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Model comparison

Claude Sonnet 5 vs DeepSeek V4 Pro (Max)

Data verified

Head-to-head evidence from 27 shared benchmark results across 5 categories. Overall scores shown here use the public BenchAlign v5 ranking lane.

65.32/100
No comparison
N/A
2 category wins1 category wins

Public leaderboard positions: Claude Sonnet 5 #29 (Estimated); DeepSeek V4 Pro (Max) unranked (Not scored). Intervals and evidence labels describe ranking uncertainty, not a guarantee for a specific workload.

Evidence parity. Claude Sonnet 5 and DeepSeek V4 Pro (Max) share 27 comparable benchmark results. 3 of 8 categories are comparable. 9 results are unique to Claude Sonnet 5; 21 to DeepSeek V4 Pro (Max).

Updated July 23, 2026
Shared results
27
Claude Sonnet 5 only
9
DeepSeek V4 Pro (Max) only
21
Comparable categories
3 / 8

Treat this as a split decision. Claude Sonnet 5 makes more sense if agentic is the priority; DeepSeek V4 Pro (Max) is the better fit if knowledge is the priority or you want the cheaper token bill.

Confidence note. This is a partial-evidence comparison with 27 shared benchmark results across 5 evidence categories; 3 of 8 categories currently have scoreable aggregates for both models. Treat the verdict as directional until coverage is more balanced.

Why this result

Claude Sonnet 5 and DeepSeek V4 Pro (Max) finish on the same BenchAlign overall score, so this is less about a single winner and more about where the edge shows up. The BenchAlign headline says tie; the benchmark table is where the real choice happens.

Claude Sonnet 5 is also the more expensive model on tokens at $2.00 input / $10.00 output per 1M tokens, versus $0.43 input / $0.87 output per 1M tokens for DeepSeek V4 Pro (Max). That is roughly 11.5x on output cost alone.

Category breakdown

Exact category averages are shown below. Not measured means BenchLM does not have enough sourced public coverage for that model and category.

Category scores and score margins for Claude Sonnet 5 and DeepSeek V4 Pro (Max)
CategoryClaude Sonnet 5ΔDeepSeek V4 Pro (Max)
AgenticClaude Sonnet 581.9Margin← 7.4DeepSeek V4 Pro (Max)74.5
CodingClaude Sonnet 576.7Margin← 5.8DeepSeek V4 Pro (Max)70.9
KnowledgeClaude Sonnet 557.4Margin→ 2.7DeepSeek V4 Pro (Max)60.1
MathClaude Sonnet 5Not measuredMarginNo overlapDeepSeek V4 Pro (Max)95.2
MultimodalClaude Sonnet 588.3MarginNo overlapDeepSeek V4 Pro (Max)Not measured

Decisive benchmark drivers

The largest measured benchmark gaps in this matchup, with exact reported values.

More
A · Claude Sonnet 5B · DeepSeek V4 Pro (Max)

  1. HLE

    Knowledge
    Source ↗
    A 57.4%B 37.7%
    Winner: Claude Sonnet 5Δ 19.7
    HLE: Claude Sonnet 5 scored 57.4%; DeepSeek V4 Pro (Max) scored 37.7%. Claude Sonnet 5 wins this benchmark.

  2. Terminal-Bench 2.0

    Agentic
    Source ↗
    A 80.4%B 67.9%
    Winner: Claude Sonnet 5Δ 12.5
    Terminal-Bench 2.0: Claude Sonnet 5 scored 80.4%; DeepSeek V4 Pro (Max) scored 67.9%. Claude Sonnet 5 wins this benchmark.

  3. SWE-bench Pro

    Coding
    Source ↗
    A 63.2%B 55.4%
    Winner: Claude Sonnet 5Δ 7.8
    SWE-bench Pro: Claude Sonnet 5 scored 63.2%; DeepSeek V4 Pro (Max) scored 55.4%. Claude Sonnet 5 wins this benchmark.

  4. SWE-bench Verified

    Coding
    Source ↗
    A 85.2%B 80.6%
    Winner: Claude Sonnet 5Δ 4.6
    SWE-bench Verified: Claude Sonnet 5 scored 85.2%; DeepSeek V4 Pro (Max) scored 80.6%. Claude Sonnet 5 wins this benchmark.

  5. BrowseComp

    Agentic
    Source ↗
    A 84.7%B 83.4%
    Winner: Claude Sonnet 5Δ 1.3
    BrowseComp: Claude Sonnet 5 scored 84.7%; DeepSeek V4 Pro (Max) scored 83.4%. Claude Sonnet 5 wins this benchmark.

Operational comparison

Runtime and commercial metrics are compared only when both models have a complete sourced value.

MetricClaude Sonnet 5DeepSeek V4 Pro (Max)Comparison
Input / output priceUSD per 1M tokensClaude Sonnet 5$2 input / $10 outputDeepSeek V4 Pro (Max)$0.435 input / $0.87 outputDeepSeek V4 Pro (Max) has the lower combined listed price.
Generation speedtokens per secondClaude Sonnet 5Not availableDeepSeek V4 Pro (Max)Not availableA complete speed comparison is not available.
First-answer latencyseconds to first tokenClaude Sonnet 5Not availableDeepSeek V4 Pro (Max)Not availableA complete latency comparison is not available.
Context windowmaximum listed tokensClaude Sonnet 51MDeepSeek V4 Pro (Max)1MListed context windows are equal.

