DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Max) vs Qwen3.8-Flash-Next
Which is better for the money: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Max) by DeepSeek or Qwen3.8-Flash-Next by Alibaba? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-10-25.
Clear winner
Verdict
Pick Qwen3.8-Flash-Next
Qwen3.8-Flash-Next vs DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Max): 0.8% more intelligence, 46.0% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 236.8% slower end-to-end.
| Metric | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Max) | Qwen3.8-Flash-Next | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 39.5 | 39.8 | +0.8% Qwen3.8-Flash-Next is 0.8% more intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $671.96 | $362.72 | −46.0% Qwen3.8-Flash-Next is 46.0% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 15.00s | 50.52s | +236.8% Qwen3.8-Flash-Next is 236.8% slower |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.29 / $1.20 | $0.15 / $0.47 | |
| 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-Flash-Next is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Medium) scores 47.80 for $361.
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Max)Qwen3.8-Flash-NextToday'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-flash-next · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/deepseek-v4-1-flash/qwen3-8-flash-next?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill