Last verified 2026-03-12 (left) · 2025-11-26 (right)

DeepSeek Reasoner vs Gemini 3 Pro Preview — Pricing & Capability Comparison

DeepSeek Reasoner charges $0.55 per million input tokens and $2.19 per million output tokens. Gemini 3 Pro Preview comes in at $2.00 / $12.00. Context windows span 64K vs 2M tokens respectively.

TL;DR — Quick Comparison

✓DeepSeek Reasoner is cheaper overall: $2.74 per 1M tokens (in+out) vs $14.00 for Gemini 3 Pro Preview — saves $11.26 per 1M tokens
✓Input pricing: DeepSeek Reasoner $0.55/1M vs Gemini 3 Pro Preview $2.00/1M
✓Output pricing: DeepSeek Reasoner $2.19/1M vs Gemini 3 Pro Preview $12.00/1M
✓Context window: Gemini 3 Pro Preview offers more (2M vs 64K)
✓Use our calculator below to estimate costs for your specific usage pattern

Input price (per 1M)

DeepSeek Reasoner

$0.55

Gemini 3 Pro Preview

$2.00

DeepSeek Reasoner leads here

Output price (per 1M)

DeepSeek Reasoner

$2.19

Gemini 3 Pro Preview

$12.00

DeepSeek Reasoner leads here

Context window

DeepSeek Reasoner

64,000 tokens

Gemini 3 Pro Preview

2,000,000 tokens

Gemini 3 Pro Preview leads here

Cached input

DeepSeek Reasoner

$0.140

Gemini 3 Pro Preview

$0.200

DeepSeek Reasoner leads here

Which one should you choose?

Skip the spreadsheet if you just need the practical takeaway. Use these rules when deciding between DeepSeek Reasoner and Gemini 3 Pro Preview.

Choose DeepSeek Reasoner if input tokens dominate your bill

DeepSeek Reasoner 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 Reasoner if you generate long answers

DeepSeek Reasoner 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 Gemini 3 Pro Preview if context size is the blocker

Gemini 3 Pro Preview 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 Reasoner	Gemini 3 Pro Preview	DeepSeek Reasoner cached	Gemini 3 Pro Preview cached
Balanced conversation 50% input · 50% output	$0.0137	$0.0700	$0.0117	$0.0610
Input-heavy workflow 80% input · 20% output	$0.0088	$0.0400	$0.0055	$0.0256
Generation heavy 30% input · 70% output	$0.0170	$0.0900	$0.0158	$0.0846
Cached system prompt 90% cached input · 10% fresh output	$0.0071	$0.0300	$0.0034	$0.0138

Frequently asked questions

Which is cheaper: DeepSeek Reasoner or Gemini 3 Pro Preview?

DeepSeek Reasoner is cheaper for input tokens at $0.55 per 1M tokens compared to $2.00. For output, DeepSeek Reasoner costs $2.19 per 1M tokens versus $12.00 for Gemini 3 Pro Preview.

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

DeepSeek Reasoner pricing: $0.55 per 1M input tokens and $2.19 per 1M output tokens. Context window: 64,000 tokens.

What is the cost per 1M tokens for Gemini 3 Pro Preview?

Gemini 3 Pro Preview pricing: $2.00 per 1M input tokens and $12.00 per 1M output tokens. Context window: 2,000,000 tokens.

How much does it cost per 1K tokens?

Per 1K tokens: DeepSeek Reasoner costs $0.0006 input / $0.0022 output. Gemini 3 Pro Preview costs $0.0020 input / $0.0120 output. This is useful for calculating small-scale usage costs.

Which model supports a larger context window?

Gemini 3 Pro Preview offers 2,000,000 tokens (2M) versus 64K for DeepSeek Reasoner.

What is the estimated monthly cost for typical usage?

For a typical workload of 10M input + 2M output tokens per month: DeepSeek Reasoner would cost approximately $9.88, while Gemini 3 Pro Preview would cost $44.00. DeepSeek Reasoner is more economical for this usage pattern.

Do these models support prompt caching?

DeepSeek Reasoner supports prompt caching at $0.140 per 1M cached tokens, reducing costs for repeated context by up to 75%. Gemini 3 Pro Preview supports caching at $0.200 per 1M tokens, saving up to 90%.

Which model is best for my use case?

Choose DeepSeek Reasoner for cost-sensitive applications with high input volume. Choose Gemini 3 Pro Preview if you need 2M context for long documents or conversations. Consider prompt caching if you have repeated context. Use our token calculator to model your specific usage pattern.