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Claude Sonnet 4.5 (Bedrock) vs DeepSeek R1: API Cost Comparison

Compare the API pricing, context windows, features, and real-world cost projections for Claude Sonnet 4.5 (Bedrock) (AWS Bedrock) and DeepSeek R1 (DeepSeek). Use the interactive calculator below to compute your exact monthly cost based on your token usage and request volume.

Prices verified Mar 11, 2026

Interactive Cost Calculator

AWS BedrockClaude Sonnet 4.5 (Bedrock)DeepSeekDeepSeek R1

Fills in typical token counts for a workload type

Tokens in each prompt sent to the model

Tokens generated in each response

Total API calls per month

Showing costs for 2 models. Cheapest: DeepSeek R1 at $4.90/month.

Cheapest: DeepSeek R1 at $4.90/mo — save 95.3% vs Claude Sonnet 4.5 (Bedrock)
Alert
BestDeepSeek R1
DeepSeek$4.90$0.000490$2.80$2.1095.3%Alerts coming soon
Claude Sonnet 4.5 (Bedrock)
AWS Bedrock$105.00$0.010500$30.00$75.00Alerts coming soon

Monthly Cost Comparison

Price Comparison at a Glance

All prices are in USD per 1 million tokens ($/M tokens). Lower is cheaper.

Pricing TypeClaude Sonnet 4.5 (Bedrock)DeepSeek R1Cheaper
Input (standard)$3.00/M$0.28/MDeepSeek R1
Output$15.00/M$0.42/MDeepSeek R1
Cached inputN/A$0.03/M

Prices last verified: 2026-03-06 – 2026-03-11

Cost Breakdown by Usage Volume

Estimated monthly costs at different request volumes, assuming 1,000 input tokens and 500 output tokens per request. Adjust in the calculator above for your specific use case.

VolumeClaude Sonnet 4.5 (Bedrock)MonthlyDeepSeek R1MonthlyClaude Sonnet 4.5 (Bedrock)Per requestDeepSeek R1Per request
1K requests/mo$10.50$0.49$0.010500$0.000490
10K requests/mo$105.00$4.90$0.010500$0.000490
100K requests/mo$1,050.00$49.00$0.010500$0.000490
1M requests/mo$10,500.00$490.00$0.010500$0.000490

Green values indicate the lower-cost option at each volume tier. Cost per request is calculated at 1,000 input + 500 output tokens using standard (non-batch, non-cached) pricing.

Price History

Input price per 1M tokens

When to Choose Claude Sonnet 4.5 (Bedrock)

by AWS Bedrock

  • Code generation
  • Content Creation
  • General chatbot

Input / 1M tokens

$3.00/M

Output / 1M tokens

$15.00/M

Context window

200,000

Tier

premium

When to Choose DeepSeek R1

by DeepSeek

  • Code generation
  • Document summarization

Input / 1M tokens

$0.28/M

Output / 1M tokens

$0.42/M

Context window

128,000

Tier

reasoning

Key Differences Beyond Price

Cost is only one factor in choosing an AI model. Context window size, rate limits, supported features, and latency all affect whether a model fits your use case.

CapabilityClaude Sonnet 4.5 (Bedrock)DeepSeek R1
Context window200,000 tokens128,000 tokens
Max output tokens8,192 tokens64,000 tokens
Performance tierPremiumReasoning
Vision / image inputYesNo
Function callingYesNo
JSON modeYesYes
Prompt cachingNoYes
Batch API (50% discount)YesNo
Extended reasoningNoYes
Fine-tuningNoNo

Claude Sonnet 4.5 (Bedrock) notes

Claude Sonnet 4.5 accessed via AWS Bedrock. Pricing matches Anthropic direct. AWS IAM auth, VPC support, and CloudWatch logging available.

DeepSeek R1 notes

V3.2 unified pricing. Open-source weights available. Off-peak discounts available.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Claude Sonnet 4.5 (Bedrock) cheaper than DeepSeek R1?

