DeepSeek V4 Flash 0420 (Max) vs Grok 4.5 (High)
Which is better for the money: DeepSeek V4 Flash 0420 (Max) by DeepSeek or Grok 4.5 (High) by SpaceXAI? 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
Grok 4.5 (High) scores 14.6 points higher (38.8 vs 24.2) but costs 8.3× as much to run the benchmark ($1244 vs $149; premium vs mid-range cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick Grok 4.5 (High) when you need intelligence above 24.2, and DeepSeek V4 Flash 0420 (Max) when 24.2 is enough.
| Metric | DeepSeek V4 Flash 0420 (Max) | Grok 4.5 (High) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 24.2 | 38.8 | +60.3% Grok 4.5 (High) is 60.3% more intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $149.48 | $1,243.85 | +732.1% Grok 4.5 (High) is 8.3× more expensive |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 100.76s | 19.45s | −80.7% Grok 4.5 (High) is 80.7% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.11 / $0.23 | $2.00 / $6.00 | |
| Input modalities | Text | Text, Image |
Grok 4.5 (High) vs DeepSeek V4 Flash 0420 (Max): 60.3% more intelligence, 732.1% more cost to run the AA benchmark, and 80.7% faster end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- DeepSeek V4 Flash 0420 (Max) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6 Luna (Max) scores 38.10 for $122.
- Grok 4.5 (High) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Max) scores 51.80 for $1082.
DeepSeek V4 Flash 0420 (Max)Grok 4.5 (High)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-flash-0420/grok-4-5 · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/deepseek-v4-flash-0420/grok-4-5?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill