DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Non-reasoning) vs GLM-5.1 (Reasoning)
Which is better for the money: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Non-reasoning) by DeepSeek or GLM-5.1 (Reasoning) by Z AI? 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
GLM-5.1 (Reasoning) scores 1.4 points higher (26.1 vs 24.7) but costs 6.2× as much to run the benchmark ($1487 vs $239; premium vs mid-range cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick GLM-5.1 (Reasoning) 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) | GLM-5.1 (Reasoning) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 24.7 | 26.1 | +5.7% GLM-5.1 (Reasoning) is 5.7% more intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $238.91 | $1,486.78 | +522.3% GLM-5.1 (Reasoning) is 6.2× more expensive |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 2.72s | 64.38s | +2266.9% GLM-5.1 (Reasoning) is 2266.9% slower |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.30 / $1.20 | $1.28 / $4.07 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text |
GLM-5.1 (Reasoning) vs DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Non-reasoning): 5.7% more intelligence, 522.3% more cost to run the AA benchmark, and 2266.9% slower end-to-end.
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.
- GLM-5.1 (Reasoning) 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)GLM-5.1 (Reasoning)Today's Pareto frontierOpen-weights frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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