In this article on DeepSeek vs Claude, we'll explore everything you need to know about these powerful AI models:
Here is what we are going cover:
What is DeepSeek and its capabilities
What makes DeepSeek different
What is Claude and its capabilities
What makes Claude different
Cost comparison between both Models
Reddit users' opinions on both models
Everyday use case tests on both models:
Document analysis
Image analysis
Topic explanation
Coding performance
Elephas - a Mac AI assistant that works with both models
Which AI is the best choice for different needs
By the end of this article, you'll have a clear understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of both AI models to make an informed decision about which one better suits your requirements.
Let's dive in.
What is DeepSeek?
DeepSeek is a new AI chatbot that's getting a lot of attention. It was created in China and offers smart AI model features for free that are provided by companies like ChatGPT at a premium. What makes it special is how it balances being very powerful while still being available to regular users.
The company behind DeepSeek focuses on making AI that can think through problems step by step, similar to how humans solve complex tasks. To know more about DeepSeek you can check out the origin of DeepSeek.
DeepSeek Capabilities
Looking at the chart, DeepSeek shows impressive skills across many areas:
Smart Thinking
Scores higher than Claude and GPT-4o on many thinking tests
Really shines at solving tricky reading tasks (91.6% on DROP test)
Great at general knowledge questions (89.1% on MMLU-Redux)
Amazing at Math
Gets 90.2% on MATH-500 tests, better than Claude (78.3%) and GPT-4o (74.6%)
Handles college-level math problems much better than other AIs
Scores 43.2% on hard math contests where other models struggle
Strong with Code
Beats other models at writing working code on first try
Particularly good at competitive programming challenges
Can work with many different programming languages
Edits and fixes code very effectively
Works in Multiple Languages
Excellent in both English and Chinese
Understands nuanced questions in both languages
The most interesting thing is how DeepSeek uses a clever design. It has 671 billion total parameters but only uses 37 billion at once. This helps DeepSeek to perform better while using less computing power.
Different DeepSeek Models
DeepSeek offers several different AI models:
DeepSeek-V3: The main model shown in the benchmark chart. It uses the MoE design with 671B total parameters. Best for complex tasks requiring deep thinking.
DeepSeek-R1: Their reasoning-focused model. Great for math and step-by-step problem solving. It shows its work clearly when tackling difficult questions
DeepSeek Coder: Specially designed for programming tasks. Helps write, debug, and improve code. Understands many programming languages.
Lighter Versions: Smaller models that can run on regular computers. A good balance of capabilities and resource needs. Perfect for everyday use when you don't need the full power.
Each model is designed for specific needs, so users can pick the one that fits their task best.
DeepSeek Pricing
DeepSeek is complete free to use and you can also download their models for free on your computer and use it.
If you are a developer and looking for DeepSeek API the costs are as follows
What Makes DeepSeek Different?
DeepSeek stands out from other AI tools in several key ways:
Open Approach: You can download and run many DeepSeek models directly on your own computer. There's no need to always be online or share your data.
Focus on Reasoning: Built specifically to show its thinking process. Explains steps clearly when solving complex problems. So it has better accuracy compared to other model like ChatGPT.
Math Excellence: Dramatically better at math than most other AI tools. Can handle advanced math that stumps other popular models.
Balance of Power and Price: Offers capabilities similar to a much more expensive model. Makes advanced AI accessible to more people and companies.
Thinking Design: Uses a clever MoE approach that activates only the parts of the model needed for each task. More efficient and often more accurate than traditional designs
DeepSeek represents a new generation of AI tools that bring powerful capabilities to everyone without high costs or technical barriers.
DeepSeek vs Claude Cost Comparison
The graph clearly shows DeepSeek R1's remarkable cost advantage over Claude 3.7 Sonnet and other models. While Claude charges around $15 per million output tokens and $3 per million input tokens, DeepSeek R1's costs are nearly imperceptible on the chart, making it dramatically more affordable for API users.
Both DeepSeek and Claude offer free access to their base models. However, to unlock Claude's advanced features like hybrid reasoning mode, users must subscribe to Claude Pro at $20 per month.
What is Claude?
Claude is an advanced AI assistant created by Anthropic. It can understand natural language, have conversations, and help with many different tasks. Built using "Constitutional AI," Claude focuses on being helpful while avoiding harmful responses.
The newest version, Claude 3.7 Sonnet, includes "extended thinking" mode, which gives it extra time to work through complex problems step by step, significantly improving its performance on difficult reasoning and math tasks.
Claude Capabilities
Claude 3.7 Sonnet with extended thinking shows amazing skills in solving complex problems. It scores 84.8% on graduate-level reasoning tests, which is among the best results of any AI model. The extended thinking feature gives Claude extra time to work through difficult questions step by step.
Extended thinking boost: Regular Claude 3.7 scores 68% on reasoning tests, but jumps to 84.8% when using extended thinking
Instruction following: Claude 3.7 scores 93.2% on following directions accurately, better than DeepSeek R1 (83.3%)
Visual understanding: Can analyze images effectively, scoring 75% on visual reasoning tasks
Language and Communication
Claude excels at understanding multiple languages and communicating clearly. This makes it helpful for people who need to work across language barriers.
Multilingual abilities: Scores 86.1% on questions in various languages
Clear explanations: Breaks down complex topics into understandable parts
Consistent responses: Gives reliable answers even when questions are asked differently
Math and Problem Solving
The chart shows Claude has strong math abilities, especially with extended thinking turned on.
Math solving: Claude 3.7 with extended thinking scores an impressive 96.2% on MATH 500 tests
Improvement with thinking time: Without extended thinking, the score drops to 82.2%, showing how much the extra processing helps
Competition math: On harder AIME 2024 problems, extended thinking boosts performance from 23.3% to 80%
Practical Task Handling
Claude can help with everyday tasks and work-related activities. Claude 3.7 Sonnet (without extended thinking) performs well on:
Tool use: Scores 81.2% on retail-related tasks and 58.4% on airline-related tasks
Coding assistance: Achieves 70.3% on software engineering tests when using its thinking tool
Following complicated directions: Maintains 90.8% accuracy on detailed instructions
Different Claude Models
Claude offers several AI models to fit different needs. The newest is Claude 3.7 Sonnet, their most intelligent model and the first with "extended thinking" for tackling complex problems. It can think step-by-step before answering difficult questions.
For faster responses, Claude 3.5 Haiku is optimized for speed while still providing quality results. Both these models support a 200,000 token context window (about 150,000 words) and can understand images.
The Claude family also includes older models like Claude 3 Opus (excellent for complex tasks), Claude 3 Sonnet (good balance of speed and quality), and Claude 3 Haiku (fastest of the original lineup).
Each model has specific versions identified by dates (like "20250219"), ensuring consistent performance. You can check out more about the Claude models at docs.antrhopic.com
Claude Pricing
Claude has a free version available, but to get better outputs, longer chats, and also their newest model, Claude 3.7 Sonnet with hybrid reasoning, you have to take their monthly subscription, which is $20 per month.
For developers, the API pricing for Claude is as follows
What makes Claude different?
What sets Claude apart from other AI models is its focus on safety and ethical design. Claude can handle much longer texts - up to 150,000 words in one go, which beats most competitors.
Also, it has an image analysis feature which most of the models lack, such as Llama. It's particularly good at thinking through complex problems step by step with its hybrid reasoning abilities.
It creates more creative and imaginative content than many alternatives and has more recent knowledge (up to October 2024). Users also find it easier to adjust Claude's tone and personality to fit their needs, making it more flexible for different situations.
Redditors Opinion on DeepSeek vs Claude
Reddit is the best place to know which model is best, and Redditors' opinions are just good, so let's consider it. We found this post comparing DeepSeek and Claude models and based on it, these are the opinion of redditors on DeepSeek vs Claude.
