DeepSeek R1 made headlines in January 2025 when benchmarks showed it matching OpenAI’s o1 — a model that costs significantly more to run — at a fraction of the price. But how does it actually compare to ChatGPT for everyday use? And can running it locally with Ollama replace your ChatGPT subscription?
What Is DeepSeek R1?
DeepSeek R1 is an open-source reasoning model from Chinese AI lab DeepSeek. Like OpenAI’s o1, it uses chain-of-thought reasoning — thinking through problems step by step before answering. The full model has 671 billion parameters. Distilled versions (7B to 70B) can run locally on consumer hardware via Ollama.
DeepSeek R1 vs ChatGPT: Feature Comparison
| Feature | DeepSeek R1 (local via Ollama) | ChatGPT (GPT-4o) |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | Free (runs on your hardware) | $20/month (Plus) |
| Privacy | Fully local — no data sent anywhere | Data processed by OpenAI |
| Internet access | No | Yes (with browsing enabled) |
| Image input | No (text only) | Yes |
| Image generation | No | Yes (DALL-E) |
| Reasoning quality | Excellent (chain-of-thought) | Excellent (o1/o3 models) |
| Maths performance | Matches o1 (full model) | Excellent |
| Coding | Excellent | Excellent |
| General chat | Very good | Excellent |
| Up-to-date knowledge | Training cutoff only | Up to date with browsing |
| Open source | Yes | No |
| Runs offline | Yes | No |
Performance: Where DeepSeek R1 Competes
On pure reasoning benchmarks — maths, logic, and coding — the full DeepSeek R1 (671B) genuinely matches or beats OpenAI’s o1. The distilled 7B-70B versions running locally are weaker than the full model but still strong for their size.
On everyday tasks like writing, summarisation, and general Q&A, ChatGPT (GPT-4o) has the edge — it’s faster, more conversational, and benefits from internet access and multimodal capabilities.
Privacy: The Biggest Reason to Go Local
This is where local DeepSeek R1 via Ollama wins decisively. ChatGPT sends your prompts to OpenAI’s servers. The DeepSeek cloud API (chat.deepseek.com) processes data on servers in China.
Running DeepSeek R1 locally with Ollama means nothing leaves your machine. Your code, documents, and conversations stay entirely on your hardware. For sensitive work — client data, proprietary code, confidential documents — this matters enormously. See: Is DeepSeek R1 safe to run locally?
Cost: Free vs $20/Month
ChatGPT Plus costs $20/month. DeepSeek R1 on Ollama is free — you just need hardware capable of running it. A machine with 8GB RAM can run the 7B model. If you already have a reasonably modern computer, the running cost is effectively zero beyond electricity.
Where ChatGPT Still Wins
- Internet access — ChatGPT can browse the web; Ollama models cannot
- Images — GPT-4o accepts image inputs and generates images; DeepSeek R1 is text-only
- Speed — ChatGPT runs on OpenAI’s infrastructure; local models are limited by your hardware
- Plugins and integrations — ChatGPT has a mature ecosystem of tools and plugins
- Ease of use — No setup required; works in a browser immediately
Where DeepSeek R1 Wins
- Privacy — fully local, no data sent anywhere
- Cost — completely free after hardware
- Offline use — works without an internet connection
- API access — free local API for building your own apps
- Maths and reasoning — competitive with o1 at the full model size
- No rate limits — unlimited queries, no throttling
Should You Switch from ChatGPT?
For most users, the answer is use both depending on the task:
- Use local DeepSeek R1 for: coding projects, sensitive documents, maths, tasks you want to keep private, or unlimited API calls
- Use ChatGPT for: research requiring web access, tasks needing image understanding, quick one-off questions where ease of use matters
If your primary use cases are coding and reasoning, and privacy matters to you, local DeepSeek R1 can genuinely replace your ChatGPT subscription for day-to-day work.
Getting Started
See the full setup guide: How to run DeepSeek R1 on Ollama. For choosing the right model size for your hardware, see Which DeepSeek R1 model size should you use?
