BenchLeader

Claude Opus 5.5 vs DeepSeek V4 Pro 0424

Full profiles: Claude Opus 5.5 (Anthropic) and DeepSeek V4 Pro 0424 (DeepSeek): every benchmark, price and rank.

Updated · Data from 10 sources

As of 22 Oct 2026, Claude Opus 5.5 (max) leads on quality (72.7 vs 59.7 on the BenchLeader Index), but DeepSeek V4 Pro 0424 (max) costs 15× less, so it is the better buy unless you need the extra quality. Claude Opus 5.5 leads in every category we measure both in.

Which to pick for…

The pick's numbers come first. Category scores on the BenchLeader scale (50 is the average model, 15 points one standard deviation). High confidence means a lead of half a standard deviation or more; under one point is called either.

Use casePickWhyConfidence
Agents & tool useEither64 vs 64 category score; GDPval-AA v2.1 68.3% vs 32.8%Either
ReasoningClaude Opus 5.576 vs 62 category score; CritPt 31.7% vs 12.9%High
KnowledgeClaude Opus 5.579 vs 57 category score; AA-Omniscience 46.4 vs -10.7High
Long documentsClaude Opus 5.568 vs 62 category score; AA-LCR 84.7% vs 74.7%Medium
Lowest costDeepSeek V4 Pro 0424$0.548 vs $8.00 per 1M blended; agentic coding session $0.030 vs $0.320–
Fastest first answerDeepSeek V4 Pro 0424614.4 s (Claude Opus 5.5 (max)) vs 49.0 s (DeepSeek V4 Pro 0424 (max)) to the first answer token–
High volume on a budgetNeither flagshipA smaller model is usually the better fit: Cheapest good LLMs, Fastest LLMs–

Key differences

  • Claude Opus 5.5 (max) leads on quality: 72.7 vs 59.7.
  • Claude Opus 5.5 (max) is stronger in coding, composite, knowledge, long context, maths, multimodal, reasoning.
  • DeepSeek V4 Pro 0424 (max) is stronger in agents & tools, instruction following.
  • DeepSeek V4 Pro 0424 (max) is 15× cheaper ($0.548 vs $8.00 per 1M blended).

At a glance

SpecClaude Opus 5.5DeepSeek V4 Pro 0424
DeveloperAnthropicDeepSeek
Released22 Sept 202624 Apr 2026
Context window (tokens)1,000,0001,000,000
Max output (tokens)128,000 (up to 300K on the Message Batches API (beta))–
Input typestext, image–
Reasoning effort settingslow, medium, high, xhigh, max–
Compared atClaude Opus 5.5 (max)DeepSeek V4 Pro 0424 (max)
Open weightsNoYes
Price in / out / cached input per 1M$4.00 / $20.00 / $0.200$0.440 / $0.870 / –
API model IDclaude-opus-5-5–
Where to use itClaude API, Amazon Bedrock, Google Cloud, Microsoft Foundry–

Limits, availability and announced prices from the vendors' own pages: docs.anthropic.com (checked 20 Oct 2026). Everything else is from the day's data.

Category by category

Category scores on the BenchLeader scale: 50 is the average evaluated model, 15 points is one standard deviation. A gap under one point is called level.

CategoryClaude Opus 5.5 (max)DeepSeek V4 Pro 0424 (max)Leader
Reasoning75.862.2Claude Opus 5.5
Coding82.1–not comparable
Agents & tools63.663.8level
Maths74.3–not comparable
Knowledge78.856.7Claude Opus 5.5
Instruction following–74.5not comparable
Multimodal71.0–not comparable
Long context67.562.3Claude Opus 5.5
Composite94.363.7Claude Opus 5.5

Where sources disagree

Across the 14 benchmarks both have, Claude Opus 5.5 leads 13, DeepSeek V4 Pro 0424 leads 1. Every overall index that rates both puts Claude Opus 5.5 ahead.

Overall indexClaude Opus 5.5 (max)DeepSeek V4 Pro 0424 (max)Leader
BenchLeader Index72.759.7Claude Opus 5.5
AA Intelligence Index v4.3.257.630.4Claude Opus 5.5

Each publisher runs its own tasks, harnesses and effort settings, so their overall verdicts can differ; BenchLeader reconciles them on one scale. † measured at another effort setting of the same model (the publisher did not test the one compared here).

Price, speed and latency

List prices blended at three input tokens per output token. Per-task prices use the token counts on the methodology page; suite cost is what Artificial Analysis paid to run its whole Intelligence Index.

MeasureClaude Opus 5.5 (max)DeepSeek V4 Pro 0424 (max)
Blended price per 1M tokens$8.00$0.548
Input / output per 1M$4.00 / $20.00$0.440 / $0.870
Cached input per 1M$0.200–
Price per task: chat reply$0.0076$0.0004
Price per task: summarize a 30-page report$0.060$0.0058
Price per task: code edit$0.054$0.0039
Price per task: agentic coding session$0.320$0.030
Price per task: structured extraction$0.012$0.0011
Cost to run a full benchmark suite$5.98$0.122
Output speed96 tok/s92 tok/s
Time to first answer614.4 s49.0 s
Time to a complete answer619.6 s54.4 s

Per token is not per task: on Artificial Analysis' full suite Claude Opus 5.5 (max) cost $5.98 and DeepSeek V4 Pro 0424 (max) $0.122, because Claude Opus 5.5 (max) used about 3.4× as many tokens for the same work, which a per-token price hides.

Each model is compared at its best-ranked reasoning-effort setting. Claude Opus 5.5 (max) scores 72.7 and takes 614 s to its first answer token; Claude Opus 5.5 (xhigh) scores 70.1 in 124 s, Claude Opus 5.5 (high) scores 69.5 in 35 s. DeepSeek V4 Pro 0424 (max) scores 59.7 and takes 49 s to its first answer token; DeepSeek V4 Pro 0424 (high) scores 57.9 in 25 s, DeepSeek V4 Pro 0424 (no reasoning) scores 50.8 in 2 s. Higher effort means more thinking before the answer: better scores, longer waits and more tokens billed. How reasoning effort changes scores and cost.

Every benchmark

116 benchmarks, grouped by category; each name links to the board and its leaders. † measured at another effort setting of the same model, shown for reference and not counted as a win.

