Claude Sonnet 5.5 vs DeepSeek V4 Pro: API cost comparison
For a typical chatbot (1,500 input + 400 output tokens, 100,000 requests a month), DeepSeek V4 Pro is 56% cheaper: $366 vs $829 for Claude Sonnet 5.5. Paste your own prompt below to compare the exact cost of your workload.
0 characters0 words0 tokens (GPT o200k)
| Model | Per month |
|---|---|
| Claude Sonnet 5.5 | |
| DeepSeek V4 Pro |
≈ = estimated token count: only OpenAI publishes its tokenizer. Claude counts use Anthropic’s published ratios; use the count_tokens API for an exact number.
Price per million tokens
USD, standard tier. Prices checked on October 28, 2026.
| Claude Sonnet 5.5 | DeepSeek V4 Pro | |
|---|---|---|
| Input | $2 | $1.32 |
| Output | $10 | $3.96 |
| Cached input | $0.1 | $0.044 |
| Cache write (5 min) | $2.5 | Not charged separately |
| Long prompts | Same price at any length | Same price at any length |
| Batch API | 50% off | No discount |
| Provider | Anthropic (Claude) | DeepSeek |
DeepSeek V4 Pro: Peak price. Off-peak is half: outside 01–04 and 06–10 UTC on weekdays, plus weekends and Chinese public holidays.
Monthly cost for common workloads
| Workload | Claude Sonnet 5.5 | DeepSeek V4 Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Chatbot 1,500 input + 400 output tokens, 100,000 requests a month | $829 | $366 |
| Document Q&A (RAG) 8,000 input + 500 output tokens, half the input cached, 20,000 requests a month | $340 | $154 |
| Long-document summary 150,000 input + 2,000 output tokens, 1,000 requests a month | $449 | $216 |
| Bulk classification (Batch API) 500 input + 20 output tokens, 1 million requests a month, Batch API where available | $815 | $772 |
Token counts are converted per model: the same text becomes a different number of tokens on each provider (see below). The cheaper option in each row is highlighted.
Frequently asked questions
Is Claude Sonnet 5.5 cheaper than DeepSeek V4 Pro?
Per million tokens, Claude Sonnet 5.5 costs $2 / $10 (input / output) and DeepSeek V4 Pro costs $1.32 / $3.96. For a typical chatbot workload (1,500 input + 400 output tokens, 100,000 requests a month), DeepSeek V4 Pro is 56% cheaper: $366 vs $829 for Claude Sonnet 5.5. Token counts differ between providers, so compare the cost of the same prompt rather than the price per token.
How much do Claude Sonnet 5.5 and DeepSeek V4 Pro cost per million tokens?
Claude Sonnet 5.5: $2 / $10 for input / output, $0.1 for cached input. DeepSeek V4 Pro: $1.32 / $3.96, $0.044 for cached input. Prices in US dollars, standard tier, checked on October 28, 2026.
Do Claude Sonnet 5.5 and DeepSeek V4 Pro count tokens the same way?
Claude Sonnet 5.5 uses Anthropic's newer tokenizer, which produces about 30% more tokens than earlier Claude models. We estimate about 1.43× the GPT o200k count for the same text. DeepSeek V4 Pro's tokenizer is not published. We estimate about 1.05× the GPT o200k count for the same text.
Do Claude Sonnet 5.5 and DeepSeek V4 Pro have a Batch API discount?
Only Claude Sonnet 5.5 does (50% off). DeepSeek V4 Pro has no batch discount.
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