Benchmark Deep Dive

AgenticClaude Sonnet 5 wins
BenchmarkClaude Sonnet 5DeepSeek V4 Pro (Max)Result
Terminal-Bench 2.0Source 80.4%67.9%Claude Sonnet 5 leads
BrowseCompSource 84.7%83.4%Claude Sonnet 5 leads
HLE w/ toolsSource 57.4%48.2%Claude Sonnet 5 leads
OSWorld-VerifiedSource 81.2%—Not comparable
GDPval-AASource 16071307Claude Sonnet 5 leads
AA Agentic IndexSource 46.7%36.4%Claude Sonnet 5 leads
GDPval-AASource 55.4%40.4%Claude Sonnet 5 leads
AA BriefcaseSource 1388932Claude Sonnet 5 leads
AA AutomationBenchSource 39.2%—Not comparable
AA EnterpriseOps-GymSource 44.7%40.4%Claude Sonnet 5 leads
AA Harvey LABSource 90.1%84.4%Claude Sonnet 5 leads
AA Tau3 BankingSource 28.2%25.8%Claude Sonnet 5 leads
aaTerminalBench21Source 80.5%64%Claude Sonnet 5 leads
MCP AtlasSource —73.6%Not comparable
ToolathlonSource —51.8%Not comparable
APEX-Agents-AASource —24.3%Not comparable
τ²-bench resultsSource —96.2%Not comparable
AA ITBenchSource —38.3%Not comparable
terminalBenchHardSource —46.2%Not comparable
CodingClaude Sonnet 5 wins
BenchmarkClaude Sonnet 5DeepSeek V4 Pro (Max)Result
SWE-bench VerifiedSource 85.2%80.6%Claude Sonnet 5 leads
SWE-bench ProSource 63.2%55.4%Claude Sonnet 5 leads
SWE MultilingualSource 78.3%76.2%Claude Sonnet 5 leads
SWE MultimodalSource 28.1%—Not comparable
Terminal-Bench 2.0Source 80.4%67.9%Claude Sonnet 5 leads
FrontierCode 1.1 MainSource 42.7%—Not comparable
cursorBench32Source 61.5%—Not comparable
AA Coding IndexSource 71.5%59.4%Claude Sonnet 5 leads
AA-SciCodeSource 53.6%50.0%Claude Sonnet 5 leads
CodeforcesSource —3206.0Not comparable
Vibe Code BenchSource —49.93%Not comparable
Reasoning
BenchmarkClaude Sonnet 5DeepSeek V4 Pro (Max)Result
AA-LCRSource 70.7%66.3%Claude Sonnet 5 leads
CritPtSource 16.9%12.9%Claude Sonnet 5 leads
MRCR 1MSource —83.5%Not comparable
CorpusQA 1MSource —62.0%Not comparable
KnowledgeDeepSeek V4 Pro (Max) wins
BenchmarkClaude Sonnet 5DeepSeek V4 Pro (Max)Result
HLESource 57.4%37.7%Claude Sonnet 5 leads
HLE w/o toolsSource 43.2%—Not comparable
Artificial Analysis Intelligence IndexSource 53.4%44.3%Claude Sonnet 5 leads
AA-GPQA DiamondSource 91.1%88.8%Claude Sonnet 5 leads
AA-HLESource 39.6%35.9%Claude Sonnet 5 leads
AA-Omniscience IndexSource 15.3%-10.0%Claude Sonnet 5 leads
AA-Omniscience AccuracySource 38.3%43.3%DeepSeek V4 Pro (Max) leads
AA-Omniscience Hallucination RateSource 37.3%94.0%Claude Sonnet 5 leads
MMLU-ProSource —87.5%Not comparable
SimpleQASource —57.9%Not comparable
Chinese-SimpleQASource —84.4%Not comparable
GPQASource —90.1%Not comparable
GPQA-DSource —90.1%Not comparable
AA Openness IndexSource —50.0%Not comparable
Math
BenchmarkClaude Sonnet 5DeepSeek V4 Pro (Max)Result
HMMT Feb 2026Source —95.2%Not comparable
IMOAnswerBenchSource —89.8%Not comparable
ApexSource —38.3%Not comparable
Apex ShortlistSource —90.2%Not comparable
Multimodal
BenchmarkClaude Sonnet 5DeepSeek V4 Pro (Max)Result
CharXivSource 88.3%—Not comparable
CharXiv w/o toolsSource 77%—Not comparable
AA-MMMU-ProSource 77.3%—Not comparable
Design Arena WebsiteSource 13141264Claude Sonnet 5 leads
Inst. Following
BenchmarkClaude Sonnet 5DeepSeek V4 Pro (Max)Result
AA-IFBenchSource —76.5%Not comparable
Frequently Asked Questions (4)

Which is better, Claude Sonnet 5 or DeepSeek V4 Pro (Max)?

Claude Sonnet 5 and DeepSeek V4 Pro (Max) are tied on the BenchAlign overall score, so the right pick depends on which category matters most for your use case.

Which is better for knowledge tasks, Claude Sonnet 5 or DeepSeek V4 Pro (Max)?

DeepSeek V4 Pro (Max) has the edge for knowledge tasks in this comparison, averaging 60.1 versus 57.4. Inside this category, AA-Omniscience Hallucination Rate is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for coding, Claude Sonnet 5 or DeepSeek V4 Pro (Max)?

Claude Sonnet 5 has the edge for coding in this comparison, averaging 76.7 versus 70.9. Inside this category, Terminal-Bench 2.0 is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for agentic tasks, Claude Sonnet 5 or DeepSeek V4 Pro (Max)?

Claude Sonnet 5 has the edge for agentic tasks in this comparison, averaging 81.9 versus 74.5. Inside this category, AA Briefcase is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

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