DeepSeek vs ChatGPT: Which AI Model Takes the Crown

On January 20, 2025, DeepSeek released its most prominent model, "DeepSeek-R1", which made DeepSeek the most downloaded free app on the iOS Apple Store in the USA and plunged the US financial markets significantly.

The AI world is advancing at an astonishing speed, with new technologies emerging every other day. ChatGPT has remained the leader in AI conversations due to its vast knowledge and exceptional human-like interactions. However, DeepSeek's latest release, DeepSeek-R1, has shaken up the AI landscape and challenged ChatGPT's dominance.

In this guide, we will perform a detailed comparison of DeepSeek vs ChatGPT, covering their features, model, pros/cons, cost, and much more.

Overview of DeepSeek AI

DeepSeek is a Chinese AI startup that has developed a series of open-source large language models (LLMs) that compete with advanced AI systems, such as ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude. The company has released multiple open-source models, including DeepSeek-V1, DeepSeek-V2, and the latest DeepSeek-V3.

DeepSeek AI is designed to deliver high-performance natural language processing (NLP) capabilities for a wide range of applications. However, the release of the R1 reasoning model is what made the company grab global attention.

DeepSeek AI emphasizes accessibility and collaboration by making its models open-source. It empowers developers and researchers worldwide to build upon and innovate with their technology.

Overview of ChatGPT

ChatGPT is an AI chatbot developed by OpenAI, launched in November 2022. It is a chatbot interface that provides access to a series of models. It uses advanced natural language processing (NLP) to create humanlike conversational dialogue and complete various tasks related to content writing, coding, reviewing, etc.

Over the past two years, ChatGPT has received many updates. It allows users to choose from different GPT models, the latest of which is GPT-4o. In addition, it now supports web search, reasoning, attaching documents/images, and more. In short, ChatGPT has become a versatile AI assistant for users belonging to any industry.

DeepSeek vs ChatGPT: Feature Comparison

DeepSeek and ChatGPT have some prominent differences in terms of features. Below is a thorough feature comparison of ChatGPT vs DeepSeek:

Model Architecture

Both AI models have different operational approaches. DeepSeek uses the Mixture-of-Experts (MoE) approach, where only the most relevant experts handle each task. This approach improves efficiency by activating only a portion of its billions of parameters per request, which helps optimize performance and resource consumption.

On the other hand, ChatGPT follows a standard transformer-based model, where all parameters contribute to every task. While this ensures consistency, it may be less efficient compared to DeepSeek's adaptive MoE strategy.

Performance Capabilities

Each model excels in different areas. DeepSeek stands out in technical fields, especially in mathematics, where it boasts 90% accuracy. This makes it highly effective for solving complex problems.

Meanwhile, ChatGPT offers superior contextual understanding. It delivers more nuanced and well-rounded responses across diverse topics and makes it a stronger choice for general conversations and creative tasks.

Versatility in Applications

DeepSeek's technical accuracy and Mixture-of-Experts approach suggest strong potential in data analysis, programming, and academic research, particularly in mathematics and structured problem-solving. It can also assist in report generation, workflow automation, or financial automation.

ChatGPT is highly adaptable, which makes it useful across multiple domains, including customer support, content creation, education, programming help, and more. This broad functionality makes ChatGPT valuable for both personal and professional tasks.

Targeted Users

DeepSeek and ChatGPT are both usable by diverse user types. However, DeepSeek's targeted users are developers, businesses, and researchers who require efficient AI-driven solutions. The growing adoption of DeepSeek in early 2025 highlights its appeal as an affordable alternative to traditional AI solutions. It is attracting users looking for cost-effective yet high-performing AI tools.

In contrast, ChatGPT serves a broader audience, including individuals, businesses, and educators & students. Its ability to generate context-aware, human-like responses makes it a preferred choice across diverse sectors.

DeepSeek R1 vs ChatGPT

DeepSeek R1 is the latest open-source model that has become the talk of the tech world. It is a powerful reasoning model that helps solve tasks requiring advanced reasoning and deep problem-solving. In contrast, ChatGPT is more like a general-purpose bot.

