Claude Sonnet 5 vs DeepSeek V3
Side-by-side API pricing and Artificial Analysis performance for Claude Sonnet 5 (Anthropic) and DeepSeek V3 (DeepSeek). Green cells mark the better value in each row.
Prices updated Sep 18, 2026, 8:55 AM UTC · refreshed hourly
| Claude Sonnet 5 Anthropic | DeepSeek V3 DeepSeek | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | ||
| Input $/1M | $2.00 | $0.32 |
| Output $/1M | $10.00 | $0.89 |
| Blended $/1M (3:1) | $4.00 | $0.462 |
| RAG example (30K in / 2K out) | $0.08 | $0.0114 |
| Quality & speed | ||
| Intelligence Index | 38.4 | 8.5 |
| Coding Index | 71.5 | 23 |
| Agentic Index | 44.3 | — |
| Output speed (tok/s) | 78 | 0 |
| Time to first token | 110.65s | 0s |
| Specs | ||
| Context window | 1M | 164K |
| Input modalities | text, image, file | text |
FAQ
Which is cheaper, Claude Sonnet 5 or DeepSeek V3?
DeepSeek V3 has the lower blended API price at $0.462 per 1M tokens (3:1 input:output mix), versus $4.00 for the other model. Prices are live from OpenRouter and refresh about hourly.
Which is better for RAG workloads?
For a typical RAG request (30K input / 2K output tokens), DeepSeek V3 costs about $0.0114 per request versus $0.08. Also compare context windows: Claude Sonnet 5 offers 1M and DeepSeek V3 offers 164K.
Which scores higher on Artificial Analysis benchmarks?
Claude Sonnet 5 leads on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index (38.4 vs 8.5). Check coding and agentic indices on this page for workload-specific tradeoffs.