DeepSeek R1 (Jan '25) vs Solar Mini 4
Which is better for the money: DeepSeek R1 (Jan '25) by DeepSeek or Solar Mini 4 by Upstage? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-10-25.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
Solar Mini 4 scores 12.7 points higher (24.1 vs 11.4) but costs 1.1× as much to run the benchmark ($502 vs $461; premium vs mid-range cost classes). Pick Solar Mini 4 when the extra intelligence is worth the premium, otherwise DeepSeek R1 (Jan '25).
| Metric | DeepSeek R1 (Jan '25) | Solar Mini 4 | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 11.4 | 24.1 | +111.4% Solar Mini 4 is 2.1× more intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $460.74 | $502.02 | +9.0% Solar Mini 4 is 9.0% more expensive |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 20.16s | 25.33s | +25.6% Solar Mini 4 is 25.6% slower |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $2.00 / $4.00 | $0.10 / $0.40 | |
| Input modalities | Text | Text |
Solar Mini 4 vs DeepSeek R1 (Jan '25): 111.4% more intelligence, 9.0% more cost to run the AA benchmark, and 25.6% slower end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- DeepSeek R1 (Jan '25) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Medium) scores 47.80 for $361.
- Solar Mini 4 is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Medium) scores 47.80 for $361.
DeepSeek R1 (Jan '25)Solar Mini 4Today's Pareto frontierOpen-weights frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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Accept: text/markdown or ?format=md returns this page as Markdown. JSON: /api/v1/compare/deepseek-r1-0120/solar-mini4 · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/deepseek-r1-0120/solar-mini4?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill