DeepSeek V3.2 vs GPT-5.2: Which is Better in 2026?
DeepSeek V3.2 costs $0.27/1M input tokens. GPT-5.2 costs $1.75/1M. That 6× price gap is the central question: what do you actually lose by going cheaper? The answer is less than most people expect — but there are real tradeoffs.
Last updated: February 2026
Our Pick
GPT-5.2
GPT-5.2 wins for most users. It's more capable, better integrated, and has no privacy concerns. DeepSeek V3.2 is genuinely impressive — it can match GPT-5.2 on coding and reasoning tasks at a fraction of the price, and it's open-weight. For developers building cost-sensitive products with non-sensitive data, DeepSeek V3.2 is worth serious consideration.
Try GPT-5.2At a glance
| Feature | DeepSeek V3.2 | GPT-5.2 |
|---|---|---|
| Rating | 6.3 / 10 | 8.3 / 10 |
| Provider | DeepSeek | OpenAI |
| Context window | 128K tokens | 400K tokens |
| Input (per 1M tokens) | Free | $1.75 |
| Output (per 1M tokens) | Free | $14 |
| Multimodal | No | Yes |
| Open source | Yes | No |
Use case breakdown
DeepSeek V3.2's reasoning architecture is specifically optimized for this. Competitive with GPT-5.2 on STEM benchmarks.
Both are strong. GPT-5.2's developer ecosystem and integrations give it the practical edge.
$0.27/1M input uncached, $0.07/1M with cache. GPT-5.2 is $1.75/1M. No contest.
GPT-5.2 produces more polished, natural output. DeepSeek writes functionally but less fluidly.
DeepSeek is operated by a Chinese company under Chinese data law. Not appropriate for sensitive data.
DeepSeek V3.2 is open-weight. GPT-5.2 is fully closed. For self-hosting, there's no comparison.
FAQ
Is DeepSeek V3.2 as good as GPT-5.2?
On reasoning and coding benchmarks, DeepSeek V3.2 is surprisingly competitive. On writing quality, ecosystem, and overall versatility, GPT-5.2 is clearly better. The real question is whether the 6× price difference justifies which you use.
Is DeepSeek safe to use?
For general non-sensitive tasks, yes. For anything involving customer data, proprietary business information, or personal details — exercise caution. DeepSeek is a Chinese company subject to Chinese data laws.
How cheap is DeepSeek V3.2?
About $0.27/1M input tokens uncached, dropping to $0.07/1M with cache hits. Output is ~$1.10/1M. Compare that to GPT-5.2 at $1.75/$14 and Claude at $3/$15.
Can I self-host DeepSeek V3.2?
Yes. It's open-weight. The full model is large (671B parameters) and requires serious infrastructure, but smaller distilled versions are available that run on more accessible hardware.