DeepSeek V4 Flash vs Grok 4.6 vs Qwen3.8 Max
Too close to call on our weighted score (DeepSeek V4 Flash 71, Qwen3.8 Max 69, Grok 4.6 65). The right pick depends on what you value most.
DeepSeekDeepSeek V4 Flash
71/100- ECI146.1
- Price$0.14 / $0.28
- Context1M
xAIGrok 4.6
65/100- ECI156.6
- Price$2.00 / $6.00
- Context500K
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen3.8 Max
69/100- ECI156.6
- Price$2.00 / $6.00
- Context1M
Too close to call
It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 1 points (DeepSeek V4 Flash 71/100, Qwen3.8 Max 69/100, Grok 4.6 65/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Grok 4.6 for raw capability and DeepSeek V4 Flash on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
- CapabilityGrok 4.6Capabilities Index (ECI): Grok 4.6 156.6 · Qwen3.8 Max 156.6 · DeepSeek V4 Flash 146.1
- Lowest priceDeepSeek V4 FlashDeepSeek V4 Flash $0.175 · Grok 4.6 $3.00 · Qwen3.8 Max $3.00 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextDeepSeek V4 Flash and Qwen3.8 MaxDeepSeek V4 Flash 1,000,000 · Qwen3.8 Max 1,000,000 · Grok 4.6 500,000 tokens
- Widest inputsQwen3.8 MaxDeepSeek V4 Flash: Text · Grok 4.6: Text, Images · Qwen3.8 Max: Text, Images, PDFs, Video
- Self-hostingDeepSeek V4 FlashPublishes downloadable weights
| Measure | Weight | DeepSeek V4 Flash | Grok 4.6 | Qwen3.8 Max |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI) | 50% | 73 | 86 | 86 |
| Price | 25% | 86 | 27 | 27 |
| Inputs & features | 15% | 45 | 70 | 90 |
| Context window | 10% | 60 | 48 | 60 |
| Overall | 100% | 71/100 | 65/100 | 69/100 |
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | DeepSeek V4 FlashDeepSeek | Grok 4.6xAI | Qwen3.8 MaxAlibaba (Qwen) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | 146.1 | 156.6 (best) | 156.6 |
| ECI rank | #71 of 148 | #19 of 148 (best) | #20 of 148 |
| GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions | — | 94.0% (best) | 92.7% |
| FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics | — | 66.0% | 74.7% (best) |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics | — | 99.2% | 99.4% (best) |
| SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions | — | 49.3% (best) | 45.8% |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.14 (best) | $2.00 | $2.00 |
| Output | $0.28 (best) | $6.00 | $6.00 |
| Cached input | — | $0.50 | $0.25 (best) |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.175 (best) | $3.00 | $3.00 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Over 200K: $4.00 / $12.00 | Same rate |
| Price source | Median of 42 providers | Official xAI API | Official Alibaba API |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 1,000,000 tokens (best) | 500,000 tokens | 1,000,000 tokens (best) |
| Max output | 384,000 tokens | 500,000 tokens (best) | 131,072 tokens |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | No | Yes | Yes |
| PDFs | No | No | Yes |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | No | No | Yes |
| Reasoning | Yes | Yeslow · medium · high · xhigh | Yeslow · medium · xhigh |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Open | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| API model ID | — | grok-4.6 | qwen3.8-max |
| API providers | 48 (best) | 29 | 25 |
| Released | Apr 24, 2026 | Aug 12, 2026 | Aug 3, 2026 |
| Knowledge cutoff | May 2025 | Feb 1, 2026 | — |
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 Flash$1.96
- Grok 4.6$32.00
- Qwen3.8 Max$32.00
Which should you choose?
Which is better: DeepSeek V4 Flash, Grok 4.6 or Qwen3.8 Max?
It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 1 points (DeepSeek V4 Flash 71/100, Qwen3.8 Max 69/100, Grok 4.6 65/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Grok 4.6 for raw capability and DeepSeek V4 Flash on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
Which is cheaper, DeepSeek V4 Flash, Grok 4.6 or Qwen3.8 Max?
DeepSeek V4 Flash is cheaper at $0.14 input / $0.28 output per million tokens (median across 42 API providers). Grok 4.6 costs $2.00 input / $6.00 output per million tokens (official xAI API price); Qwen3.8 Max costs $2.00 input / $6.00 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.175 per million tokens for DeepSeek V4 Flash versus $3.00 for Grok 4.6 (17× as much) and $3.00 for Qwen3.8 Max (17× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
Grok 4.6 scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Grok 4.6 156.6 (#19 of 148), Qwen3.8 Max 156.6 (#20 of 148) and DeepSeek V4 Flash 146.1 (#71 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (154.7–158.9 vs 154.5–158.8), so treat the gap as small.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for DeepSeek V4 Flash, Grok 4.6 and Qwen3.8 Max yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Grok 4.6 leads, which tends to carry over to coding, but test on your own codebase. All three support tool calling for agent workflows.
Which has the bigger context window?
DeepSeek V4 Flash and Qwen3.8 Max have the largest context windows (1,000,000 and 1,000,000 tokens), against 500,000 for Grok 4.6. Maximum output per response: DeepSeek V4 Flash up to 384,000, Grok 4.6 up to 500,000, Qwen3.8 Max up to 131,072 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
DeepSeek V4 Flash accepts text; Grok 4.6 accepts text and images; Qwen3.8 Max accepts text, images, PDFs and video. Qwen3.8 Max handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
DeepSeek V4 Flash publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Grok 4.6 and Qwen3.8 Max is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Grok 4.6 is the newest, released Aug 12, 2026. Qwen3.8 Max came out Aug 3, 2026; DeepSeek V4 Flash came out Apr 24, 2026. Knowledge cutoff: DeepSeek V4 Flash May 2025, Grok 4.6 Feb 1, 2026.
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.
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