MetricPublisherClaude Opus 5.5 (max)DeepSeek V4 Pro 0424 (max)
BenchLeader IndexBenchLeader72.759.7
Agents & tools scoreBenchLeader63.663.8
Coding scoreBenchLeader82.1–
Composite scoreBenchLeader94.363.7
Knowledge scoreBenchLeader78.856.7
Long context scoreBenchLeader67.562.3
Maths scoreBenchLeader74.3–
Multimodal scoreBenchLeader71.0–
Reasoning scoreBenchLeader75.862.2
Instruction following scoreBenchLeader–74.5
Blended price $/MBenchLeader$8.00$0.548
Output speedBenchLeader96 tok/s92 tok/s
Time to first answerBenchLeader614.4 s49.0 s
Context windowBenchLeader1,000,000 tokens1,000,000 tokens
Reasoning
GPQA DiamondEpoch AI Benchmarking Hub90.6%–
Arena Hard PromptsArena (LMArena)1534†–
LiveBench 2.0 ReasoningLiveBench92.2%†–
LiveBench 1.0 ReasoningLiveBench92.2%–
GPQA Diamond (AA)Artificial Analysis–88.8%
Humanity's Last Exam (AA)Artificial Analysis61.4%37.5%
ARC-AGI-1ARC Prize97.5%–
ARC-AGI-2ARC Prize91.7%–
CritPtArtificial Analysis31.7%12.9%
MysteryMechanismVals AI49.5%†–
Chess PuzzlesEpoch AI Benchmarking Hub67.0%–
Mystery Game PuzzlesEpoch AI Benchmarking Hub71.0%–
LMCAEpoch AI Benchmarking Hub68.2%–
DTBenchEpoch AI Benchmarking Hub98.9%–
Coding
SciCodeSciCode66.9%–
FrontierCodeCognition54.6%†–
Arena CodingArena (LMArena)1548†–
Arena WebDevArena (LMArena)1807–
LiveBench 2.0 CodingLiveBench96.3%†–
LiveBench 1.0 CodingLiveBench89.3%–
SciCode (AA)Artificial Analysis66.9%50.8%
IOIVals AI95.1%†–
Code MigrationVals AI66.7%†–
ProgramBenchVals AI18.5%†–
Vibe Code Bench 1-100Vals AI30.4%†–
Show all 116 benchmarks
MetricPublisherClaude Opus 5.5 (max)DeepSeek V4 Pro 0424 (max)
Coding
Vibe Code Bench v1.1Vals AI90.3%†–
MirrorCodeEpoch AI Benchmarking Hub77.4%–
CursorBenchCursor57.8%–
ALE-BenchEpoch AI Benchmarking Hub2147.4†–
FrontierSWEEpoch AI Benchmarking Hub62.3%–
Terminal-Bench 4.0 (AA)Artificial Analysis59.6%14.7%
Terminal-Bench 2.1 (AA)Artificial Analysis–64.0%
Startrise FrontendStartrise71.1%†–
FrontierCode 1.1 (AA)Artificial Analysis52.2%–
Agents & tools
Terminal-BenchTerminal-Bench64.8%–
Remote Labor IndexScale AI / CAIS21.3%†–
APEX-AgentsMercor73.5%–
Arena AgentArena (LMArena)20.9–
LiveBench Long AgenticLiveBench85.0%†–
LiveBench BrowserLiveBench80.0%†–
LiveBench Agentic CodingLiveBench71.7%–
Terminal-Bench HardArtificial Analysis–46.2%
τ²-Bench Telecom (AA)Artificial Analysis–96.2%
Terminal-Bench 2.1 (Vals)Vals AI87.6%†–
HiL-BenchScale AI SEAL59.0%†–
GDPval-AA v2.1Artificial Analysis68.3%32.8%
τ³-Banking (AA)Artificial Analysis–30.1%
ITBench SRE (AA)Artificial Analysis38.2%38.3%
Analyst Agent (AA)Artificial Analysis56.3%18.8%
APEX-Agents (AA)Artificial Analysis–24.3%
CUA-benchVals AI14.0%–
CyberBenchVals AI55.4%†–
Finance Agent v2Vals AI58.6%†–
Harvey's Legal Agent BenchmarkVals AI9.2%†–
Legal Research BenchVals AI50.5%†–
SREBenchVals AI33.6%†–
Tax Agent BenchVals AI45.6%†–
Terminal-Bench 4.0 (Vals)Vals AI65.2%†–
Terminal-Bench ScienceVals AI47.1%†–
Time Horizon Index: KSPVals AI91.3%†–
Arena SearchArena (LMArena)1211†–
Vending-Bench 2Andon Labs9235.3†–
AutomationBenchArtificial Analysis69.5%56.3%
GDP.pdf (AA)Artificial Analysis26.2%13.4%
Harvey LAB-AA v1.1Harvey4.2%–
EnterpriseOps-GymArtificial Analysis–40.4%
AA-Briefcase v1.1Artificial Analysis1802–
Terminal-Bench-Science 0.1 (AA)Artificial Analysis59.0%–
CWE-Bench (AA)Artificial Analysis58.3%–
DeepSec-Bench (AA)Artificial Analysis26.9%–
CyberGym end-to-end (AA)Artificial Analysis0.8%–
FACTS SearchGoogle86.5%†–
Maths
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Epoch AI Benchmarking Hub91.2%–
FrontierMath Tier 4Epoch AI Benchmarking Hub95.0%–
OTIS Mock AIMEEpoch AI Benchmarking Hub100.0%–
ProofBenchVals AI100.0%–
LiveBench MathematicsLiveBench97.1%–
Arena MathsArena (LMArena)1512†–
Knowledge
SimpleQA VerifiedEpoch AI Benchmarking Hub72.2%–
LiveBench 2.0 Data AnalysisLiveBench80.3%†–
LiveBench ResearchLiveBench85.0%†–
LiveBench 1.0 Data AnalysisLiveBench80.3%–
AA-OmniscienceArtificial Analysis46.4-10.7
PRBench LegalScale AI SEAL47.6%†–
BioMysteryBenchVals AI79.3%†–
Excel Modeling BenchmarkVals AI75.9%†–
MedCodeVals AI49.8%†–
MedScribeVals AI91.4%†–
Public Benefits BenchVals AI70.6%†–
EBR-benchEpoch AI Benchmarking Hub71.4%–
GDP.pdfEpoch AI Benchmarking Hub30.6%–
AA-Omniscience: accuracyArtificial Analysis66.2%43.0%
AA-Omniscience: non-hallucinationArtificial Analysis41.4%5.9%
Instruction following
LiveBench LanguageLiveBench86.3%–
LiveBench Instruction FollowingLiveBench65.7%–
IFBenchArtificial Analysis–76.5%
Arena Instruction FollowingArena (LMArena)1520†–
Human preference
Arena TextArena (LMArena)1509†–
Arena Creative WritingArena (LMArena)1520†–
Arena Multi-turnArena (LMArena)1501†–
Arena Longer QueriesArena (LMArena)1524†–
Multimodal
Arena VisionArena (LMArena)1321†–
LiveBench DesignLiveBench86.9%†–
MMMU-ProArtificial Analysis87.7%–
SAGEVals AI45.8%†–
Blueprint-Bench 2Epoch AI Benchmarking Hub51.2%†–
AA-3DArtificial Analysis1191–
Long context
AA-LCRArtificial Analysis84.7%74.7%
MLCRArtificial Analysis27.8%9.4%
Composite
Epoch Capabilities IndexEpoch AI Benchmarking Hub168.8†–
LiveBench 2.0LiveBench86.5%†–
LiveBench 1.0LiveBench83.2%–
AA Intelligence Index v4.3.2Artificial Analysis57.630.4
Vals IndexVals AI70.2†–
AA Cyber IndexArtificial Analysis28.7–
Safety & honesty
FORTRESSScale AI SEAL5.8%–