Some of the key DeepSeek R1 vs ChatGPT differences are as follows:

• Research & Innovation: DeepSeek R1 assists academic institutions with experimental AI applications, while ChatGPT follows a commercial development cycle.
• Ecosystem Transparency: DeepSeek R1 is open-source and encourages community contributions, whereas ChatGPT remains proprietary and closed-source.
• Coding Ability: DeepSeek R1 is good for programming and debugging, while ChatGPT is exceptional at code generation and explanation.
• Image Generation: DeepSeek R1 cannot generate images directly from the chat interface, while ChatGPT offers direct DALL-E-powered image creation.
• Domain Specialization: DeepSeek R1's mixture-of-experts design enhances technical query responses, while ChatGPT offers more generalized outputs.
• Creativity and Writing: DeepSeek R1 offers decent creativity with an emphasis on factual and analytical content writing, while ChatGPT focuses on storytelling, poetry, creative writing, and ideation.
• Deployment Flexibility: DeepSeek R1 supports full on-premise deployment, whereas ChatGPT is primarily cloud-based.
• Customizability: DeepSeek R1 allows extensive configuration options, whereas ChatGPT provides standardized responses.
• Data Privacy: DeepSeek R1 emphasizes transparent data handling, while ChatGPT follows a centralized security model.

In short, DeepSeek R1 and ChatGPT are both conversational AI platforms, but they vary significantly in their architecture and targeted applications.

Pros and Cons of DeepSeek and ChatGPT

From the above DeepSeek vs ChatGPT features comparison, we can see that both tools have their unique strengths and weaknesses.

DeepSeek Pros

• Optimize performance and resource consumption due to the MoE approach
• High accuracy in responding to complex problems
• Open source with flexibility for customization
• Support for full on-premises deployment
• Exceptional reasoning capabilities

DeepSeek Cons

• Limited conversational nuance
• Influenced by China's censorship policies
• Less effective creative writing

ChatGPT Pros

• Highly adaptable applications across fields
• Nuanced and well-rounded responses
• Exceptional at code generation and explanation
• Top-notch performance in creativity and writing
• DALL-E-powered image creation
• Numerous plugins and tools

ChatGPT Cons

• Closed-source with costly plans
• May generate inaccurate or outdated responses

Pros & Cons Summary Chart

Cost Comparison: DeepSeek vs ChatGPT

One of the reasons DeepSeek disrupted the financial markets was its affordability compared to other well-known AI models. DeepSeek is both open-source and highly cost-friendly. In fact, DeepSeek R1 API is 96.4% cheaper than ChatGPT.

 

Training Costs: DeepSeek R1 vs ChatGPT o1

DeepSeek R1 costs a fraction of what ChatGPT o1 costs to train.

Web Usage Costs

DeepSeek R1 is completely free to use unless you integrate its API. So, you can use DeepSeek on the web or Android/iPhone for free and access conversational AI for day-to-day activities. In contrast, you have to pay $20/month to access the premium features of ChatGPT.

Per-Token Usage Costs

DeepSeek R1 is almost 50 times more cost-friendly per token than ChatGPT o1. For example, if a marketing agency uses AI for marketing content generation and consumes 10 million words per month, it will cost:

• DeepSeek R1: $1.87/month
• ChatGPT o1: $100/month

Simply put, DeepSeek R1 cuts off the AI costs to just a few bucks instead of spending tens of thousands on tokens.

API Cost (Per 1 Million Tokens)

Overall, the DeepSeek cost vs ChatGPT comparison shows that the DeepSeek API is substantially cheaper than the ChatGPT API and can help businesses save up significant costs in the long run.

Community & User Sentiment

DeepSeek is lauded for its open-source and cost-friendly nature, while ChatGPT is known for its expansive, creative capabilities. However, the real effectiveness of the platform is evident from the community feedback and user sentiment.

Both tools have been extensively discussed on platforms like Reddit, tech forums, and more.

Users Sentiment about DeepSeek

A significant number of users have shown a positive reaction to DeekSeek. They have appreciated its efficiency and affordability.

One users say on Reddit that:

“I give Deepseek R1 a prompt or a pain point that needs a solution in R or Python, it gives me exactly what I need. o1 will give me what I need but may miss dependencies or skip some important steps and likes to overcomplicate things.”

In contrast, some users have also shown concerns about accuracy, censorship, and privacy with DeepSeek. Topview analyzed 2,347 tweets about users' sentiments toward DeepSeek and found the following results:

Simply put, users are praising DeepSeek for its capabilities and affordability, which has helped grab millions of users.

Users Sentiment about ChatGPT

ChatGPT has been around for over 2 years now. Users have praised ChatGPT for its versatility, as it can assist in almost any task. One user review highlighted that:

“ChatGPT unlike other search engines has memory, also understands context making use of the previous prompts which makes it a powerful question answering system. The upgraded versions also allows you to attach images and videos in addition to just text prompts which is very helpful. A good coding companion. Makes everyday tasks faster and easier.”

Some users have also shown concerns about ChatGPT's accuracy and affordability. Moreover, they have raised eyebrows over its occasional biases and expensive plans to access its full capabilities.

DeepSeek RI vs ChatGPT: User Perspectives

Many users have compared DeepSeek and ChatGPT and shared their experiences and insights. The top insights gathered from users' experiences include:

• Speed & Capability: Certain users reported that DeepSeek operated at greater speed and handled intricate reasoning tasks more efficiently. However, others still favored ChatGPT for its ability to provide more refined and contextually rich responses.
• Affordability: DeepSeek's budget-friendly nature made it highly appealing, particularly for individuals who felt that ChatGPT’s pricing structure was too restrictive.
• Precision: While DeepSeek earned praise for its capabilities, some users pointed out that it occasionally lacked accuracy when processing complex or ambiguous questions.
• Misinformation Issues: Similar to other AI models, DeepSeek sometimes produces inaccurate or misleading content.

Topview also analyzed tweets to find user preferences for LLMs. The graph below reflects the user preferences:

It is clearly evident that DeepSeek has made a hard impact in the LLMs industry, disrupting the costly models of US-based platforms and opening a new avenue for accessible AI solutions.

FAQs about ChatGPT vs DeepSeek

Q1. Which is better, DeepSeek or ChatGPT?

DeepSeek and ChatGPT have unique strengths and weaknesses. DeepSeek excels in reasoning capabilities and cost-effectiveness. In contrast, ChatGPT dominates creativity, writing, code generation, brainstorming, etc.

Q2. Is DeepSeek safe?

DeepSeek AI has faced public allegations of utilizing OpenAI's proprietary models to create a rival AI system. Although DeepSeek has not yet addressed these claims, the accusations have sparked widespread doubts about the platform's credibility and ethical practices.

Q3. How is DeepSeek better than ChatGPT?

DeepSeek is better than ChatGPT in specific areas, such as research, summarization, fact-checking, and solving complex problems. In contrast, ChatGPT outperforms DeepSeek in creative brainstorming, writing content, coding, and similar other areas.

Final Verdict: Which One Should You Choose?

The DeepSeek vs ChatGPT comparison shows that there isn't a clear winner. The final choice depends on the specific use case. DeepSeek should be your choice if you need a cost-effective AI that is exceptional in reasoning and complex problem-solving. In contrast, ChatGPT should be your go-to tool for creativity, content generation, and writing.

Alternatively, what if you get an enterprise AI agent with both DeepSeek and ChatGPT capabilities? That's what GPTBots offers.

GPTBots provides end-to-end AI solutions for enterprises, helping them implement AI agents for customer service, data insights, and more. It allows organizations to create AI agents using multiple LLMs, such as GPT-4o, Claude, Llama, etc. Recently, it has integrated DeepSeek's Janus-Pro, which further enhances its capabilities in AI image generation. Simply put, GPTBots is a comprehensive, go-to tool for creating powerful enterprise AI agents.

Start Your Free Demo