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Comparison · 3 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Qwen3.8 Flash Next vs DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp vs MiniCPM5-2B

Too close to call on our weighted score (DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp 70, Qwen3.8 Flash Next 70, MiniCPM5-2B 53). The right pick depends on what you value most.

  1. Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3.8 Flash Next

    Released Aug 27, 2026

    70/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.20 / $0.50
    • Context262K
  2. DeepSeek

    DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp

    Released Aug 21, 2026

    70/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.216 / $0.647
    • Context1M
  3. OpenBMB

    MiniCPM5-2B

    Released Sep 6, 2026

    53/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.124 / $0.743
    • Context131K
01 — Verdict

Too close to call

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within a point (DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp 70/100, Qwen3.8 Flash Next 70/100, MiniCPM5-2B 53/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Qwen3.8 Flash Next on price and DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp for long inputs. The score weighs price 50%, inputs & features 30%, context window 20%. None of the shared benchmarks cover every model here yet, so capability is left out of this verdict.

  • CapabilityNot enough dataNo independent benchmark covers every model here yet
  • Lowest priceQwen3.8 Flash NextQwen3.8 Flash Next $0.275 · MiniCPM5-2B $0.279 · DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp $0.323 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextDeepSeek V4 Flash Vision ExpDeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp 1,000,000 · Qwen3.8 Flash Next 262,144 · MiniCPM5-2B 131,072 tokens
  • Widest inputsQwen3.8 Flash NextQwen3.8 Flash Next: Text, Images, Video · DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp: Text, Images · MiniCPM5-2B: Text
  • Self-hostingAll open weightsEvery model here can be downloaded and run on your own hardware
How the score is built
MeasureWeightQwen3.8 Flash NextDeepSeek V4 Flash Vision ExpMiniCPM5-2B
Price50%767376
Inputs & features30%807035
Context window20%376024
Overall100%70/10070/10053/100

Left out because at least one model lacks the data: capability. The remaining weights were rescaled.

02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

Qwen3.8 Flash Next vs DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp vs MiniCPM5-2B specifications side by side
SpecificationQwen3.8 Flash NextAlibaba (Qwen)DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision ExpDeepSeekMiniCPM5-2BOpenBMB
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)———
ECI rank———
Price per million tokens
Input$0.20$0.216$0.124 (best)
Output$0.50 (best)$0.647$0.743
Cached input———
Blended (3:1)$0.275 (best)$0.323$0.279
Long-context rateSame rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 5 providersMedian of 15 providersMedian of 1 providers
Limits
Context window262,144 tokens1,000,000 tokens (best)131,072 tokens
Max output131,072 tokens384,000 tokens (best)131,072 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYesYes
ImagesYesYesNo
PDFsNoNoNo
AudioNoNoNo
VideoYesNoNo
ReasoningYesYesYes
Tool callingYesYesYes
Structured outputYesYesNo
Availability
WeightsOpenqwen-community-1.0OpenMITOpenapache-2.0
API model ID———
API providers515 (best)1
ReleasedAug 27, 2026Aug 21, 2026Sep 6, 2026
Knowledge cutoff———
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.

  • Qwen3.8 Flash Next$3.00
  • DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp$3.45
  • MiniCPM5-2B$2.73
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Qwen3.8 Flash Next, DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp or MiniCPM5-2B?

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within a point (DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp 70/100, Qwen3.8 Flash Next 70/100, MiniCPM5-2B 53/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Qwen3.8 Flash Next on price and DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp for long inputs. The score weighs price 50%, inputs & features 30%, context window 20%. None of the shared benchmarks cover every model here yet, so capability is left out of this verdict.

Which is cheaper, Qwen3.8 Flash Next, DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp or MiniCPM5-2B?

Qwen3.8 Flash Next is cheaper at $0.20 input / $0.50 output per million tokens (median across 5 API providers). MiniCPM5-2B costs $0.124 input / $0.743 output per million tokens (median across 1 API provider); DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp costs $0.216 input / $0.647 output per million tokens (median across 15 API providers). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.275 per million tokens for Qwen3.8 Flash Next versus $0.279 for MiniCPM5-2B (1× as much) and $0.323 for DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp (1.2× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Qwen3.8 Flash Next has not been scored yet, DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp has not been scored yet and MiniCPM5-2B has not been scored yet.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Qwen3.8 Flash Next, DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp and MiniCPM5-2B yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. All three support tool calling for agent workflows.

Which has the bigger context window?

DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp has the largest context window at 1,000,000 tokens, against 262,144 for Qwen3.8 Flash Next and 131,072 for MiniCPM5-2B. Maximum output per response: Qwen3.8 Flash Next up to 131,072, DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp up to 384,000, MiniCPM5-2B up to 131,072 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Qwen3.8 Flash Next accepts text, images and video; DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp accepts text and images; MiniCPM5-2B accepts text. Qwen3.8 Flash Next handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Yes, all three publish their weights (qwen-community-1.0, MIT and apache-2.0), so you can self-host them.

Which is newer?

MiniCPM5-2B is the newest, released Sep 6, 2026. Qwen3.8 Flash Next came out Aug 27, 2026; DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp came out Aug 21, 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.