DeepSeek V4 Flash 0420 (Max) vs Qwen3.8 Max
Which is better for the money: DeepSeek V4 Flash 0420 (Max) by DeepSeek or Qwen3.8 Max by Alibaba? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-10-24.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
Qwen3.8 Max scores 16.0 points higher (40.2 vs 24.2) but costs 21× as much to run the benchmark ($3172 vs $149; flagship vs mid-range cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick Qwen3.8 Max when you need intelligence above 24.2, and DeepSeek V4 Flash 0420 (Max) when 24.2 is enough.
| Metric | DeepSeek V4 Flash 0420 (Max) | Qwen3.8 Max | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 24.2 | 40.2 | +66.1% Qwen3.8 Max is 66.1% more intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $149.48 | $3,172.37 | +2022.3% Qwen3.8 Max is 21× more expensive |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 116.79s | 62.83s | −46.2% Qwen3.8 Max is 46.2% faster |
| 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 (Max): 66.1% more intelligence, 2022.3% more cost to run the AA benchmark, and 46.2% 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.
- 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 (Max)Qwen3.8 MaxToday'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/qwen3-8-max-0803 · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/deepseek-v4-flash-0420/qwen3-8-max-0803?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill