Pick DeepSeek R1 for open-weight reasoning model or transparent chain-of-thought. Pick Hunyuan Hy4 Preview for gpqa diamond (92.3) or terminal-bench (85.4). On a tight budget at scale, DeepSeek R1 is the value pick.
DeepSeek R1 (DeepSeek) and Hunyuan Hy4 Preview (Tencent) are two of the models people most often weigh against each other in 2026. DeepSeek R1 is the open-weight reasoning model that reset price expectations in early 2025. Hunyuan Hy4 Preview is tencent's open-sourced (Apache 2.0) next-generation Hunyuan flagship preview, released August 28, 2026 as a 770B-parameter (49B active) MoE model that helped optimize its own training pipeline. They diverge most on price and context window — each quantified below from the models' real specs.
Key differences
Price: DeepSeek R1 is about 1.5× cheaper on input ($0.55/$2.19 per 1M tokens vs $0.834/$2.501 per 1M tokens) — modest, but it adds up at steady volume.
Context window: Hunyuan Hy4 Preview holds 7.8× more — 1M+ tokens (~1,500 pages) vs 128K (~192 pages). But effective recall usually fades long before the advertised ceiling, so the bigger number only helps if the model reasons over it.
Recency: Hunyuan Hy4 Preview is the newer model by about 20 months (released August 28, 2026), usually meaning fresher training data and capabilities.
Specifications
Spec
DeepSeek R1
Hunyuan Hy4 Preview
Provider
DeepSeek (China)
Tencent (China)
Released
January 2025
August 28, 2026
Context window
128K (~192 pages)
1M+ tokens (~1,500 pages)
Price (in/out)
$0.55/$2.19 per 1M tokens
$0.834/$2.501 per 1M tokens
Open weight?
Yes — self-hostable
Yes — self-hostable
Modalities
text, code
text
SWE-Bench Verified
Not published
Not published
MRCR v2 @ 1M
Not published
Not published
Who wins what
Open-weight reasoning model: DeepSeek R1 — The open-weight reasoning model that reset price expectations in early 2025 — and it runs cheaper at $0.55/$2.19 per 1M tokens.
Transparent chain-of-thought: DeepSeek R1 — DeepSeek R1 lists transparent chain-of-thought among its strengths; Hunyuan Hy4 Preview does not.
Low cost: DeepSeek R1 — At $0.55/$2.19 per 1M tokens it undercuts Hunyuan Hy4 Preview ($0.834/$2.501 per 1M tokens), and that gap compounds at volume.
GPQA Diamond (92.3): Hunyuan Hy4 Preview — Tencent's open-sourced (Apache 2.0) next-generation Hunyuan flagship preview, released August 28, 2026 as a 770B-parameter (49B active) MoE model that helped optimize its own training pipeline — and it carries the larger 1M+ tokens context.
Terminal-Bench (85.4): Hunyuan Hy4 Preview — Tencent's open-sourced (Apache 2.0) next-generation Hunyuan flagship preview, released August 28, 2026 as a 770B-parameter (49B active) MoE model that helped optimize its own training pipeline — and it is the newer of the two.
SWE-bench Multilingual (82.9): Hunyuan Hy4 Preview — Hunyuan Hy4 Preview lists sWE-bench Multilingual (82.9) among its strengths; DeepSeek R1 does not.
Lowest cost at scale: DeepSeek R1 — At $0.55/$2.19 per 1M tokens, it is the cheaper of the two — the gap dominates the bill on high-volume workloads.
Largest single-prompt input: Hunyuan Hy4 Preview — Its 1M+ tokens window is about 7.8× larger than DeepSeek R1's 128K, fitting roughly 1,500 pages in one prompt.
Which should you pick?
A cost-sensitive startup shipping high volume: DeepSeek R1 — At $0.55/$2.19 per 1M tokens it undercuts Hunyuan Hy4 Preview, and on millions of tokens that margin decides the monthly bill.
Someone analysing very long documents or codebases: Hunyuan Hy4 Preview — Larger 1M+ tokens window fits more in one prompt.
Anyone whose priority is open-weight reasoning model: DeepSeek R1 — It is specifically built for that.
Anyone whose priority is gpqa diamond (92.3): Hunyuan Hy4 Preview — That is its strongest area.
DeepSeek R1: where it fits
The open-weight reasoning model that reset price expectations in early 2025. Released January 2025 by DeepSeek, it is built for open-weight reasoning model, transparent chain-of-thought, low cost, and strong maths and code.
Its trade-offs are real: discontinued - no longer offered as a standalone model via DeepSeek's API as of mid-2026; the legacy alias that used to point to it stopped working July 24, 2026, older than V4, smaller 128K context, and text/code focused. At $0.55 in / $2.19 out per million tokens, it sits in the budget price band.
Hunyuan Hy4 Preview: where it fits
Tencent's open-sourced (Apache 2.0) next-generation Hunyuan flagship preview, released August 28, 2026 as a 770B-parameter (49B active) MoE model that helped optimize its own training pipeline. Released August 28, 2026 by Tencent, it is built for gPQA Diamond (92.3), terminal-Bench (85.4), sWE-bench Multilingual (82.9), and large jump in long-horizon coding vs prior Hunyuan model (DeepSWE 28.0 to 64.3).
