Simulating realistic Agentic workflow parameters (40,000 in / 1,500 out with 65% cache reuse). DeepSeek R1 (Reasoner) delivers a 45% cost reduction over Grok 4.3.
| Traffic Volume Tier | DeepSeek R1 (Reasoner) Monthly | Grok 4.3 Monthly | Monthly Savings by picking DeepSeek R1 (Reasoner) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1,000 reqs/mo (Dev/Testing) | $14.625 | $26.45 | Save $11.825 / mo |
| 10,000 reqs/mo (Small App) | $146.25 | $264.50 | Save $118.25 / mo |
| 100,000 reqs/mo (Growth Production) | $1,462.50 | $2,645.00 | Save $1,182.50 / mo |
| 1,000,000 reqs/mo (Scale SaaS) | $14,625.00 | $26,450.00 | Save $11,825.00 / mo |
DeepSeek R1 (Reasoner) is 45% cheaper for Agentic workflow workloads. At standard Agentic workflow parameter ratios (40,000 input tokens, 1,500 output tokens, 65% cache hit), DeepSeek R1 (Reasoner) costs $0.0146 per request compared to $0.0265 on Grok 4.3.
DeepSeek R1 (Reasoner) offers a context window of 64,000 tokens (max output: 8,000), while Grok 4.3 offers 1,000,000 tokens (max output: 32,768).
At 100,000 requests per month, using DeepSeek R1 (Reasoner) saves $1,182.50 every month (or $14,190.00 annually) compared to Grok 4.3.
Prompt caching is the single biggest lever — each step re-reads prior context. Summarize or prune tool outputs before appending them to the transcript. Cap the step budget; runaway loops are the #1 surprise on agent invoices.