DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Reasoning, Max Effort) vs Qwen3 Coder Next
Which is better for the money: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Reasoning, Max Effort) by DeepSeek or Qwen3 Coder Next by Alibaba? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-09-22.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Reasoning, Max Eff… scores 30.3 points higher (39.5 vs 9.2) but costs 1.0× as much to run the benchmark ($477 vs $476; both mid-range class). Pick DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Reasoning, Max Eff… when the extra intelligence is worth the premium, otherwise Qwen3 Coder Next.
| Metric | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Reasoning, Max Effort) | Qwen3 Coder Next | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 39.5 | 9.2 | −76.7% Qwen3 Coder Next is 76.7% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $476.89 | $476.23 | −0.1% Qwen3 Coder Next is 0.1% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 12.08s | 6.95s | −42.5% Qwen3 Coder Next is 42.5% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.30 / $1.20 | $0.35 / $1.20 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text |
Qwen3 Coder Next vs DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Reasoning, Max Effort): 76.7% less intelligence, 0.1% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 42.5% 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, MiMo-V2.6-Pro scores 46.30 for $207.
- Qwen3 Coder Next is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, MiMo-V2.6-Pro scores 46.30 for $207.
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Reasoning, Max Effort)Qwen3 Coder NextToday's Pareto frontierOpen-weights frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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