General Consensus
The majority of Redditors consider Claude Sonnet to be superior for most use cases. As Briskfall notes, "Sonnet is still better for the majority of the situations. General-purpose, medical imaging, as a general conversationalist, and in creative writing."
DeepSeek's Strengths
DeepSeek does shine in specific areas:
Coding and Development: Several users mention DeepSeek excels as a "coding architect" when paired with AI IDEs like Aider
Mathematics: einmaulwurf states, "DeepSeek (and other reasoning models like o1(mini)) are just way better at that."
Cost-effectiveness: Recurrents points out that "the deepseek api is soooo cheap" compared to Claude
Open-source nature: Rokkitt highlights that "Deepseek's killer features is that it is open-source, uses a novel training technique and cost only $5M to train"
Claude's Advantages
Claude Sonnet maintains advantages in:
Creative writing and general conversation: projectradar mentions Claude "seems the most 'human'" and "mirrors your speech patterns, which is a big part I think a lot of models are missing for real engagement"
Reliability: wuu73 shares a practical perspective: "Sonnet is the best... if you really just want to get stuff DONE and not f around with having to fix errors... just have sonnet do it"
Codebase recall: khromov notes Sonnet 3.5 is "better for me, especially for recall in a large codebase"
Benchmark vs Real-world performance: pastrussy suggests "Deepseek was somewhat overtuned to do well on benchmarks. We know Anthropic prioritizes human preference, even at the cost of benchmark results"
Model Confusion
Some users reported issues with DeepSeek's self-identification:
One Redditor mentioned that DeepSeek occasionally identifies itself as Claude or gets confused about its identity
Mak136 shared: "I asked deepseek, how is it better than chatgpt and it started comparing itself but said i (claude) And said yes i am claude And when i said aren't you deepseek than it said yea i apologize i am deepseek"
Price-Performance Consideration
For many users, the decision comes down to price-performance ratio:
heyJordanParker states: "For general-purpose I've had issues with both so no clue (for that I prefer DeepSeek because of the cheaper API – it's almost guaranteed to do better if I two-shot the prompt and I still pay like 15X less)"
Some users mentioned occasionally starting with DeepSeek to save money, but turning to Claude when they need more reliable results
Community Testing
Multiple Redditors conducted their own tests:
fourhundredthecat: "I tried my few sample random questions, and Claude still wins. But deepseek is second best"
bluegalaxy31: "I asked Deepseek some basic questions and it could not figure it out but Sonnet could. Deepseek is nothing but hype. It's about as good as the ChatGPT free model. Actually, probably worse."
Overall, while DeepSeek has impressive capabilities especially in technical domains and offers significant cost advantages, most Redditors still consider Claude Sonnet the superior model for general use, creative tasks, and reliability - particularly when quality of output is the priority over cost.
DeepSeek vs Claude: Which is best?
To know which LLM model is actually better for practical day-to-day tasks, we are going to perform some practical tests on both LLM models and determine which is actually better.
Note: Claude has also started providing hybrid reasoning in its model, but it is only available to pro users. However, for all the tests, we are only using the free version of Claude to even out the capabilities of DeepSeek.
Test 1: Document Analysis
For the first test, we gave a 7-page research paper about how artificial intelligence works to both the LLM models and asked them a specific question from the PDF. Both the LLM models were able to answer the question.
However, comparatively, Claude's response was much better, as it was able to clearly mention where it found the text from the PDF.
Test 2: Image analysis
For the image test, we have created an AI image with some words in it and asked both LLM models to tell the meaning of the image and what words are in it. Actually, DeepSeek performed well compared to our previous tests, such as the DeepSeek vs ChatGPT and DeepSeek vs Gemini article. In that comparison, it was not able to analyze the image.
Well, both models were able to give good answers, but Claude was able to find more words than DeepSeek did, and for the meaning, you be the judge of it. Based on the image and the LLM outputs given below, tell in the comments which you think is better.
Test 3: Topic Explanation
For the next test, we asked both models to explain how LLM models work. So basically, we wanted to know how they function, and Claude was able to give a more human answer, but it was not detailed. In contrast, DeepSeek provided a much more detailed answer compared to Claude; it was also able to give references for the topic even after switching off the web search feature.
So for this round, we have to give the win to DeepSeek; its topic explanation process is a little better than Claude
Test 4: Coding
So for our last test, we are going to compare the coding capabilities of both models. We asked both LLM models to write code for a Tetris game. Claude wrote the code perfectly for Tetris, and it is even playable.
Whereas DeepSeek took so much time; it took 450 seconds just for the reasoning, and even in the end, it wasn't able to provide perfect code. So for this round, Claude takes the win.
Elephas: The Ultimate Productivity Solution
Elephas makes your Mac smarter by letting you use both Claude and DeepSeek models in one place. This tool helps you switch between different AI models to get the best results for whatever you're working on.
Even you can run it offline without any internet connection and also not sharing any of your documents or chat to models like DeepSeek and Claude.
With the "Super Brain" feature, you can save all your important information in one spot, making both AI models work better for you. Many users find they save 5-10 hours every week by letting Elephas handle research, writing, and organizing information.
Main Benefits:
Use Multiple AI Models: Easily switch between Claude, DeepSeek and others whenever you want
Super Brain Storage: Keep all your knowledge in one place to make AI responses more helpful
Work Without Internet: Use AI features even when offline for better privacy
Smart Writing Help: Create good content in different styles with just a few clicks
Web search integration: Search the web without leaving your work
Keep Notes Organized: Gather information from websites, videos and documents easily
iPhone availability: Keep working smoothly on all your Apple devices
DeepSeek vs Claude: The best choice?
When picking between DeepSeek and Claude, it really depends on what you need. DeepSeek shines with math, coding tasks, and costs much less for developers. It's also completely free to use on their website or to download.
Claude is better for everyday use, explaining things clearly, and handling images. It feels more human-like in conversations and makes fewer mistakes. The free version works well, but you'll need to pay $20 monthly for the newest features like extended thinking.
For most people, Claude seems to be the better all-around helper, especially if you need reliable answers and creative writing. DeepSeek is great if you work with code, math problems, or need a more affordable option.
If you can't decide, tools like Elephas let you use both on your Mac, giving you the best of both worlds depending on your task.
FAQs
1. Is DeepSeek better than Claude for coding?
DeepSeek excels at coding tasks and competitive programming challenges, but in practical tests, Claude produced more reliable code. While DeepSeek takes longer for reasoning, Claude delivers playable code faster. For daily coding tasks, Claude typically offers more consistent results.
2. Which AI is more affordable, DeepSeek or Claude?
DeepSeek is significantly more affordable. It's completely free to use on their website and to download for local use. For developers, DeepSeek's API costs are dramatically lower than Claude's, making it nearly 15x cheaper for API users compared to Claude's pricing.
3. Can Claude analyze images better than DeepSeek?
Yes, Claude demonstrates superior image analysis capabilities compared to DeepSeek. In direct tests, Claude identified more words in images and provided more detailed visual descriptions. Claude scores 75% on visual reasoning tasks, making it the stronger choice for image analysis.
4. Which AI is better for math problems, DeepSeek or Claude?
DeepSeek outperforms Claude on math tasks with a 90.2% score on MATH-500 tests compared to Claude's 78.3%. It handles college-level math problems better and scores higher on difficult math contests. For complex mathematics, DeepSeek is the superior choice.
5. Should I use Claude or DeepSeek for everyday tasks?
Claude is generally better for everyday tasks, offering more human-like conversations, clearer explanations, and fewer errors. DeepSeek shines with technical tasks like math and programming. For general use, most Reddit users prefer Claude, while specialists may prefer DeepSeek for specific technical work.