Its trade-offs: text-only, no native vision support, labeled a 'preview', not yet Tencent's finalized GA flagship, and sWE-Marathon score still low in absolute terms (31.9) despite a large relative jump. At $0.834 in / $2.501 out per million tokens, it sits in the budget price band.
The bottom line for this matchup
DeepSeek R1 and Hunyuan Hy4 Preview overlap enough that the right pick depends on your specific job. DeepSeek R1 costs less per token; Hunyuan Hy4 Preview holds the larger context; and each leads in its own area — DeepSeek R1 for open-weight reasoning model, Hunyuan Hy4 Preview for gpqa diamond (92.3). Rather than crowning one, run the same hard task through both once and let the results decide.
Frequently asked questions
Is DeepSeek R1 or Hunyuan Hy4 Preview better for coding?
Public SWE-Bench figures are not available for either model, so the honest test is your own repository — run an identical real bug through both. By design, DeepSeek R1 leans toward open-weight reasoning model while Hunyuan Hy4 Preview leans toward gpqa diamond (92.3), and that positioning usually predicts which feels better on your codebase.
Which is cheaper, DeepSeek R1 or Hunyuan Hy4 Preview?
DeepSeek R1 is cheaper — $0.55/$2.19 per 1M tokens vs $0.834/$2.501 per 1M tokens, roughly 1.5× apart on input.
Which has the bigger context window?
Hunyuan Hy4 Preview — 1M+ tokens vs 128K, about 7.8× larger. Useful only if the model actually reasons over the full window, which not all do.
Can I use both DeepSeek R1 and Hunyuan Hy4 Preview together?
Yes — a multi-model platform like LumiChats gives you DeepSeek R1, Hunyuan Hy4 Preview and 40+ others under one ₹69/day pass (about $1/day), so you can draft with one and cross-check with the other instead of buying two subscriptions.
Which is newer, DeepSeek R1 or Hunyuan Hy4 Preview?
Hunyuan Hy4 Preview — released August 28, 2026, about 20 months after DeepSeek R1.
DeepSeek R1 vs Hunyuan Hy4 Preview
DeepSeek · China | Tencent · China · Updated June 2026
Quick verdict
Pick DeepSeek R1 for open-weight reasoning model or transparent chain-of-thought. Pick Hunyuan Hy4 Preview for gpqa diamond (92.3) or terminal-bench (85.4). On a tight budget at scale, DeepSeek R1 is the value pick.
DeepSeek R1 (DeepSeek) and Hunyuan Hy4 Preview (Tencent) are two of the models people most often weigh against each other in 2026. DeepSeek R1 is the open-weight reasoning model that reset price expectations in early 2025. Hunyuan Hy4 Preview is tencent's open-sourced (Apache 2.0) next-generation Hunyuan flagship preview, released August 28, 2026 as a 770B-parameter (49B active) MoE model that helped optimize its own training pipeline. They diverge most on price and context window — each quantified below from the models' real specs.
Key differences at a glance
▸Price: DeepSeek R1 is about 1.5× cheaper on input ($0.55/$2.19 per 1M tokens vs $0.834/$2.501 per 1M tokens) — modest, but it adds up at steady volume.
▸Context window: Hunyuan Hy4 Preview holds 7.8× more — 1M+ tokens (~1,500 pages) vs 128K (~192 pages). But effective recall usually fades long before the advertised ceiling, so the bigger number only helps if the model reasons over it.
▸Recency: Hunyuan Hy4 Preview is the newer model by about 20 months (released August 28, 2026), usually meaning fresher training data and capabilities.
Side-by-side specs
Spec
DeepSeek R1
Hunyuan Hy4 Preview
Provider
DeepSeek (China)
Tencent (China)
Released
January 2025
August 28, 2026
Context window
128K (~192 pages)
1M+ tokens (~1,500 pages)
Price (in/out)
$0.55/$2.19 per 1M tokens
$0.834/$2.501 per 1M tokens
Open weight?
Yes — self-hostable
Yes — self-hostable
Modalities
text, code
text
SWE-Bench Verified
Not published
Not published
MRCR v2 @ 1M
Not published
Not published
Who wins what
Open-weight reasoning model
DeepSeek R1
The open-weight reasoning model that reset price expectations in early 2025 — and it runs cheaper at $0.55/$2.19 per 1M tokens.
Transparent chain-of-thought
DeepSeek R1
DeepSeek R1 lists transparent chain-of-thought among its strengths; Hunyuan Hy4 Preview does not.
Low cost
DeepSeek R1
At $0.55/$2.19 per 1M tokens it undercuts Hunyuan Hy4 Preview ($0.834/$2.501 per 1M tokens), and that gap compounds at volume.
