

Based on 50M tokens (30% gen)

Key Selection Recommendations

  • 1
    GPT-5 mini:Pick GPT-5 mini when repo-level coding accuracy is the constraint.
  • 2
    DeepSeek V3:Pick DeepSeek V3 when you are optimizing output cost.
  • 3
    GPT-5 mini:Pick GPT-5 mini when time-to-first-token matters more than peak Elo.

Recommended Workload Routing

Repo / coding agentsGPT-5 mini

Higher SWE-bench (52.4%).

High-volume chatDeepSeek V3

Lower output list price ($1.1/1M).

Voice / low-latency UIGPT-5 mini

Lower TTFT (140 ms).

Long-document RAGGPT-5 mini

Larger window (400k).

Screenshots / visionGPT-5 mini

GPT-5 mini is the side marked multimodal in the catalog.

Target WorkloadRecommended PickEvaluation Rationale
Repo / coding agentsGPT-5 miniHigher SWE-bench (52.4%).
High-volume chatDeepSeek V3Lower output list price ($1.1/1M).
Voice / low-latency UIGPT-5 miniLower TTFT (140 ms).
Long-document RAGGPT-5 miniLarger window (400k).
Screenshots / visionGPT-5 miniGPT-5 mini is the side marked multimodal in the catalog.

Related Editorial Dispatches & Benchmark Notes

View all news
launchAug 8, 2025

GPT-5 mini: the 2025 distill still useful as a cheap OpenAI baseline

High-volume agents that cannot pay Sol. Compare to Luna before you assume the new cheap SKU wins.

Community Sentiment

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CompareLLM AI Matrix

Verified Head-to-Head Telemetry

LIVE BENCHMARK
VS
DeepSeek

DeepSeek V3

Elo 1,310
SWE-bench48.6%
Speed (tok/s)66 tok/s
Input / 1M Tokens$0.27/1M
Output / 1M Tokens$1.1/1M
OpenAI

GPT-5 mini

Elo 1,410
SWE-bench52.4%
Speed (tok/s)155 tok/s
Input / 1M Tokens$0.25/1M
Output / 1M Tokens$2/1M

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is better overall, DeepSeek V3 or GPT-5 mini?
GPT-5 mini has the higher preference Elo in our latest snapshot (1,410). “Better” still depends on coding, price, and latency — see the table.
Which is better at coding, DeepSeek V3 or GPT-5 mini?
GPT-5 mini leads SWE-bench at 52.4% vs 48.6%. SWE-bench is one harness, not your repo.
Which is cheaper to run in production?
DeepSeek V3 output tokens are $1.1/1M versus $2/1M. Input prices and retry rates still move the real bill.
Which is faster, DeepSeek V3 or GPT-5 mini?
GPT-5 mini has the lower time-to-first-token (140 ms vs 380 ms). Tokens/sec is a separate column if you care about long completions.
Which has the larger context window?
GPT-5 mini accepts 400k tokens versus 128k.
Can I self-host either model?
DeepSeek V3 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. DeepSeek V3 and GPT-5 mini Elo cells are dated snapshots from the named source — we do not compute Arena ourselves.

Related news

  • launch · Aug 8, 2025

    GPT-5 mini: the 2025 distill still useful as a cheap OpenAI baseline

Similar Head-to-Head Comparisons

All DeepSeek V3 matchups →|All GPT-5 mini matchups →
DeepSeek V3 vs DeepSeek Coder V2 (previous deepseek)DeepSeek V3 vs DeepSeek R1 (next deepseek)GPT-5 mini vs OpenAI o3-mini (previous gpt-mini)GPT-5 mini vs GPT-5.6 Luna (next gpt-mini)GPT-5 vs GPT-5 miniDeepSeek V4 Pro vs GPT-5 mini