DeepSeek-R1 vs Qwen2.5 72B Instruct
Comparing DeepSeek-R1 and Qwen2.5 72B Instruct across benchmarks, pricing, and capabilities.
DeepSeek · Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team · Updated for 2026
Which is better?
DeepSeek-R1 and Qwen2.5 72B Instruct trade strengths across price, capabilities, and technical limits. The better choice depends on the workload.
On price, Qwen2.5 72B Instruct is roughly 2.6x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.
Based on current LLM Stats indexes, shared benchmarks, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.
Choose DeepSeek-R1
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Jan 2025
Choose Qwen2.5 72B Instruct
- cost matters — it's about 2.6x cheaper per token
At a glance
The differences that matter most.
Individual benchmarks
0 reported for DeepSeek-R1 · 14 for Qwen2.5 72B Instruct
DeepSeek-R1 and Qwen2.5 72B Instructdon't have any common benchmark datasets to compare. They may have been evaluated on different testing suites.
Human preference
Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores
Pricing Analysis
Price comparison per million tokens
For input processing, DeepSeek-R1 ($0.55/1M tokens) is 1.6x more expensive than Qwen2.5 72B Instruct ($0.35/1M tokens).
For output processing, DeepSeek-R1 ($2.19/1M tokens) is 5.5x more expensive than Qwen2.5 72B Instruct ($0.40/1M tokens).
In conclusion, DeepSeek-R1 is more expensive than Qwen2.5 72B Instruct.*
* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens
Model Size
Parameter count comparison
DeepSeek-R1 has 598.3B more parameters than Qwen2.5 72B Instruct, making it 823.0% larger.
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Both models have the same input context window of 131,072 tokens. DeepSeek-R1 can generate longer responses up to 131,072 tokens, while Qwen2.5 72B Instruct is limited to 8,192 tokens.
License
Usage and distribution terms
DeepSeek-R1 is licensed under MIT, while Qwen2.5 72B Instruct uses Qwen.
License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.
MIT
Open weights
Qwen
Open weights
Release Timeline
When each model was launched
DeepSeek-R1 was released on 2025-01-20, while Qwen2.5 72B Instruct was released on 2024-09-19.
DeepSeek-R1 is 4 months newer than Qwen2.5 72B Instruct.
Jan 20, 2025
1.7 years ago
4mo newerSep 19, 2024
2.1 years ago
Knowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Neither model specifies a knowledge cutoff date.
Unable to compare the recency of their training data.
Provider Availability
DeepSeek-R1 is available from DeepSeek, DeepInfra, Together, Fireworks. Qwen2.5 72B Instruct is available from DeepInfra, Hyperbolic, Fireworks, Together.
DeepSeek-R1
Qwen2.5 72B Instruct
Outputs Comparison
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against DeepSeek-R1 and Qwen2.5 72B Instruct side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
FAQ
Common questions about DeepSeek-R1 vs Qwen2.5 72B Instruct.