Model Comparison

Claude 3 Opus vs DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32BWhich is better in 2026?

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B is 222.2x cheaper per token.

Verdict: Claude 3 Opus vs DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B — which is better?

Claude 3 Opus (by Anthropic) and DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B (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 Opus outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B is better at 1 benchmark (GPQA). DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

On price, DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B is roughly 222.2x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.

Claude 3 Opus also accepts a larger context window (200,000 input tokens), making it the stronger choice for long documents and large codebases.

Choose Claude 3 Opus if…

  • you process long inputs — it offers a 200,000 token context window

Choose DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B if…

  • you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 1 of 1 shared benchmarks
  • cost matters — it's about 222.2x cheaper per token
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Jan 2025
  • you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

1 benchmarks

Claude 3 Opus outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B is better at 1 benchmark (GPQA).

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Sat Jul 18 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Pricing Analysis

Price comparison per million tokens

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B costs less

For input processing, Claude 3 Opus ($15.00/1M tokens) is 125.0x more expensive than DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B ($0.12/1M tokens).

For output processing, Claude 3 Opus ($75.00/1M tokens) is 416.7x more expensive than DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B ($0.18/1M tokens).

In conclusion, Claude 3 Opus is more expensive than DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B.*

* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens

Lowest available price from all providers
Sat Jul 18 2026 • llm-stats.com
Anthropic
Claude 3 Opus
Input tokens$15.00
Output tokens$75.00
Best providerAnthropic
DeepSeek
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B
Input tokens$0.12
Output tokens$0.18
Best providerDeepinfra
Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Claude 3 Opus accepts 200,000 input tokens compared to DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B's 128,000 tokens. Claude 3 Opus can generate longer responses up to 200,000 tokens, while DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B is limited to 128,000 tokens.

Anthropic
Claude 3 Opus
Input200,000 tokens
Output200,000 tokens
DeepSeek
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B
Input128,000 tokens
Output128,000 tokens
Sat Jul 18 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Claude 3 Opus supports multimodal inputs, whereas DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B does not.

Claude 3 Opus can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.

Claude 3 Opus

Text
Images
Audio
Video

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Claude 3 Opus is licensed under a proprietary license, while DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B uses MIT.

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

Claude 3 Opus

Proprietary

Closed source

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B

MIT

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Claude 3 Opus was released on 2024-02-29, while DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B was released on 2025-01-20.

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B is 11 months newer than Claude 3 Opus.

Claude 3 Opus

Feb 29, 2024

2.4 years ago

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B

Jan 20, 2025

1.5 years ago

10mo 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

Provider Availability

Claude 3 Opus is available from Anthropic, Bedrock, Google. DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B is available from DeepInfra.

Claude 3 Opus

anthropic logo
Anthropic
Input Price:Input: $15.00/1MOutput Price:Output: $75.00/1M
bedrock logo
AWS Bedrock
Input Price:Input: $15.00/1MOutput Price:Output: $75.00/1M
google logo
Google
Input Price:Input: $15.00/1MOutput Price:Output: $75.00/1M

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B

deepinfra logo
Deepinfra
Input Price:Input: $0.12/1MOutput Price:Output: $0.18/1M
* Prices shown are per million tokens

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion

Key Takeaways

Larger context window (200,000 tokens)
Supports multimodal inputs
Less expensive input tokens
Less expensive output tokens
Has open weights
Higher GPQA score (62.1% vs 50.4%)

Detailed Comparison

Interactive Arena

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Claude 3 Opus and DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Claude 3 Opus
✓ Preferred
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B
Open in Playground
AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
Anthropic
Claude 3 Opus
DeepSeek
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B

FAQ

Common questions about Claude 3 Opus vs DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B.

Which is better, Claude 3 Opus or DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B?

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Claude 3 Opus is made by Anthropic and DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B is made by DeepSeek. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their benchmark scores, pricing, and capabilities above.

How does Claude 3 Opus compare to DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B in benchmarks?

Claude 3 Opus scores ARC-C: 96.4%, HellaSwag: 95.4%, GSM8k: 95.0%, MGSM: 90.7%, BIG-Bench Hard: 86.8%. DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B scores MATH-500: 94.3%, AIME 2024: 83.3%, GPQA: 62.1%, LiveCodeBench: 57.2%.

Is Claude 3 Opus cheaper than DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B?

DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B is 125.0x cheaper for input tokens. Claude 3 Opus costs $15.00/M input and $75.00/M output via anthropic. DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B costs $0.12/M input and $0.18/M output via deepinfra.

What are the context window sizes for Claude 3 Opus and DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B?

Claude 3 Opus supports 200K tokens and DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B supports 128K 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 Opus and DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B?

Key differences include context window (200K vs 128K), input pricing ($15.00 vs $0.12/M), multimodal support (yes vs no), licensing (Proprietary vs MIT). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Claude 3 Opus and DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B?

Claude 3 Opus is developed by Anthropic and DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B is developed by DeepSeek.