DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 (Max) vs Mistral Small 3.1
Which is better for the money: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 (Max) by DeepSeek or Mistral Small 3.1 by Mistral? 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 38.0 points higher (45.1 vs 7.1) but costs 16× as much to run the benchmark ($445 vs $27.8; 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 7.1, and Mistral Small 3.1 when 7.1 is enough.
| Metric | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 (Max) | Mistral Small 3.1 | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 45.1 | 7.1 | −84.3% Mistral Small 3.1 is 84.3% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $444.60 | $27.82 | −93.7% Mistral Small 3.1 is 93.7% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 16.12s | 11.75s | −27.1% Mistral Small 3.1 is 27.1% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.30 / $1.20 | $0.08 / $0.14 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image |
Mistral Small 3.1 vs DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 (Max): 84.3% less intelligence, 93.7% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 27.1% faster 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.
- Mistral Small 3.1 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)Mistral Small 3.1Today's Pareto frontierOpen-weights frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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Accept: text/markdown or ?format=md returns this page as Markdown. JSON: /api/v1/compare/deepseek-v4-1-flash-1017/mistral-small-3-1 · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/deepseek-v4-1-flash-1017/mistral-small-3-1?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill