Model Comparison

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

Claude 3.5 Sonnet significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

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

Claude 3.5 Sonnet (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.

Claude 3.5 Sonnet outperforms in 5 benchmarks (AI2D, ChartQA, DocVQA, MathVista, MMMU), while DeepSeek VL2 Small is better at 0 benchmarks. Claude 3.5 Sonnet significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Choose Claude 3.5 Sonnet if…

  • you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 5 of 5 shared benchmarks

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

5 benchmarks

Claude 3.5 Sonnet outperforms in 5 benchmarks (AI2D, ChartQA, DocVQA, MathVista, MMMU), while DeepSeek VL2 Small is better at 0 benchmarks.

Claude 3.5 Sonnet significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Fri Jul 03 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

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

Anthropic
Claude 3.5 Sonnet
Input200,000 tokens
Output200,000 tokens
DeepSeek
DeepSeek VL2 Small
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
Fri Jul 03 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Both Claude 3.5 Sonnet and DeepSeek VL2 Small support multimodal inputs.

They are both capable of processing various types of data, offering versatility in application.

Claude 3.5 Sonnet

Text
Images
Audio
Video

DeepSeek VL2 Small

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Claude 3.5 Sonnet 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 Sonnet

Proprietary

Closed source

DeepSeek VL2 Small

deepseek

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Claude 3.5 Sonnet 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 Sonnet.

Claude 3.5 Sonnet

Oct 22, 2024

1.7 years ago

DeepSeek VL2 Small

Dec 13, 2024

1.6 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

Anthropic
Larger context window (200,000 tokens)
Higher AI2D score (94.7% vs 80.0%)
Higher ChartQA score (90.8% vs 84.5%)
Higher DocVQA score (95.2% vs 92.3%)
Higher MathVista score (67.7% vs 60.7%)
Higher MMMU score (68.3% vs 48.0%)
DeepSeek
Has open weights

Detailed Comparison

Interactive Arena

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Claude 3.5 Sonnet and DeepSeek VL2 Small side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Claude 3.5 Sonnet
✓ Preferred
DeepSeek VL2 Small
Open in Playground
AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
Anthropic
Claude 3.5 Sonnet
DeepSeek
DeepSeek VL2 Small

FAQ

Common questions about Claude 3.5 Sonnet vs DeepSeek VL2 Small.

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

Claude 3.5 Sonnet significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Claude 3.5 Sonnet is made by Anthropic and DeepSeek VL2 Small is made by DeepSeek. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their benchmark scores, pricing, and capabilities above.

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

Claude 3.5 Sonnet scores GSM8k: 96.4%, DocVQA: 95.2%, AI2D: 94.7%, HumanEval: 93.7%, BIG-Bench Hard: 93.1%. 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 Sonnet and DeepSeek VL2 Small?

Claude 3.5 Sonnet 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 Sonnet and DeepSeek VL2 Small?

Key differences include licensing (Proprietary vs deepseek). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Claude 3.5 Sonnet and DeepSeek VL2 Small?

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

Related comparisons