DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Max) vs Mistral Small 3.1
Which is better for the money: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Max) by DeepSeek or Mistral Small 3.1 by Mistral? 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 32.4 points higher (39.5 vs 7.1) but costs 24× as much to run the benchmark ($672 vs $27.8; premium vs budget cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Max) when you need intelligence above 7.1, and Mistral Small 3.1 when 7.1 is enough.
| Metric | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Max) | Mistral Small 3.1 | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 39.5 | 7.1 | −82.0% Mistral Small 3.1 is 82.0% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $671.96 | $27.82 | −95.9% Mistral Small 3.1 is 95.9% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 15.00s | 11.25s | −25.0% Mistral Small 3.1 is 25.0% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.29 / $1.20 | $0.08 / $0.14 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image |
Mistral Small 3.1 vs DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Max): 82.0% less intelligence, 95.9% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 25.0% 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.
- Mistral Small 3.1 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)Mistral Small 3.1Today's Pareto frontierOpen-weights frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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