DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731 (Max) vs DeepSeek V4 Flash 0420 (Max)
Which is better for the money: DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731 (Max) by DeepSeek or DeepSeek V4 Flash 0420 (Max) by DeepSeek? 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 Flash 0731 (Max) scores 10.1 points higher (34.3 vs 24.2) but costs 1.3× as much to run the benchmark ($200 vs $149; both mid-range class). Pick DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731 (Max) when the extra intelligence is worth the premium, otherwise DeepSeek V4 Flash 0420 (Max).
| Metric | DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731 (Max) | DeepSeek V4 Flash 0420 (Max) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 34.3 | 24.2 | −29.4% DeepSeek V4 Flash 042… is 29.4% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $199.63 | $149.48 | −25.1% DeepSeek V4 Flash 042… is 25.1% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 17.94s | 107.06s | +496.8% DeepSeek V4 Flash 042… is 496.8% slower |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.14 / $0.28 | $0.11 / $0.23 | |
| Input modalities | Text | Text |
DeepSeek V4 Flash 0420 (Max) vs DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731 (Max): 29.4% less intelligence, 25.1% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 496.8% slower end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731 (Max) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, Claude Haiku 5.5 (Xhigh) scores 41.20 for $158.
- DeepSeek V4 Flash 0420 (Max) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6 Luna (Max) scores 38.10 for $122.
DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731 (Max)DeepSeek V4 Flash 0420 (Max)Today's Pareto frontierOpen-weights frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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