DeepSeek V3 0324 vs DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Max)
Which is better for the money: DeepSeek V3 0324 by DeepSeek or DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Max) by DeepSeek? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-10-25.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Max) scores 29.8 points higher (39.5 vs 9.7) but costs 34× as much to run the benchmark ($672 vs $19.9; premium vs budget cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Max) when you need intelligence above 9.7, and DeepSeek V3 0324 when 9.7 is enough.
| Metric | DeepSeek V3 0324 | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Max) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 9.7 | 39.5 | +307.2% DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (… is 4.1× more intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $19.87 | $671.96 | +3281.8% DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (… is 34× more expensive |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 4.38s | 15.00s | +242.5% DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (… is 242.5% slower |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.24 / $0.90 | $0.29 / $1.20 | |
| Input modalities | Text | Text, Image |
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Max) vs DeepSeek V3 0324: 307.2% more intelligence, 3281.8% more cost to run the AA benchmark, and 242.5% slower end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- DeepSeek V3 0324 is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6 Luna (Low) scores 21.50 for $10.6.
- DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Max) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Xhigh) scores 51.00 for $662.
DeepSeek V3 0324DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Max)Today's Pareto frontierOpen-weights frontierEvery other model
Matchup
Compare something else
Agents:
Accept: text/markdown or ?format=md returns this page as Markdown. JSON: /api/v1/compare/deepseek-v3-0324/deepseek-v4-1-flash · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/deepseek-v3-0324/deepseek-v4-1-flash?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill