Model Comparison

Claude 3.5 Haiku vs DeepSeek VL2 SmallWhich is better in 2026?

Comparing Claude 3.5 Haiku and DeepSeek VL2 Small across benchmarks, pricing, and capabilities.

Verdict: Claude 3.5 Haiku vs DeepSeek VL2 Small — which is better?

Claude 3.5 Haiku (by Anthropic) and DeepSeek VL2 Small (by DeepSeek) are two of the AI models people compare most. Here is how they stack up on benchmarks, price and capabilities, and which one to pick in 2026.

Choose Claude 3.5 Haiku if…

  • you want predictable pricing at $0.80/M input and $4.00/M output

Choose DeepSeek VL2 Small if…

  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Dec 2024
  • you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

No common benchmarks found

Claude 3.5 Haiku and DeepSeek VL2 Smalldon't have any common benchmark datasets to compare. They may have been evaluated on different testing suites.

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Only Claude 3.5 Haiku specifies input context (200,000 tokens). Only Claude 3.5 Haiku specifies output context (200,000 tokens).

Anthropic
Claude 3.5 Haiku
Input200,000 tokens
Output200,000 tokens
DeepSeek
DeepSeek VL2 Small
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
Sat Jun 13 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

DeepSeek VL2 Small supports multimodal inputs, whereas Claude 3.5 Haiku does not.

DeepSeek VL2 Small can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.

Claude 3.5 Haiku

Text
Images
Audio
Video

DeepSeek VL2 Small

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Claude 3.5 Haiku is licensed under a proprietary license, while DeepSeek VL2 Small uses deepseek.

License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.

Claude 3.5 Haiku

Proprietary

Closed source

DeepSeek VL2 Small

deepseek

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Claude 3.5 Haiku was released on 2024-10-22, while DeepSeek VL2 Small was released on 2024-12-13.

DeepSeek VL2 Small is 2 months newer than Claude 3.5 Haiku.

Claude 3.5 Haiku

Oct 22, 2024

1.6 years ago

DeepSeek VL2 Small

Dec 13, 2024

1.5 years ago

1mo newer

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Neither model specifies a knowledge cutoff date.

Unable to compare the recency of their training data.

No cutoff dates available

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion

Key Takeaways

Larger context window (200,000 tokens)
Supports multimodal inputs
Has open weights

Detailed Comparison

AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
Anthropic
Claude 3.5 Haiku
DeepSeek
DeepSeek VL2 Small

FAQ

Common questions about Claude 3.5 Haiku vs DeepSeek VL2 Small.

Which is better, Claude 3.5 Haiku or DeepSeek VL2 Small?

Claude 3.5 Haiku (Anthropic) and DeepSeek VL2 Small (DeepSeek) each have strengths in different areas. Compare their benchmark scores, pricing, context windows, and capabilities above to determine which fits your needs.

How does Claude 3.5 Haiku compare to DeepSeek VL2 Small in benchmarks?

Claude 3.5 Haiku scores HumanEval: 88.1%, MGSM: 85.6%, DROP: 83.1%, MATH: 69.4%, MMLU-Pro: 65.0%. DeepSeek VL2 Small scores DocVQA: 92.3%, ChartQA: 84.5%, OCRBench: 83.4%, TextVQA: 83.4%, MMBench: 80.3%.

What are the context window sizes for Claude 3.5 Haiku and DeepSeek VL2 Small?

Claude 3.5 Haiku supports 200K tokens and DeepSeek VL2 Small supports an unknown number of tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.

What are the main differences between Claude 3.5 Haiku and DeepSeek VL2 Small?

Key differences include multimodal support (no vs yes), licensing (Proprietary vs deepseek). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Claude 3.5 Haiku and DeepSeek VL2 Small?

Claude 3.5 Haiku is developed by Anthropic and DeepSeek VL2 Small is developed by DeepSeek.