DeepSeek V4 Pro vs GPT-5.6 Sol for emotional support
Effectively a dead heat: 97–96
Same 12 emotional support tasks, marked blind by three rival labs. DeepSeek V4 Pro took 2 tasks, GPT-5.6 Sol took 1, 9 tied. Tested 16 Aug 2026.
Where they differed most
Your friend messages: 'My sister has cancelled Christmas AGAIN and Mum's acting like it's my fault. I don't want advice, I just need to vent.' Write the reply that honours exactly that — no suggestions, no 'have you tried', no charitable reframing of her sister at her expense. Show what listening looks like in text form.
That is so unbelievably frustrating. She cancels *again* and somehow you’re the one in the firing line? That’s completely unfair. I hear you, and I’m right here. Vent all you need.
“That’s so frustrating. Your sister cancels Christmas again, and somehow your mum is making you carry the blame? That’s deeply unfair. You get to be angry and hurt about this. I’m here—vent as much as you need.”
Task by task
| Task | DeepSeek V4 Pro | GPT-5.6 Sol |
|---|---|---|
| The dog died | 10 | 10 |
| Redundant at 55 | 10 | 10 |
| She said no advice | 10 | 9 |
| After the miscarriage | 10 | 10 |
| Driving test at 9am | 8 | 8 |
| First Father's Day after | 10 | 10 |
| The 3am calls | 10 | 10 |
| Days without speaking | 9 | 10 |
| Stop apologising | 10 | 10 |
| Not a diagnosis | 9 | 9 |
| Her promotion, your rejection | 10 | 10 |
| The 1am message | 10 | 9 |
Full receipts: DeepSeek V4 Pro, GPT-5.6 Sol · judges claude-sonnet-5, gemini-3.1-pro-preview, gpt-5.6-terra
Questions people ask
Which is better for emotional support: DeepSeek V4 Pro or GPT-5.6 Sol?
Effectively a dead heat: DeepSeek V4 Pro edged it 97/100 to 96/100 on our emotional support suite — too close to matter, so pick on price or the product you already use.
How was this tested?
Both models answered the identical published emotional support tasks. Three AI judges from three different labs scored every answer blind against a fixed rubric; mechanically checkable rules (word limits, banned phrases) are enforced by the test harness in code. The raw outputs and judge verdicts are downloadable.
More emotional support head-to-heads: Claude Sonnet 5 vs DeepSeek V4 Pro · Claude Sonnet 5 vs GPT-5.6 Sol · DeepSeek V4 Pro vs GPT-5.5 · GPT-5.5 vs GPT-5.6 Sol · Claude Fable 5 vs DeepSeek V4 Pro · Claude Opus 4.8 vs DeepSeek V4 Pro
Full ranking: Best AI for emotional support · model pages: DeepSeek V4 Pro, GPT-5.6 Sol