DeepSeek R1 vs Llama 3.3 70B — Comparison

DeepSeek R1 70B

3 1 tie 2

Llama 3.3 70B

Two of the best open-weight 70B models compared. DeepSeek R1 brings chain-of-thought reasoning while Llama 3.3 offers balanced general intelligence.

Reasoning & Math

🏆 DeepSeek R1 70B

DeepSeek R1 was specifically trained for chain-of-thought reasoning. It excels at complex math, logic puzzles, and multi-step problem solving.

General Chat

🏆 Llama 3.3 70B

Llama 3.3 provides more natural, balanced conversations and is better at following nuanced instructions.

Coding

🤝 Tie

Both are excellent coders. DeepSeek R1 edges ahead on algorithmic problems; Llama 3.3 is better at practical software engineering tasks.

Multilingual

🏆 Llama 3.3 70B

Llama 3.3 supports more languages with better quality. DeepSeek R1 is strong in English and Chinese.

License

🏆 DeepSeek R1 70B

DeepSeek R1 uses MIT license (fully permissive). Llama 3.3 uses a community license with some restrictions for large deployments.

Smaller Variants

🏆 DeepSeek R1 70B

DeepSeek R1 comes in 7B, 14B, 32B, 70B distilled versions. Llama 3.3 only comes in 70B.

🎯 Which Should You Choose?

DeepSeek R1 70B is the better choice for technical work — math, coding challenges, and complex reasoning. Llama 3.3 70B is better for general-purpose AI assistant tasks, creative writing, and multilingual use. For most developers, DeepSeek R1's distilled smaller models (14B, 32B) offer the best value.