Claude Sonnet 4.5 vs DeepSeek-V3.2-Exp
Wins 4 of 6 areas
Coding · Reasoning · Facts · Following instructions
Wins 1 of 6 areas
Agents
Claude Sonnet 4.5 is the stronger all-rounder.DeepSeek-V3.2-Exp is cheaper and better at agents.
Scores updated · 31 tests both models report · How we compare
Where each one wins
Tests won in each of the six areas where both have results. Each piece is one test, so a longer bar means more evidence; grey means the two scored within a point of each other.
- CodingWriting and fixing software50Claude Sonnet 4.55 of 5 tests
- ReasoningHard problems that need careful thinking20Claude Sonnet 4.52 of 3 tests · 1 tie
- FactsGetting facts right instead of making them up21Claude Sonnet 4.52 of 3 tests
- Following instructionsDoing exactly what it is asked10Claude Sonnet 4.51 of 1 test
- AgentsCarrying out multi-step tasks on its own02DeepSeek-V3.2-Exp2 of 2 tests
- Long documentsFinding answers in very long texts00Even0 each · 1 tie
Long documents and following instructions rest on a single test each.
What it costs
Prices per million tokens, roughly 750,000 words. The bars show the cost of a million tokens read plus a million written.
DeepSeek-V3.2-Exp costs 96% less for the same work.
The biggest differences
The tests each model wins by the widest margin, up to three each. Scores are out of 100.
Where Claude Sonnet 4.5 pulls ahead
- Avoids making up answers it doesn't knowAA-Omniscience · Non-hallucination+31.7points ahead
- Fixes real GitHub issues in Python projectsSWE-bench Verified+9.4points ahead
- Fixes real GitHub issues in many programming languagesSWE-bench Multilingual+9.1points ahead
Where DeepSeek-V3.2-Exp pulls ahead
- Finds hard-to-locate facts by browsing the webBrowseComp+16points ahead
- Real work tasks from 44 professionsGDPVal+4.5points ahead
Every test, side by side
All 31 tests both models report. The winning score is in its model's colour; marks a score checked independently.
CodingClaude Sonnet 4.5
- LMArena · WebDevClaude Sonnet 4.5 by 122 rating points13941272+122 rating
- SWE-bench VerifiedClaude Sonnet 4.5 by 9.477.267.8+9.4
- SWE-bench MultilingualClaude Sonnet 4.5 by 9.16757.9+9.1
- SciCodeClaude Sonnet 4.5 by 845.737.7+8
- Terminal-Bench HardClaude Sonnet 4.5 by 4.535.631.1+4.5
AgentsDeepSeek-V3.2-Exp
- BrowseCompDeepSeek-V3.2-Exp by 1624.140.1+16
- GDPValDeepSeek-V3.2-Exp by 4.520.525+4.5
ReasoningClaude Sonnet 4.5
- GPQA DiamondClaude Sonnet 4.5 by 3.783.479.7+3.7
- Humanity's Last ExamClaude Sonnet 4.5 by 2.917.814.9+2.9
- CritPttie1.11.4tie
FactsClaude Sonnet 4.5
- AA-Omniscience · Non-hallucinationClaude Sonnet 4.5 by 31.750.919.2+31.7
- Vectara HHEM hallucination ratelower is betterDeepSeek-V3.2-Exp by 6.7125.3+6.7
- AA-Omniscience · AccuracyClaude Sonnet 4.5 by 5.332.927.6+5.3
Following instructionsClaude Sonnet 4.5
- IFBenchClaude Sonnet 4.5 by 3.257.354.1+3.2
Other results16 tests, not counted
Tests outside the eight areas. They are not counted above: several are summary scores built from other tests, or the same test under another name.
- τ²-Bench Telecom (AA run)Claude Sonnet 4.5 by 44.278.133.9+44.2
- AA-OmniscienceClaude Sonnet 4.5 by 30.9-0.1-31+30.9
- HMMT Feb. 2025DeepSeek-V3.2-Exp by 22.567.590+22.5
- Artificial Analysis Coding IndexClaude Sonnet 4.5 by 18.852.133.3+18.8
- Terminal-BenchClaude Sonnet 4.5 by 12.35037.7+12.3
- AA Agentic IndexDeepSeek-V3.2-Exp by 11.217.528.7+11.2
- HMMT 2025DeepSeek-V3.2-Exp by 974.683.6+9
- vectara_factual_consistencyDeepSeek-V3.2-Exp by 6.78894.7+6.7
- vectara_avg_summary_lengthClaude Sonnet 4.5 by 63.2 rating points127.864.6+63.2 rating
- BrowseComp-ZHDeepSeek-V3.2-Exp by 5.542.447.9+5.5
- AA IntelligenceClaude Sonnet 4.5 by 4.120.716.6+4.1
- LiveCodeBenchDeepSeek-V3.2-Exp by 3.17174.1+3.1
- HMMT Nov. 2025DeepSeek-V3.2-Exp by 2.581.784.2+2.5
- MMLU-ProClaude Sonnet 4.5 by 2.587.585+2.5
- AIME 2025DeepSeek-V3.2-Exp by 2.38789.3+2.3
- vectara_answer_rateDeepSeek-V3.2-Exp by 195.696.6+1
Questions people ask
Which is better, Claude Sonnet 4.5 or DeepSeek-V3.2-Exp?
Claude Sonnet 4.5 wins four of the six areas where both have results: coding, reasoning, facts and following instructions. DeepSeek-V3.2-Exp wins agents, and costs 96% less. They are level on long documents.
Which is better for coding?
Claude Sonnet 4.5. It wins 5 of the 5 coding tests both models report; DeepSeek-V3.2-Exp wins none.
Which is cheaper?
Claude Sonnet 4.5 costs $3.00 per million input tokens and $15.00 per million output tokens; DeepSeek-V3.2-Exp costs $0.28 and $0.42. That makes DeepSeek-V3.2-Exp about 96% cheaper for the same work.
How do you compare the two?
We use the 31 benchmark tests both models have published scores on. The verdict counts the 15 tests in the eight capability areas, and a gap under one point (ten on rating-style scales) counts as a tie. The other 16 are listed but not counted, because several are summary scores or repeat a test. Each score is the one shown on the model's own page.