ZMIME
Comparison · 3 models · Updated Nov 2, 2026

Gemini 3.8 Flash vs DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 vs Muse Spark 1.3

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 comes out ahead, 79 to 74 and 72 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  1. Google

    Gemini 3.8 Flash

    Released Sep 2, 2026

    74/100
    • ECI157.6
    • Price$0.75 / $3.75
    • Context1.05M
    Full specs Remove Gemini 3.8 Flash
  2. Our pick

    DeepSeek

    DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017

    Released Oct 17, 2026New

    79/100
    • ECI158.8
    • Price$0.15 / $0.60
    • Context1M
    Full specs Remove DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017

  3. Meta

    Muse Spark 1.3

    Released Sep 2, 2026

    72/100
    • ECI157.4
    • Price$1.25 / $4.25
    • Context1.05M
    Full specs Remove Muse Spark 1.3
01 — Verdict

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 is our pick

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 is the better all-round choice, scoring 79/100 against Gemini 3.8 Flash (74) and Muse Spark 1.3 (72). It leads on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityDeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017Capabilities Index (ECI): DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 158.8 · Gemini 3.8 Flash 157.6 · Muse Spark 1.3 157.4
  • Lowest priceDeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 $0.263 · Gemini 3.8 Flash $1.50 · Muse Spark 1.3 $2.00 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextGemini 3.8 Flash and Muse Spark 1.3Gemini 3.8 Flash 1,048,576 · Muse Spark 1.3 1,048,576 · DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 1,000,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsGemini 3.8 Flash and Muse Spark 1.3Gemini 3.8 Flash: Text, Images, PDFs, Audio, Video · DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017: Text, Images · Muse Spark 1.3: Text, Images, PDFs, Audio, Video
  • Self-hostingDeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017Publishes downloadable weights (MIT)
How the score is built
MeasureWeightGemini 3.8 FlashDeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017Muse Spark 1.3
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%868786
Price25%407434
Inputs & features15%10070100
Context window10%616061
Overall100%74/10079/10072/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

Gemini 3.8 Flash vs DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 vs Muse Spark 1.3 specifications side by side
SpecificationGemini 3.8 FlashGoogleDeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017DeepSeekMuse Spark 1.3Meta
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)157.6158.8 (best)157.4
ECI rank#23 of 165#19 of 165 (best)#24 of 165
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions95.4% (best)93.2%—
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics68.4%71.2%74.4% (best)
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics98.9%99.4% (best)99.2%
SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions69.7% (best)42.5%—
Price per million tokens
Input$0.75$0.15 (best)$1.25
Output$3.75$0.60 (best)$4.25
Cached input$0.075$0.003 (best)$0.15
Blended (3:1)$1.50$0.263 (best)$2.00
Long-context rateSame rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial Google APIOfficial DeepSeek APIOfficial Meta API
Limits
Context window1,048,576 tokens (best)1,000,000 tokens1,048,576 tokens (best)
Max output65,536 tokens384,000 tokens (best)131,072 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYesYes
ImagesYesYesYes
PDFsYesNoYes
AudioYesNoYes
VideoYesNoYes
ReasoningYeslow · medium · highYeslow · high · maxYesminimal · low · medium · high · xhigh · max
Tool callingYesYesYes
Structured outputYesYesYes
Availability
WeightsProprietaryOpenMITProprietary
API model IDgemini-3.8-flashdeepseek-flashmuse-spark-1.3
API providers3240 (best)17
ReleasedSep 2, 2026Oct 17, 2026Sep 2, 2026
Knowledge cutoff—May 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.

  • Gemini 3.8 Flash$15.00
  • DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017$2.70
  • Muse Spark 1.3$21.00
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Gemini 3.8 Flash, DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 or Muse Spark 1.3?

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 is the better all-round choice, scoring 79/100 against Gemini 3.8 Flash (74) and Muse Spark 1.3 (72). It leads on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, Gemini 3.8 Flash, DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 or Muse Spark 1.3?

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 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); Muse Spark 1.3 costs $1.25 input / $4.25 output per million tokens (official Meta 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 1017 versus $1.50 for Gemini 3.8 Flash (5.7× as much) and $2.00 for Muse Spark 1.3 (7.6× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 158.8 (#19 of 165), Gemini 3.8 Flash 157.6 (#23 of 165) and Muse Spark 1.3 157.4 (#24 of 165). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (156.7–162.2 vs 155.5–160.9), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: FrontierMath Tiers 1–3 — Muse Spark 1.3 74.4%, DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 71.2%, Gemini 3.8 Flash 68.4%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 99.4%, Muse Spark 1.3 99.2%, Gemini 3.8 Flash 98.9%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Gemini 3.8 Flash, DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 and Muse Spark 1.3 yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 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?

Gemini 3.8 Flash and Muse Spark 1.3 have the largest context windows (1,048,576 and 1,048,576 tokens), against 1,000,000 for DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017. Maximum output per response: Gemini 3.8 Flash up to 65,536, DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 up to 384,000, Muse Spark 1.3 up to 131,072 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Gemini 3.8 Flash accepts text, images, PDFs, audio and video; DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 accepts text and images; Muse Spark 1.3 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 1017 publishes its weights (MIT) and can be self-hosted; Gemini 3.8 Flash and Muse Spark 1.3 is proprietary.

Which is newer?

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 is the newest, released Oct 17, 2026. Gemini 3.8 Flash came out Sep 2, 2026; Muse Spark 1.3 came out Sep 2, 2026. Knowledge cutoff: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 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 Nov 2, 2026.

05 — Keep comparing

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