AllocateDeepseek V3.1 NVFP4 vs Claude Sonnet 5
On provider list prices, Deepseek V3.1 NVFP4 costs $0.60 per million input tokens against $3 for Claude Sonnet 5: 5.0x apart. Output is $1.70 against $15 (8.8x). On Allocate both bill at list plus the 7% transaction fee.
Deepseek V3.1 NVFP4
Claude Sonnet 5Specifications and provider list prices from the Allocate catalog, checked 2026-07-08. Billed price is list plus the 7% transaction fee.
What the numbers say
Take 1,000,000 requests a month at 1,200 input and 350 output tokens each. That workload costs $1,315 a month on Deepseek V3.1 NVFP4 and $8,850 on Claude Sonnet 5 at list: a gap of $7,535, or 6.7x.
Claude Sonnet 5 reads 1M tokens per request against 128K for Deepseek V3.1 NVFP4, 7.6x the window. That decides which one can take whole documents without splitting them.
Choose Deepseek V3.1 NVFP4 for
- The lower list price ($0.60 in / $1.70 out per M tokens)
- Open weights you can fine-tune and own
- Fine-tuning under a permissive license (MIT)
Choose Claude Sonnet 5 for
- Judgment calls with policy context
- Customer-facing writing
- Review and escalation flows
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Deepseek V3.1 NVFP4 or Claude Sonnet 5?
Deepseek V3.1 NVFP4, on this workload shape. At list prices it is $0.60/$1.70 per million tokens in and out against $3/$15 for Claude Sonnet 5. Billed on Allocate: $0.64/$1.82 against $3.21/$16.05, list plus 7%.
Which has the bigger context window?
Claude Sonnet 5: 1,000,000 tokens (1M) against 131,072 (128K) for Deepseek V3.1 NVFP4.
Can I fine-tune Deepseek V3.1 NVFP4 or Claude Sonnet 5?
Deepseek V3.1 NVFP4 publishes open weights (MIT) and can be fine-tuned on your own data. Claude Sonnet 5 is a closed model served over API; its weights are not available.
Related comparisons
Run the numbers on your workload
Or don’t choose. On Allocate a route name is the contract: point yours at one model today, swap to the other tomorrow, and compare them on your live traffic with per-token metering.