DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Max) vs DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Non-reasoning)
Which is better for the money: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Max) by DeepSeek or DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Non-reasoning) by DeepSeek? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-10-24.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Max) scores 14.8 points higher (39.5 vs 24.7) but costs 2.8× as much to run the benchmark ($672 vs $239; premium vs mid-range cost classes). Pick DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Max) when the extra intelligence is worth the premium, otherwise DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Non-reasoning).
| Metric | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Max) | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Non-reasoning) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 39.5 | 24.7 | −37.5% DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (… is 37.5% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $671.96 | $238.91 | −64.4% DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (… is 64.4% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 14.92s | 2.61s | −82.5% DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (… is 82.5% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.29 / $1.20 | $0.30 / $1.20 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image |
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Non-reasoning) vs DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Max): 37.5% less intelligence, 64.4% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 82.5% faster end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Max) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Xhigh) scores 51.00 for $662.
- 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.
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Max)DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Non-reasoning)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/deepseek-v4-1-flash-non-reasoning · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/deepseek-v4-1-flash/deepseek-v4-1-flash-non-reasoning?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill