DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Max) vs GPT-5.6 Luna (Max)
Which is better for the money: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Max) by DeepSeek or GPT-5.6 Luna (Max) by OpenAI? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-10-26.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Max) scores 2.2 points higher (39.5 vs 37.3) but costs 2.1× as much to run the benchmark ($672 vs $320; premium vs mid-range cost classes). Pick DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Max) when the extra intelligence is worth the premium, otherwise GPT-5.6 Luna (Max).
| Metric | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Max) | GPT-5.6 Luna (Max) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 39.5 | 37.3 | −5.6% GPT-5.6 Luna (Max) is 5.6% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $671.96 | $319.93 | −52.4% GPT-5.6 Luna (Max) is 52.4% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 15.37s | 114.07s | +642.2% GPT-5.6 Luna (Max) is 642.2% slower |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.29 / $1.20 | $0.20 / $1.20 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image |
GPT-5.6 Luna (Max) vs DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Max): 5.6% less intelligence, 52.4% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 642.2% slower 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.
- GPT-5.6 Luna (Max) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, MiMo-V2.6-Pro scores 46.30 for $207.
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Max)GPT-5.6 Luna (Max)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/gpt-5-6-luna · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/deepseek-v4-1-flash/gpt-5-6-luna?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill