Last verified 2026-03-12 (left) · 2026-03-12 (right)

DeepSeek Chat vs Qwen Plus — Pricing & Capability Comparison

DeepSeek Chat charges $0.27 per million input tokens and $1.10 per million output tokens. Qwen Plus comes in at $0.40 / $4.00. Context windows span 64K vs 256K tokens respectively.

TL;DR — Quick Comparison

✓DeepSeek Chat is cheaper overall: $1.37 per 1M tokens (in+out) vs $4.40 for Qwen Plus — saves $3.03 per 1M tokens
✓Input pricing: DeepSeek Chat $0.27/1M vs Qwen Plus $0.40/1M
✓Output pricing: DeepSeek Chat $1.10/1M vs Qwen Plus $4.00/1M
✓Context window: Qwen Plus offers more (256K vs 64K)
✓Use our calculator below to estimate costs for your specific usage pattern

Input price (per 1M)

DeepSeek Chat

$0.27

Qwen Plus

$0.40

DeepSeek Chat leads here

Output price (per 1M)

DeepSeek Chat

$1.10

Qwen Plus

$4.00

DeepSeek Chat leads here

Context window

DeepSeek Chat

64,000 tokens

Qwen Plus

256,000 tokens

Qwen Plus leads here

Cached input

DeepSeek Chat

$0.070

Qwen Plus

Not published

DeepSeek Chat leads here

Which one should you choose?

Skip the spreadsheet if you just need the practical takeaway. Use these rules when deciding between DeepSeek Chat and Qwen Plus.

Choose DeepSeek Chat if input tokens dominate your bill

DeepSeek Chat has the lower input rate, which usually matters most for chat, RAG, classification, and long-prompt workflows where prompt volume stays much larger than generated output.

Choose DeepSeek Chat if you generate long answers

DeepSeek Chat is cheaper on output tokens, so it tends to win for report generation, coding assistance, reasoning traces, and any workflow where completions are long.

Choose Qwen Plus if context size is the blocker

Qwen Plus offers the larger published context window, which is more important than small pricing differences when you need to fit large files, long chats, or multi-document prompts into one request.

Cost comparison for 10K-token workloads

Side-by-side pricing for identical workloads (10,000 total tokens per request) across different distributions.

Scenario	DeepSeek Chat	Qwen Plus	DeepSeek Chat cached
Balanced conversation 50% input · 50% output	$0.0069	$0.0220	$0.0059
Input-heavy workflow 80% input · 20% output	$0.0044	$0.0112	$0.0028
Generation heavy 30% input · 70% output	$0.0085	$0.0292	$0.0079
Cached system prompt 90% cached input · 10% fresh output	$0.0035	$0.0076	$0.0017

Frequently asked questions

Which is cheaper: DeepSeek Chat or Qwen Plus?

DeepSeek Chat is cheaper for input tokens at $0.27 per 1M tokens compared to $0.40. For output, DeepSeek Chat costs $1.10 per 1M tokens versus $4.00 for Qwen Plus.

What is the cost per 1M tokens for DeepSeek Chat?

DeepSeek Chat pricing: $0.27 per 1M input tokens and $1.10 per 1M output tokens. Context window: 64,000 tokens.

What is the cost per 1M tokens for Qwen Plus?

Qwen Plus pricing: $0.40 per 1M input tokens and $4.00 per 1M output tokens. Context window: 256,000 tokens.

How much does it cost per 1K tokens?

Per 1K tokens: DeepSeek Chat costs $0.0003 input / $0.0011 output. Qwen Plus costs $0.0004 input / $0.0040 output. This is useful for calculating small-scale usage costs.

Which model supports a larger context window?

Qwen Plus offers 256,000 tokens (256K) versus 64K for DeepSeek Chat.

What is the estimated monthly cost for typical usage?

For a typical workload of 10M input + 2M output tokens per month: DeepSeek Chat would cost approximately $4.90, while Qwen Plus would cost $12.00. DeepSeek Chat is more economical for this usage pattern.

Do these models support prompt caching?

DeepSeek Chat supports prompt caching at $0.070 per 1M cached tokens, reducing costs for repeated context by up to 74%. Qwen Plus does not publish cached pricing.

Which model is best for my use case?

Choose DeepSeek Chat for cost-sensitive applications with high input volume. Choose Qwen Plus if you need 256K context for long documents or conversations. Consider prompt caching if you have repeated context. Use our token calculator to model your specific usage pattern.