HEAD-TO-HEAD · BUDGET TIER · VERIFIED 30 JUL 2026
Grok 4.1 vs DeepSeek V3: the two budget models with the least in common
Both sit in this site's budget tier, and that's roughly where the similarity ends. One is closed-weight from a well-funded lab with a consumer platform behind it; the other is open-weight and became the reference point for "how cheap can a real model actually be." The price gap between them is smaller than the gap in what they represent.
| Spec | Grok 4.1 | DeepSeek V3 |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | xAI | DeepSeek |
| Input / 1M tokens | $0.20 | $0.27 |
| Output / 1M tokens | $0.50 | $1.10 |
| Context window | 128K | 128K |
| Weights | Closed | Open |
The price gap
Grok 4.1 is cheaper on both sides of the table — 26% cheaper on input, and 55% cheaper on output, which matters more than it looks since output tokens carry most of the cost in a typical mixed workload. Context window is a flat tie at 128K, so there's no capacity trade-off softening the comparison either way.
Worked example
At 50M input and 15M output tokens a month, Grok 4.1 runs about $17.50/month against DeepSeek V3's roughly $30.00/month on standard list pricing — a meaningful gap at any real volume, not a rounding error.
The number the price table doesn't capture
DeepSeek V3 ships as open-weight; Grok 4.1 does not. If the only question is cost per token through each provider's own hosted API, Grok wins outright and this comparison is short. But open weights matter for a specific, narrower set of needs: self-hosting to avoid per-token cost entirely at high volume, full control over the model for compliance or data-residency reasons, or the option to run the same weights through a different, possibly cheaper, third-party host. None of that shows up in a per-token table — this comparison prices DeepSeek's own hosted API, not a self-hosted deployment.
Where it actually matters
For a standard API call through either provider's own hosted endpoint — the default for most solo-founder use cases — Grok 4.1's lower price wins cleanly, no asterisk. The open-weight angle only changes the answer if self-hosting or a specific data-control requirement was already on your list before price entered the conversation.
Prices verified against each provider's official documentation, 30 July 2026. Use the calculator with your own usage for an exact comparison, or see the full price table for every tracked model.