DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Max) vs Solar Pro 3
Which is better for the money: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Max) by DeepSeek or Solar Pro 3 by Upstage? 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 31.7 points higher (39.5 vs 7.8) but costs 4.2× as much to run the benchmark ($672 vs $159; premium vs mid-range cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Max) when you need intelligence above 7.8, and Solar Pro 3 when 7.8 is enough.
| Metric | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Max) | Solar Pro 3 | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 39.5 | 7.8 | −80.3% Solar Pro 3 is 80.3% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $671.96 | $159.22 | −76.3% Solar Pro 3 is 76.3% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 15.00s | 18.88s | +25.9% Solar Pro 3 is 25.9% slower |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.29 / $1.20 | $0.15 / $0.60 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text |
Solar Pro 3 vs DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Max): 80.3% less intelligence, 76.3% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 25.9% 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.
- Solar Pro 3 is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, Claude Haiku 5.5 (Xhigh) scores 41.20 for $158.
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Max)Solar Pro 3Today'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/solar-pro-3 · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/deepseek-v4-1-flash/solar-pro-3?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill