AI Model Release Tracker - Timeline of Major AI Models from 2022-2026

Home/Compare/DeepSeek-R1-Lite Preview vs GPT-4.1

DeepSeek-R1-Lite Preview vs GPT-4.1

DeepSeek DeepSeek-R1-Lite Preview vs OpenAI GPT-4.1 — side-by-side specs.

DeepSeek
DeepSeek-R1-Lite Preview
OpenAI
GPT-4.1
Overview
CompanyDeepSeekOpenAI
Release dateNov 20 2024May 14 2025
Model type
Open sourceYesNo
Specifications
Parameters
Context window
Benchmarks
Science reasoning
GPQA Diamond
Software engineering
SWE-Bench Verified
Multimodal understanding
MMMU
Timeline
Release gapDeepSeek-R1-Lite Preview shipped 175 days before GPT-4.1

Which is better: DeepSeek-R1-Lite Preview or GPT-4.1?

DeepSeek-R1-Lite Preview and GPT-4.1 do not have directly comparable benchmark scores published on GPQA Diamond, SWE-Bench Verified, or MMMU. DeepSeek-R1-Lite Preview shipped 175 days before GPT-4.1, so benchmark comparisons should account for the intervening progress.

DeepSeek-R1-Lite Preview is an open-source / open-weight model; GPT-4.1 is proprietary.

Direct benchmark comparisons are unavailable — at least one of these models has not published scores on GPQA Diamond, SWE-Bench Verified, or MMMU.

Frequently asked questions

When was DeepSeek-R1-Lite Preview released?
DeepSeek-R1-Lite Preview was released by DeepSeek on Nov 20 2024.
When was GPT-4.1 released?
GPT-4.1 was released by OpenAI on May 14 2025.
Is DeepSeek-R1-Lite Preview or GPT-4.1 open source?
DeepSeek-R1-Lite Preview is an open-source / open-weight model released by DeepSeek. GPT-4.1 is a proprietary model released by OpenAI.

Other comparisons