Model Comparison

DeepSeek R1 Zero vs Grok-3 Mini

Grok-3 Mini significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

3 benchmarks

DeepSeek R1 Zero outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Grok-3 Mini is better at 3 benchmarks (AIME 2024, GPQA, LiveCodeBench).

Grok-3 Mini significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Mon Apr 06 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Pricing Analysis

Price comparison per million tokens

Cost data unavailable.

Lowest available price from all providers
Mon Apr 06 2026 • llm-stats.com
DeepSeek
DeepSeek R1 Zero
Input tokens$0.00
Output tokens$0.00
Best providerUnknown Organization
xAI
Grok-3 Mini
Input tokens$0.30
Output tokens$0.50
Best providerxAI
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Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Only Grok-3 Mini specifies input context (128,000 tokens). Only Grok-3 Mini specifies output context (8,000 tokens).

DeepSeek
DeepSeek R1 Zero
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
xAI
Grok-3 Mini
Input128,000 tokens
Output8,000 tokens
Mon Apr 06 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Grok-3 Mini supports multimodal inputs, whereas DeepSeek R1 Zero does not.

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

DeepSeek R1 Zero

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Grok-3 Mini

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

DeepSeek R1 Zero is licensed under MIT, while Grok-3 Mini uses a proprietary license.

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

DeepSeek R1 Zero

MIT

Open weights

Grok-3 Mini

Proprietary

Closed source

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

DeepSeek R1 Zero was released on 2025-01-20, while Grok-3 Mini was released on 2025-02-17.

Grok-3 Mini is 1 month newer than DeepSeek R1 Zero.

DeepSeek R1 Zero

Jan 20, 2025

1.2 years ago

Grok-3 Mini

Feb 17, 2025

1.1 years ago

4w newer

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Grok-3 Mini has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2024-11-17, while DeepSeek R1 Zero's cutoff date is not specified.

We can confirm Grok-3 Mini's training data extends to 2024-11-17, but cannot make a direct comparison without DeepSeek R1 Zero's cutoff date.

DeepSeek R1 Zero

Grok-3 Mini

Nov 2024

Outputs Comparison

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Key Takeaways

Has open weights
Larger context window (128,000 tokens)
Supports multimodal inputs
Higher AIME 2024 score (95.8% vs 86.7%)
Higher GPQA score (84.0% vs 73.3%)
Higher LiveCodeBench score (80.4% vs 50.0%)
DeepSeekDeepSeek R1 Zero
xAIGrok-3 Mini

Detailed Comparison

AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
DeepSeek
DeepSeek R1 Zero
xAI
Grok-3 Mini

FAQ

Common questions about DeepSeek R1 Zero vs Grok-3 Mini

Grok-3 Mini significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. DeepSeek R1 Zero is made by DeepSeek and Grok-3 Mini is made by xAI. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their benchmark scores, pricing, and capabilities above.
DeepSeek R1 Zero scores MATH-500: 95.9%, AIME 2024: 86.7%, GPQA: 73.3%, LiveCodeBench: 50.0%. Grok-3 Mini scores AIME 2024: 95.8%, AIME 2025: 90.8%, GPQA: 84.0%, LiveCodeBench: 80.4%.
DeepSeek R1 Zero supports an unknown number of tokens and Grok-3 Mini supports 128K tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.
Key differences include multimodal support (no vs yes), licensing (MIT vs Proprietary). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.
DeepSeek R1 Zero is developed by DeepSeek and Grok-3 Mini is developed by xAI.