DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Max) vs LongCat 2.0
Which is better for the money: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Max) by DeepSeek or LongCat 2.0 by LongCat? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-10-25.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Max) scores 20.4 points higher (39.5 vs 19.1) but costs 1.2× as much to run the benchmark ($672 vs $545; both premium class). Pick DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Max) when the extra intelligence is worth the premium, otherwise LongCat 2.0.
| Metric | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Max) | LongCat 2.0 | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 39.5 | 19.1 | −51.6% LongCat 2.0 is 51.6% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $671.96 | $544.74 | −18.9% LongCat 2.0 is 18.9% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 14.98s | 35.51s | +137.0% LongCat 2.0 is 137.0% slower |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.29 / $1.20 | $0.75 / $2.95 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text |
LongCat 2.0 vs DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Max): 51.6% less intelligence, 18.9% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 137.0% 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.
- LongCat 2.0 is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (High) scores 50.20 for $521.
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Max)LongCat 2.0Today's Pareto frontierOpen-weights frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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