A bar fills towards the model's side; yellow is a clear difference, grey falls within the margin of measurement.
| Criterion | DeepSeek | Qwen |
|---|---|---|
| Quality (Elo)Quality from blind duels on LMArena: users choose between two anonymous answers. A difference of about 20 points is noticeable, a few points is noise. How we measure | 1475 | 1484 |
| Editorial scoreOur own assessment on 10 of suitability for professional work, price and privacy. This is a judgement, not a measurement; that is why it always sits alongside the Elo. How we measure | 7,4 / 10 | 7,9 / 10 |
| Code EloThe same blind duels on LMArena, but only with programming tasks. How we measure | 1664 | 1677 |
| API price in, per 1M | $0.01 | $2 |
| API price out, per 1M | $0.5 | $6 |
| Entry price (subscription) | on request | on request |
| Business | on request | on request |
| Context window | 1M tokens | 1M tokens |
| Modalities | Text, Code | Text, Image, Audio, Video |
| EU hosting | No | Yes |
| Self-hostable | Yes | Yes |
| No training (business) | No | No |
| GDPR profileOur summary of what the provider itself publishes about your data. For a professional tool: whether the data is stored in the EU, whether there is a certification or GDPR guarantee, and whether the provider is based in the Netherlands or the EU. For a general model: EU hosting, no training on your data and self-hosting. From Strong to Unknown; Caution only for a model with a documented problem. How we measure | Caution | Caution |
Source: LMArena, OpenRouter · retrieved 9 November 2026
Choose DeepSeek if…
- very low API costs matter to you
- open weights (MIT) and self-hosting matter to you
Choose Qwen if…
- you value its very broad range: from free open-weight models (Apache 2.0) to a 1M-context flagship
- you value competitive API prices via Alibaba Cloud Model Studio
- you want the highest overall quality
- privacy and GDPR weigh heavily
Frequently asked questions
By field
Which is better: DeepSeek or Qwen?
On the combined quality score (LMArena Elo + our editorial score), Qwen ranks higher, but the right choice depends on your field and requirements: DeepSeek may suit you better on price or privacy. See the table above.
Which is better for privacy and GDPR: DeepSeek or Qwen?
Qwen scores more strongly here (EU hosting, on-premise and no training on your data). DeepSeek: The DeepSeek service stores data in China and uses it for training by default (with opt-out). Only an EU self-hosted variant of the open weights is defensible for sensitive data.
Which is cheaper: DeepSeek or Qwen?
The entry prices are close together. Always check the current prices, as they change often.
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