GPQA Diamond (92.3)
Hunyuan Hy4 Preview
Tencent's open-sourced (Apache 2.0) next-generation Hunyuan flagship preview, released August 28, 2026 as a 770B-parameter (49B active) MoE model that helped optimize its own training pipeline — and it carries the larger 1M+ tokens context.
Terminal-Bench (85.4)
Hunyuan Hy4 Preview
Tencent's open-sourced (Apache 2.0) next-generation Hunyuan flagship preview, released August 28, 2026 as a 770B-parameter (49B active) MoE model that helped optimize its own training pipeline — and it is the newer of the two.
SWE-bench Multilingual (82.9)
Hunyuan Hy4 Preview
Hunyuan Hy4 Preview lists sWE-bench Multilingual (82.9) among its strengths; DeepSeek R1 does not.
Lowest cost at scale
DeepSeek R1
At $0.55/$2.19 per 1M tokens, it is the cheaper of the two — the gap dominates the bill on high-volume workloads.
Largest single-prompt input
Hunyuan Hy4 Preview
Its 1M+ tokens window is about 7.8× larger than DeepSeek R1's 128K, fitting roughly 1,500 pages in one prompt.
Which should you pick?
A cost-sensitive startup shipping high volume
→ DeepSeek R1
At $0.55/$2.19 per 1M tokens it undercuts Hunyuan Hy4 Preview, and on millions of tokens that margin decides the monthly bill.
Someone analysing very long documents or codebases
→ Hunyuan Hy4 Preview
Larger 1M+ tokens window fits more in one prompt.
Anyone whose priority is open-weight reasoning model
→ DeepSeek R1
It is specifically built for that.
Anyone whose priority is gpqa diamond (92.3)
→ Hunyuan Hy4 Preview
That is its strongest area.
DeepSeek R1: where it fits
The open-weight reasoning model that reset price expectations in early 2025. Released January 2025 by DeepSeek, it is built for open-weight reasoning model, transparent chain-of-thought, low cost, and strong maths and code.
Its trade-offs are real: discontinued - no longer offered as a standalone model via DeepSeek's API as of mid-2026; the legacy alias that used to point to it stopped working July 24, 2026, older than V4, smaller 128K context, and text/code focused. At $0.55 in / $2.19 out per million tokens, it sits in the budget price band.
Hunyuan Hy4 Preview: where it fits
Tencent's open-sourced (Apache 2.0) next-generation Hunyuan flagship preview, released August 28, 2026 as a 770B-parameter (49B active) MoE model that helped optimize its own training pipeline. Released August 28, 2026 by Tencent, it is built for gPQA Diamond (92.3), terminal-Bench (85.4), sWE-bench Multilingual (82.9), and large jump in long-horizon coding vs prior Hunyuan model (DeepSWE 28.0 to 64.3).
Its trade-offs: text-only, no native vision support, labeled a 'preview', not yet Tencent's finalized GA flagship, and sWE-Marathon score still low in absolute terms (31.9) despite a large relative jump. At $0.834 in / $2.501 out per million tokens, it sits in the budget price band.
The bottom line for this matchup
DeepSeek R1 and Hunyuan Hy4 Preview overlap enough that the right pick depends on your specific job. DeepSeek R1 costs less per token; Hunyuan Hy4 Preview holds the larger context; and each leads in its own area — DeepSeek R1 for open-weight reasoning model, Hunyuan Hy4 Preview for gpqa diamond (92.3). Rather than crowning one, run the same hard task through both once and let the results decide.
Want both DeepSeek R1 and Hunyuan Hy4 Preview without two subscriptions? LumiChats gives you these plus 40+ models under one ₹69/day pass (about $1/day) — draft with one, cross-check with the other.
Is DeepSeek R1 or Hunyuan Hy4 Preview better for coding?
Public SWE-Bench figures are not available for either model, so the honest test is your own repository — run an identical real bug through both. By design, DeepSeek R1 leans toward open-weight reasoning model while Hunyuan Hy4 Preview leans toward gpqa diamond (92.3), and that positioning usually predicts which feels better on your codebase.
Which is cheaper, DeepSeek R1 or Hunyuan Hy4 Preview?
DeepSeek R1 is cheaper — $0.55/$2.19 per 1M tokens vs $0.834/$2.501 per 1M tokens, roughly 1.5× apart on input.
Which has the bigger context window?
Hunyuan Hy4 Preview — 1M+ tokens vs 128K, about 7.8× larger. Useful only if the model actually reasons over the full window, which not all do.
Can I use both DeepSeek R1 and Hunyuan Hy4 Preview together?
Yes — a multi-model platform like LumiChats gives you DeepSeek R1, Hunyuan Hy4 Preview and 40+ others under one ₹69/day pass (about $1/day), so you can draft with one and cross-check with the other instead of buying two subscriptions.
Which is newer, DeepSeek R1 or Hunyuan Hy4 Preview?
Hunyuan Hy4 Preview — released August 28, 2026, about 20 months after DeepSeek R1.
Specifications and benchmarks reflect publicly reported figures as of June 2026 and may change as providers release updates. Always verify on your own workload.