DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Non-reasoning) vs Gemini 3.8 Flash (Medium)
Which is better for the money: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Non-reasoning) by DeepSeek or Gemini 3.8 Flash (Medium) 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
Gemini 3.8 Flash (Medium) scores 15.1 points higher (39.8 vs 24.7) but costs 4.6× as much to run the benchmark ($1100 vs $239; premium vs mid-range cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick Gemini 3.8 Flash (Medium) when you need intelligence above 24.7, and DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Non-reasoning) when 24.7 is enough.
| Metric | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Non-reasoning) | Gemini 3.8 Flash (Medium) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 24.7 | 39.8 | +61.1% Gemini 3.8 Flash (Med… is 61.1% more intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $238.91 | $1,100.06 | +360.4% Gemini 3.8 Flash (Med… is 4.6× more expensive |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 2.71s | Not reported | — not comparable |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.30 / $1.20 | $0.75 / $3.75 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image, Speech, Video |
Gemini 3.8 Flash (Medium) vs DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Non-reasoning): 61.1% more intelligence, 360.4% more cost to run the AA benchmark, and end-to-end time not fully reported.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Non-reasoning) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, MiMo-V2.6-Pro scores 46.30 for $207.
- Gemini 3.8 Flash (Medium) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Max) scores 51.80 for $1082.
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Non-reasoning)Gemini 3.8 Flash (Medium)Today'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-non-reasoning/gemini-3-8-flash-medium · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/deepseek-v4-1-flash-non-reasoning/gemini-3-8-flash-medium?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill