DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Max) vs GPT-5.6 Luna (Low)
Which is better for the money: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Max) by DeepSeek or GPT-5.6 Luna (Low) 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 18.5 points higher (39.5 vs 21.0) but costs 25× as much to run the benchmark ($672 vs $27.0; premium vs budget cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Max) when you need intelligence above 21.0, and GPT-5.6 Luna (Low) when 21.0 is enough.
| Metric | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Max) | GPT-5.6 Luna (Low) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 39.5 | 21.0 | −46.8% GPT-5.6 Luna (Low) is 46.8% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $671.96 | $27.02 | −96.0% GPT-5.6 Luna (Low) is 96.0% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 15.14s | 5.90s | −61.0% GPT-5.6 Luna (Low) is 61.0% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.29 / $1.20 | $0.20 / $1.20 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image |
GPT-5.6 Luna (Low) vs DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Max): 46.8% less intelligence, 96.0% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 61.0% 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.
- GPT-5.6 Luna (Low) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6 Luna (Low) scores 21.50 for $10.6.
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Max)GPT-5.6 Luna (Low)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-low · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/deepseek-v4-1-flash/gpt-5-6-luna-low?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill