DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 (Max) vs Gemma 4 E4B (Reasoning)
Which is better for the money: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 (Max) by DeepSeek or Gemma 4 E4B (Reasoning) by Google? 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 36.2 points higher (45.1 vs 8.9) but costs 30× as much to run the benchmark ($445 vs $14.7; 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 8.9, and Gemma 4 E4B (Reasoning) when 8.9 is enough.
| Metric | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 (Max) | Gemma 4 E4B (Reasoning) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 45.1 | 8.9 | −80.3% Gemma 4 E4B (Reasonin… is 80.3% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $444.60 | $14.68 | −96.7% Gemma 4 E4B (Reasonin… is 96.7% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 16.22s | 55.98s | +245.1% Gemma 4 E4B (Reasonin… is 245.1% slower |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.30 / $1.20 | $0.02 / $0.10 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image, Speech, Video |
Gemma 4 E4B (Reasoning) vs DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 (Max): 80.3% less intelligence, 96.7% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 245.1% slower end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- 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.
- Gemma 4 E4B (Reasoning) 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)Gemma 4 E4B (Reasoning)Today's Pareto frontierOpen-weights frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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