DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Max) vs GPT-5.6 Luna (Medium)
Which is better for the money: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Max) by DeepSeek or GPT-5.6 Luna (Medium) by OpenAI? 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 14.5 points higher (39.5 vs 25.0) but costs 15× as much to run the benchmark ($672 vs $44.3; premium vs budget cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Max) when you need intelligence above 25.0, and GPT-5.6 Luna (Medium) when 25.0 is enough.
| Metric | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Max) | GPT-5.6 Luna (Medium) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 39.5 | 25.0 | −36.7% GPT-5.6 Luna (Medium) is 36.7% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $671.96 | $44.32 | −93.4% GPT-5.6 Luna (Medium) is 93.4% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 14.92s | 5.82s | −61.0% GPT-5.6 Luna (Medium) 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 (Medium) vs DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Max): 36.7% less intelligence, 93.4% 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 (Medium) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6 Luna (Medium) scores 29.90 for $31.2.
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Max)GPT-5.6 Luna (Medium)Today's Pareto frontierOpen-weights frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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