DeepSeek V4 Flash 0420 (High) vs Qwen3.8 Max
Which is better for the money: DeepSeek V4 Flash 0420 (High) by DeepSeek or Qwen3.8 Max by Alibaba? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-10-26.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
Qwen3.8 Max scores 15.8 points higher (40.2 vs 24.4) but costs 26× as much to run the benchmark ($3172 vs $121; flagship vs mid-range cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick Qwen3.8 Max when you need intelligence above 24.4, and DeepSeek V4 Flash 0420 (High) when 24.4 is enough.
| Metric | DeepSeek V4 Flash 0420 (High) | Qwen3.8 Max | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 24.4 | 40.2 | +64.8% Qwen3.8 Max is 64.8% more intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $121.20 | $3,172.37 | +2517.5% Qwen3.8 Max is 26× more expensive |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | Not reported | 64.42s | — not comparable |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.11 / $0.23 | $2.00 / $6.00 | |
| Input modalities | Text | Text, Image, Video |
Qwen3.8 Max vs DeepSeek V4 Flash 0420 (High): 64.8% more intelligence, 2517.5% more cost to run the AA benchmark, and end-to-end time not fully reported.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- DeepSeek V4 Flash 0420 (High) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, MiMo-V2.6-Flash scores 37.90 for $110.
- Qwen3.8 Max is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, Kimi K3.1 Pro scores 55.10 for $3117.
DeepSeek V4 Flash 0420 (High)Qwen3.8 MaxToday's Pareto frontierOpen-weights frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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