Claude Sonnet 5 vs DeepSeek V4 Pro pricing
Side-by-side LLM API pricing.DeepSeek V4 Pro is cheaper on input ($0.435 vs $2.00 /1M), and DeepSeek V4 Pro is cheaper on output ($0.87 vs $10.00 /1M). On a blended average, DeepSeek V4 Pro is lower — but which wins for you depends on your input/output mix, so check the example workloads below or run the calculator.
| Attribute | Claude Sonnet 5 | DeepSeek V4 Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Anthropic | DeepSeek |
| Tier | Mid-range | Flagship |
| Status | GA | GA |
| Context window | 1M | 1M |
| Input /1M | $2.00 | $0.435 |
| Output /1M | $10.00 | $0.87 |
| Cached input /1M | $0.20 | $0.003625 |
| Batch input /1M | $1.00 | — |
| Batch output /1M | $5.00 | — |
| Blended (avg in+out) | $6.00 | $0.6525 |
| 1M in + 1M out | $12.00 | $1.31 |
| 1M in (90% cached) + 100K out | $1.38 | $0.1338 |
List prices, USD, directional. Rates are provider list prices per 1M tokens and are meant for comparison, not billing. Batch rates shown as 50% off are derived where a provider offers batch but does not publish a separate figure. Preview, promo, intro, peak/off-peak, long-context, and third-party-host prices are labeled where they apply. Token counts vary by tokenizer, so per-token price is not always a like-for-like cost. Always confirm with the provider before relying on a number. Prices as of 2026-08-03.
Which should you pick?
For a balanced job (1M input + 1M output), DeepSeek V4 Pro costs $1.31 versus $12.00. If your prompts are large and reused, prompt caching changes the maths — the cache-heavy row above shows a 90%-cached input scenario. If your work can run asynchronously, both providers' batch rates cut the bill further where offered.
Full price matrices: Claude Sonnet 5 pricing → · DeepSeek V4 Pro pricing → · Back to the LLM pricing hub →