Data as of 2026-10-22. Best configuration of each model; every score links to its source on the model pages.

What changed

  • Claude Opus 5.5 (max): 2 score revisions.
  • Claude Opus 5.5 (max): 2 score revisions.
  • Claude Opus 5.5 (max): BenchLeader Index 71.9 → 72.6.
  • Claude Opus 5.5 (max): 1 new result (FORTRESS).
  • Claude Opus 5.5 (max): BenchLeader Index 71.3 → 71.9.
  • Claude Opus 5.5 (max): 1 score revision.
  • Claude Opus 5.5 (max): 1 new result (Chess Puzzles); 1 score revision.
  • Claude Opus 5.5 (max): 1 new result (Arena Agent).
  • Claude Opus 5.5 (max): BenchLeader Index 72.0 → 71.3.
  • Claude Opus 5.5 (max): 7 new results (FrontierCode 1.1 (AA), Terminal-Bench-Science 0.1 (AA), AA Cyber Index…).

Rankings: Best LLM overall · Best LLM for coding · Best LLM for agents · Best cheap LLMs

Claude Opus 5.5 vs DeepSeek V4 Pro 0424: questions

Is Claude Opus 5.5 better than DeepSeek V4 Pro 0424?
Claude Opus 5.5 (max) leads on quality: 72.7 vs 59.7. The BenchLeader Index combines every independent quality benchmark; Claude Opus 5.5 (max) is ahead overall as of 2026-10-22, but check the category scores for your use.
Which is cheaper, Claude Opus 5.5 or DeepSeek V4 Pro 0424, and will that change?
DeepSeek V4 Pro 0424 is cheaper today: $0.548 against $8.00 per million tokens, blended at three input tokens per output token. No price change has been announced for either.
Is Claude Opus 5.5 better than DeepSeek V4 Pro 0424 for agents and tool use?
They are level in agentic tasks (64 vs 64 on the category index).
Which is better for long documents?
Claude Opus 5.5 scores higher on long-context benchmarks (68 vs 62). Both accept 1,000,000 tokens of context.
Which has lower latency?
DeepSeek V4 Pro 0424 (max) answers first: 49.0 s against 614.4 s to the first answer token, as Artificial Analysis measures it. Reasoning effort drives most of this: a higher setting thinks longer before it answers.
Which is faster, Claude Opus 5.5 or DeepSeek V4 Pro 0424?
Claude Opus 5.5 streams faster: 96 against 92 output tokens per second.
Do independent benchmarks agree on Claude Opus 5.5 vs DeepSeek V4 Pro 0424?
Across the 14 benchmarks both have, Claude Opus 5.5 leads 13, DeepSeek V4 Pro 0424 leads 1. Every overall index that rates both puts Claude Opus 5.5 ahead.
When was Claude Opus 5.5 released?
Claude Opus 5.5 was released on 22 Sept 2026.