At standard usage (1,000 input tokens, 500 output tokens, 100,000 requests/month), DeepSeek R1 costs $49.00/month versus $1,050.00/month for Claude Sonnet 4.5 (Bedrock) — a 95% saving. Your actual savings will vary based on your token profile; output-heavy workloads amplify differences in output pricing.

Which model has a larger context window, Claude Sonnet 4.5 (Bedrock) or DeepSeek R1?

Claude Sonnet 4.5 (Bedrock) has a larger context window at 200,000 tokens, compared to 128,000 tokens for DeepSeek R1. A larger context window is important for processing long documents, multi-turn conversations, or large codebases without truncation.

Do Claude Sonnet 4.5 (Bedrock) and DeepSeek R1 support the Batch API?

Claude Sonnet 4.5 (Bedrock) supports the Batch API (50% discount for async processing), while DeepSeek R1 does not. If your workload tolerates up to 24-hour latency, routing to Claude Sonnet 4.5 (Bedrock) with batch pricing could significantly cut costs versus DeepSeek R1's standard rate.

Which model offers better prompt caching?

DeepSeek R1 supports prompt caching at $0.03/M for cached input, while Claude Sonnet 4.5 (Bedrock) does not offer prompt caching. For RAG applications or chatbots with large, repeated context, DeepSeek R1's caching capability can substantially reduce effective costs.

What are the best use cases for Claude Sonnet 4.5 (Bedrock) vs DeepSeek R1?

Both models are well-suited for Code generation. Claude Sonnet 4.5 (Bedrock) is particularly strong for Content Creation, General chatbot. DeepSeek R1 is favored for Document summarization. At the same quality level, the lower-cost model is usually preferable; use this page's calculator to compare total monthly spend at your volume.

What is the cost per request for Claude Sonnet 4.5 (Bedrock) vs DeepSeek R1?

At 1,000 input tokens and 500 output tokens per request — a typical conversational workload — Claude Sonnet 4.5 (Bedrock) costs $0.010500 per request and DeepSeek R1 costs $0.000490 per request. At 100,000 requests/month, that translates to $1,050.00 and $49.00 respectively. Use the interactive calculator to adjust these parameters for your actual workload.

Claude Sonnet 4.5 (Bedrock) vs DeepSeek R1: Summary

When comparing Claude Sonnet 4.5 (Bedrock) and DeepSeek R1 for API cost, the right choice depends on your workload's token profile, required features, and tolerance for latency. DeepSeek R1 offers lower total cost at standard usage volumes (1,000 input + 500 output tokens per request at 100,000 requests/month) at $49.00/month, compared to $1,050.00/month for Claude Sonnet 4.5 (Bedrock).

Both models are priced in USD per million tokens, the standard unit across all major AI API providers. Claude Sonnet 4.5 (Bedrock) charges $3.00/M for input tokens and $15.00/M for output tokens. DeepSeek R1 charges $0.28/M input and $0.42/M output. If your workload is output-heavy (more tokens generated than consumed as input), the model with the lower output price compounds cost savings significantly at scale.

Prompt caching is supported by DeepSeek R1 but not Claude Sonnet 4.5 (Bedrock). For workloads with large, repeated system prompts or document context — such as RAG pipelines or multi-turn conversations with a fixed knowledge base — prompt caching can reduce effective input costs by 60–90%, which may change the cost ranking between these two models at your specific usage pattern.

Context window capacity differs between the two: Claude Sonnet 4.5 (Bedrock) supports up to 200,000 tokens in a single request, versus 128,000 tokens for DeepSeek R1. A larger context window is essential for document summarization, large codebase analysis, and multi-document retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) applications.

Use the interactive calculator at the top of this page to enter your actual token usage and monthly request volume for a precise cost comparison tailored to your workload. Adjust for batch API discounts and prompt caching to find the most cost-effective option for your specific deployment.

Explore other model comparisons from the same providers or performance tiers.

Related Provider Pages

View complete pricing tables and model lineups for the providers behind these models.

Relevant Use Cases

See cost recommendations for workloads where Claude Sonnet 4.5 (Bedrock) or DeepSeek R1 is recommended.