DeepSeek V4 Pro vs Claude Haiku 4.5: which API costs less?
Averaged across three realistic workloads, DeepSeek V4 Pro is about 8% cheaper than Claude Haiku 4.5. Below: raw rates and side-by-side monthly costs, computed from prices verified 2026-10-17 (we track what you are billed today, promos included).
Rates per 1M tokens
| Model | Input | Output | Cached input |
|---|---|---|---|
| DeepSeek V4 ProDeepSeek | $1.32 | $3.96 | $0.044 |
| Claude Haiku 4.5Anthropic | $1 | $5 | $0.100 |
DeepSeek V4 Pro: Peak-hour price (01-04 and 06-10 UTC, Mon-Fri); off-peak costs half. Claude Haiku 4.5: Previous generation; Haiku 5.5 is 10x cheaper.
Monthly cost, side by side
| Workload | DeepSeek V4 Pro | Claude Haiku 4.5 | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
Customer-support chatbot 2M input + 0.5M output tokens/month, 60% of input served from prompt cache | $3.09 | $3.42 | DeepSeek V4 Pro −10% |
RAG / document Q&A 20M input + 1M output tokens/month, 70% cached (shared context) | $12.50 | $12.40 | Claude Haiku 4.5 −1% |
Agentic coding assistant 50M input + 5M output tokens/month, 80% cached (long sessions) | $34.76 | $39.00 | DeepSeek V4 Pro −11% |
Your traffic looks different? Run your own numbers in the calculator.
FAQ
Which is cheaper: DeepSeek V4 Pro or Claude Haiku 4.5?
Across three realistic workloads (chatbot, RAG, agent), DeepSeek V4 Pro works out about 8% cheaper than Claude Haiku 4.5 on average. Raw rates: DeepSeek V4 Pro $1.32/$3.96 per 1M tokens vs Claude Haiku 4.5 $1/$5. Verified 2026-10-17.
Does prompt caching change the comparison?
Yes — cached input costs $0.044 on DeepSeek V4 Pro and $0.100 on Claude Haiku 4.5. Our scenario numbers already include realistic cache hit rates.
Is cheaper always better?
No. Price is one axis — model capability, context window and latency differ. This page answers only the cost question; benchmark quality on your own tasks before switching.