Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) vs DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 (Max)
Which is better for the money: Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) by Anthropic or DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 (Max) by DeepSeek? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-10-26.
Depends on your budget
Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Max, Default Fallbac… scores 10.9 points higher (56.0 vs 45.1) but costs 16× as much to run the benchmark ($7260 vs $445; flagship vs mid-range cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Max, Default Fallbac… when you need intelligence above 45.1, and DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 (Max) when 45.1 is enough.
| Metric | Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 (Max) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 56.0 | 45.1 | −19.5% DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1… is 19.5% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $7,259.50 | $444.60 | −93.9% DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1… is 93.9% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 409.04s | 16.13s | −96.1% DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1… is 96.1% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $2.00 / $10.0 | $0.30 / $1.20 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image |
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 (Max) vs Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback): 19.5% less intelligence, 93.9% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 96.1% faster end-to-end.
Against the frontier
- Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, Claude Opus 5.5 (Xhigh, Default Fallback) scores 56.00 for $4057.
- DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 (Max) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Medium) scores 47.80 for $361.
Compare something else
Accept: text/markdown or ?format=md returns this page as Markdown. JSON: /api/v1/compare/claude-sonnet-5-5/deepseek-v4-1-flash-1017 · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/claude-sonnet-5-5/deepseek-v4-1-flash-1017?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill