DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Max) vs GPT-5.6 Luna (Non-reasoning)
Which is better for the money: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Max) by DeepSeek or GPT-5.6 Luna (Non-reasoning) by OpenAI? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-10-27.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Max) scores 24.0 points higher (39.5 vs 15.5) but costs 23× as much to run the benchmark ($525 vs $23.0; premium vs budget cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Max) when you need intelligence above 15.5, and GPT-5.6 Luna (Non-reasoning) when 15.5 is enough.
| Metric | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Max) | GPT-5.6 Luna (Non-reasoning) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 39.5 | 15.5 | −60.8% GPT-5.6 Luna (Non-rea… is 60.8% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $524.72 | $22.97 | −95.6% GPT-5.6 Luna (Non-rea… is 95.6% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 14.97s | 5.06s | −66.2% GPT-5.6 Luna (Non-rea… is 66.2% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.30 / $1.20 | $0.20 / $1.20 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image |
GPT-5.6 Luna (Non-reasoning) vs DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Max): 60.8% less intelligence, 95.6% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 66.2% 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 (High) scores 50.20 for $521.
- GPT-5.6 Luna (Non-reasoning) 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 (Non-reasoning)Today's Pareto frontierOpen-weights frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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