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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash vs Gemini 3.8 Flash

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash comes out ahead, 78 to 75 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  1. Our pick

    DeepSeek

    DeepSeek V4.1 Flash

    Released Sep 10, 2026

    78/100
    • ECI155.0
    • Price$0.15 / $0.60
    • Context1M
    Full specs Remove DeepSeek V4.1 Flash

  2. Google

    Gemini 3.8 Flash

    Released Sep 2, 2026

    75/100
    • ECI156.9
    • Price$0.75 / $3.75
    • Context1.05M
    Full specs Remove Gemini 3.8 Flash

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash is our pick

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash is the better all-round choice, scoring 78/100 against Gemini 3.8 Flash (75). It leads on price. Gemini 3.8 Flash wins on capability and inputs & features. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityGemini 3.8 FlashCapabilities Index (ECI): Gemini 3.8 Flash 156.9 · DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 155.0
  • Lowest priceDeepSeek V4.1 FlashDeepSeek V4.1 Flash $0.263 · Gemini 3.8 Flash $1.50 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextGemini 3.8 FlashGemini 3.8 Flash 1,048,576 · DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1,000,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsGemini 3.8 FlashDeepSeek V4.1 Flash: Text, Images · Gemini 3.8 Flash: Text, Images, PDFs, Audio, Video
  • Self-hostingDeepSeek V4.1 FlashPublishes downloadable weights (MIT)
How the score is built
MeasureWeightDeepSeek V4.1 FlashGemini 3.8 Flash
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%8487
Price25%7742
Inputs & features15%70100
Context window10%6061
Overall100%78/10075/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash vs Gemini 3.8 Flash specifications side by side
SpecificationDeepSeek V4.1 FlashDeepSeekGemini 3.8 FlashGoogle
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)155.0156.9 (best)
ECI rank#29 of 148#15 of 148 (best)
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions—95.4%
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics—68.4%
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics—98.9%
SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions—69.7%
Price per million tokens
Input$0.15 (best)$0.75
Output$0.60 (best)$3.75
Cached input$0.003 (best)$0.075
Blended (3:1)$0.263 (best)$1.50
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial DeepSeek APIOfficial Google API
Limits
Context window1,000,000 tokens1,048,576 tokens (best)
Max output384,000 tokens (best)65,536 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesYesYes
PDFsNoYes
AudioNoYes
VideoNoYes
ReasoningYeslow · high · maxYeslow · medium · high
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputYesYes
Availability
WeightsOpenMITProprietary
API model IDdeepseek-flashgemini-3.8-flash
API providers50 (best)21
ReleasedSep 10, 2026Sep 2, 2026
Knowledge cutoffMay 2025—
03 — Cost

What would a month cost?

Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.

  • DeepSeek V4.1 Flash$2.70
  • Gemini 3.8 Flash$15.00
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash or Gemini 3.8 Flash?

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash is the better all-round choice, scoring 78/100 against Gemini 3.8 Flash (75). It leads on price. Gemini 3.8 Flash wins on capability and inputs & features. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, DeepSeek V4.1 Flash or Gemini 3.8 Flash?

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash is cheaper at $0.15 input / $0.60 output per million tokens (official DeepSeek API price). Gemini 3.8 Flash costs $0.75 input / $3.75 output per million tokens (official Google API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.263 per million tokens for DeepSeek V4.1 Flash versus $1.50 for Gemini 3.8 Flash (5.7× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

Gemini 3.8 Flash scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Gemini 3.8 Flash 156.9 (#15 of 148) and DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 155.0 (#29 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (154.6–160.4 vs 148.8–157.6), so treat the gap as small.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for DeepSeek V4.1 Flash and Gemini 3.8 Flash yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Gemini 3.8 Flash leads, which tends to carry over to coding, but test on your own codebase. Both support tool calling for agent workflows.

Which has the bigger context window?

Gemini 3.8 Flash has the largest context window at 1,048,576 tokens, against 1,000,000 for DeepSeek V4.1 Flash. Maximum output per response: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash up to 384,000, Gemini 3.8 Flash up to 65,536 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash accepts text and images; Gemini 3.8 Flash accepts text, images, PDFs, audio and video. Gemini 3.8 Flash handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash publishes its weights (MIT) and can be self-hosted; Gemini 3.8 Flash is proprietary.

Which is newer?

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash is the newest, released Sep 10, 2026. Gemini 3.8 Flash came out Sep 2, 2026. Knowledge cutoff: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash May 2025.

How do you decide the winner?

Each model gets a 0–100 score on capability (50%, independent benchmark results); price (25%, blended price per million tokens (3 input : 1 output), log scale); inputs & features (15%, image, PDF, audio and video input, tool calling, structured output and reasoning); context window (10%, maximum tokens per request, log scale). Dimensions missing for any model are dropped and the remaining weights rescaled, so every model is judged on the same evidence. Specs and prices come from public model listings and the labs’ own API pages; capability scores come from independent benchmark runs. Data updated Oct 4, 2026.

05 — Keep comparing

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