LLMversus

DeepSeek V2.5 vs Qwen 2.5 Max: Pricing, Benchmarks & Verdict (2026)

Pricing verified Aug 10, 2026By LLMversusUpdated August 11, 2026View methodology

⚡ Quick Answer

Compare DeepSeek V2.5 and Qwen 2.5 Max across pricing, benchmarks, and capabilities.

Updated: August 10, 2026 · ✓ Pricing verified

Side-by-Side Comparison

FeatureDeepSeek V2.5Qwen 2.5 Max
ProviderDeepSeekAlibaba
Input Price / 1M tokens$0.140$0.160
Output Price / 1M tokens$0.280$0.640
Context Window
128K
128K
Max Output Tokens
4,096
8,192
Arena ELO
1,200
1,374
Coding ELO
1,220
1,374
TTFT (ms)
150
240
Tokens/sec
100
80
MultimodalNoNo
JSON ModeYesYes
Function CallingYesYes
VisionNoNo
When to Use DeepSeek V2.5

DeepSeek V2.5 excels at coding, general-purpose tasks.

Strengths:

  • Excellent value
  • Strong code generation
  • Good quality

Best for:

codinggeneral-purpose
When to Use Qwen 2.5 Max

Qwen 2.5 Max excels at coding, general-purpose, cost-sensitive, open-source tasks.

Strengths:

  • Extremely competitive pricing
  • Strong coding and general capabilities
  • Open-source model available
  • Good multilingual support including Chinese

Best for:

codinggeneral-purposecost-sensitiveopen-source

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