DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Max) vs Qwen3.8 27B (Low)
Which is better for the money: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Max) by DeepSeek or Qwen3.8 27B (Low) by Alibaba? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-10-26.
Clear winner
Verdict
Pick DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Max)
Qwen3.8 27B (Low) vs DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Max): 33.7% less intelligence, 57.8% more cost to run the AA benchmark, and 261.5% slower end-to-end.
| Metric | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Max) | Qwen3.8 27B (Low) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 39.5 | 26.2 | −33.7% Qwen3.8 27B (Low) is 33.7% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $671.96 | $1,060.08 | +57.8% Qwen3.8 27B (Low) is 57.8% more expensive |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 15.37s | 55.56s | +261.5% Qwen3.8 27B (Low) is 261.5% slower |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.29 / $1.20 | $0.50 / $3.00 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image, Video |
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.
- Qwen3.8 27B (Low) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Xhigh) scores 51.00 for $662.
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Max)Qwen3.8 27B (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/qwen3-8-27b-low · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/deepseek-v4-1-flash/qwen3-8-27b-low?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill