DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
- Input / 1M tokens
- $0.30
- Output / 1M tokens
- $1.20
- Providers
- 28
- Uptime, 24 h
- 100%
API models · Side by side
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash vs Qwen3.8 Flash
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash and Qwen3.8 Flash are the budget models from two of the biggest Chinese AI labs, and both read about a million tokens. They price input and output very differently, so which is cheaper depends on how much text you send versus how much the model writes.
Qwen3.8 Flash
- Input / 1M tokens
- $0.15
- Output / 1M tokens
- $0.47
- Providers
- 1
- Uptime, 24 h
- 100%
The short answer
Pick DeepSeek V4.1 Flash for input-heavy work: at $0.02 per million input tokens it is 7.5 times cheaper to read with, so summaries, document search and long-context tasks cost much less. Pick Qwen3.8 Flash for output-heavy work such as code and long-form writing, where its $0.47 per million output tokens beats DeepSeek's $1.00. For short chat replies the two cost almost exactly the same.
Estimate your monthly bill
Enter your own usage. We apply each model's current rates, including long-prompt pricing, for a 30-day month.
Try:
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash$36.00per month
Qwen3.8 Flash$16.05per month
A token is roughly three-quarters of an English word. Cached input, reasoning tokens, tools and media are not included.
Compare the details
Compare context, supported inputs and usage costs. Highlighted rows show a difference.
| Feature | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash | Qwen3.8 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| Input formats | image, text | image, text, video |
| Output formats | text | text |
| Context / position limit | 1,048,576 | 1,000,000 |
| Endpoint output limit (tokens) | 943,718 | 131,072 |
| Developer features | frequency penalty, Reasoning output, logit bias, logprobs, Output limit, min p, parallel tool calls, presence penalty, Reasoning controls, Thinking effort, repetition penalty, Response format, Seed, Stop sequences, Structured output, Temperature, Tool selection, Tool calling, top a, top k, top logprobs, Sampling controls | frequency penalty, Reasoning output, logprobs, Output limit, presence penalty, Reasoning controls, Response format, Seed, Stop sequences, Structured output, Temperature, Tool selection, Tool calling, top k, top logprobs, Sampling controls |
| Cached input / 1M tokens | $0.006000 | $0.02 |
| USD input / 1M tokens | $0.30 | $0.15 |
| USD output / 1M tokens | $1.20 | $0.47 |
| Available API providers | 28 | 1 |
| Best provider uptime, last 24 h | 100% | 100% |
| Price range across providers (per 1M tokens) | Input $0.040–$3.00, output $0.42–$12.00 across 28 providers | Set by the developer |
| Model identifier | deepseek/deepseek-v4.1-flash | qwen/qwen3.8-flash |
API pricing
Prices are in USD per million tokens. Input is what you send; output is what the model generates. Chat subscriptions and API usage are billed separately.
Tools, images and additional reasoning can add charges. The examples below cover input and output tokens only.
Compare local modelsWhat those prices mean in practice
Each example uses the same token budget for both models. These are calculations, not measured workloads. Cache discounts, media, tools and extra reasoning are excluded.
| Workload | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash | Qwen3.8 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| 1,000 short requestsPer request: 2,000 input + 500 output tokens | $1.20 | $0.54 |
| 100 document summariesPer request: 20,000 input + 1,000 output tokens | $0.72 | $0.35 |
| 10 long-document requestsPer request: 300,000 input + 2,000 output tokens | $0.92 | $0.46 |
Estimate = requests × (input tokens × input price + output tokens × output price) ÷ 1,000,000. Long-prompt rates are applied where the pricing data provides them. Real requests can use different amounts of output.
Beyond the price tag
Input-heavy work favours DeepSeek
DeepSeek charges $0.02 per million input tokens against Qwen's $0.15. Summarising 100 documents of 20,000 tokens each costs about $0.14 on DeepSeek and $0.35 on Qwen; ten 300,000-token requests cost about $0.08 against $0.46.
Output-heavy work favours Qwen
Qwen charges $0.47 per million output tokens against DeepSeek's $1.00. Generating 8,000 tokens of code for 100 requests costs about $0.38 on Qwen and $0.80 on DeepSeek. Reasoning tokens count as output on both, so a model that thinks at length costs more than its visible answer suggests.
The break-even point
DeepSeek is cheaper whenever a request sends more than about four times as many tokens as it gets back. A typical chat reply (2,000 tokens in, 500 out) sits right on that line, which is why everyday chat costs about the same on both.
Inputs and output length
Qwen3.8 Flash reads text, images and video, which suits screen recordings and long-video analysis. DeepSeek V4.1 Flash reads text and images. DeepSeek allows single responses of up to about 944,000 tokens; Qwen caps a response at 131,072.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, DeepSeek V4.1 Flash or Qwen3.8 Flash?
It depends on the shape of your requests. DeepSeek costs $0.02 per million input tokens and $1.00 per million output; Qwen costs $0.15 and $0.47. DeepSeek is cheaper when you send more than about four input tokens for every output token, and Qwen is cheaper otherwise.
Can either model read video?
Qwen3.8 Flash accepts video as well as text and images. DeepSeek V4.1 Flash accepts text and images only.
How much context do they support?
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash reads up to 1,048,576 tokens and Qwen3.8 Flash up to 1,000,000, so both can take whole codebases or long documents in one request.
Do they support tool calling and structured output?
Yes. Both support tool calling, tool choice, structured outputs, response formats and reasoning controls through the OpenRouter API.
Is prompt caching available?
Yes. Cached input costs about $0.015 per million tokens on DeepSeek and $0.016 on Qwen, which makes repeated system prompts and reference files very cheap on both.