DeepSeek V3 (Dec '24) vs DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 (Max)
Which is better for the money: DeepSeek V3 (Dec '24) by DeepSeek or DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 (Max) by DeepSeek? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-10-25.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 (Max) scores 36.6 points higher (45.1 vs 8.5) but costs 18× as much to run the benchmark ($445 vs $25.4; mid-range vs budget cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 (Max) when you need intelligence above 8.5, and DeepSeek V3 (Dec '24) when 8.5 is enough.
| Metric | DeepSeek V3 (Dec '24) | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 (Max) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 8.5 | 45.1 | +430.6% DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1… is 5.3× more intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $25.37 | $444.60 | +1652.5% DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1… is 18× more expensive |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 11.84s | 14.71s | +24.2% DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1… is 24.2% slower |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.32 / $0.89 | $0.30 / $1.20 | |
| Input modalities | Text | Text, Image |
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 (Max) vs DeepSeek V3 (Dec '24): 430.6% more intelligence, 1652.5% more cost to run the AA benchmark, and 24.2% slower end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- DeepSeek V3 (Dec '24) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6 Luna (Low) scores 21.50 for $10.6.
- 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.
DeepSeek V3 (Dec '24)DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 (Max)Today's Pareto frontierOpen-weights frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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