DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 (Max) vs Qwen3.8 Max
Which is better for the money: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 (Max) by DeepSeek or Qwen3.8 Max by Alibaba? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-10-25.
Clear winner
Verdict
Pick DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 (Max)
Qwen3.8 Max vs DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 (Max): 10.9% less intelligence, 613.5% more cost to run the AA benchmark, and 290.0% slower end-to-end.
| Metric | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 (Max) | Qwen3.8 Max | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 45.1 | 40.2 | −10.9% Qwen3.8 Max is 10.9% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $444.60 | $3,172.37 | +613.5% Qwen3.8 Max is 7.1× more expensive |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 16.12s | 62.87s | +290.0% Qwen3.8 Max is 290.0% slower |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.30 / $1.20 | $2.00 / $6.00 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image, Video |
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.
- Qwen3.8 Max is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, Kimi K3.1 Pro scores 55.10 for $3117.
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 (Max)Qwen3.8 MaxToday'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/qwen3-8-max-0803 · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/deepseek-v4-1-flash-1017/qwen3-8-max-0803?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill