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Model comparison

DeepSeek V3.1 vs Qwen 3.8 Flash Next

DeepSeek against Qwen, compared on context, price, and verified benchmark results.

Catalog record checked September 26, 2026Individual provider fields may changeEvidence confidence: High — see receipts below

DeepSeek

DeepSeek V3.1

Budget · Open weights

vs

Qwen

Qwen 3.8 Flash Next

Budget · Open weights

AI model capability comparison
SpecificationDeepSeek V3.1Qwen 3.8 Flash Next
ProviderDeepSeekQwen
TierBudgetBudget
Context window128KWinner: 262K
Max outputNot verifiedUnverifiedNot verifiedUnverified
Input / 1M tokens$0.25Winner: $0.15
Output / 1M tokens$0.95Winner: $0.47
WeightsOpenOpen
Parameters671B total / 37B active (MoE)125B total / 6B active (MoE) + 51B n-gram embedding table
Reasoning levelslow, high, maxNot verifiedUnverified
Modalitiestexttext, image, video
LicenseMITqwen-community-1.0
API model idNot publishedUnverifiedqwen3.8-flash
ReleasedAugust 21, 2025August 26, 2026
Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index (2026-09-26)13.5Winner: 39.8

Prices are USD per million tokens at standard rates, excluding batch and caching discounts. Bold indicates the better figure where one is objectively better. Values we could not confirm from the provider are shown as “Not verified” rather than estimated.

Benchmark receipts

Where each score comes from, and how far it can be compared across models.

  • 2026-09-26
    Artificial Analysis

    Composite index blending reasoning, knowledge, and coding evals into one 0–100 score.

    Comparable with caveatOnly same-version scores are comparable. v4.3.2 was rebaselined (the top score fell from 66 on v4.1.1 to ~58), so v4.1.1 figures must not be compared with v4.3.2 figures — check measuredAt.

Pricing tiers

DeepSeek V3.1: No first-party API: DeepSeek moved the deepseek-chat alias to V3.1-Terminus on 2025-09-22 (the alias itself was retired on 2026-07-24). Third-party hosts listed ~$0.25/$0.95 per MTok (secondary, last checked 2026-08-29) — verify with your host.

Qwen 3.8 Flash Next: Hosted qwen3.8-flash lists $0.15/$0.47 per MTok on Alibaba Cloud Model Studio with a 1M context. The open checkpoint is 262,144 tokens native, extensible to 1M.

BudgetOpen weightsRecord checked September 26, 2026

DeepSeek V3.1

DeepSeek V3.1 is a legacy open-weight (MIT) 671B/37B MoE with a 128K context — superseded by V3.1-Terminus, V3.2 and then V4.

Best for

  • Cost-sensitive hosted agents
  • High-volume coding assist
  • Open-weight deployments

Watch out

Legacy: DeepSeek's own API stopped serving V3.1 when deepseek-chat moved to V3.1-Terminus on 2025-09-22; hosted rates differ by provider and self-hosting needs datacentre VRAM.

BudgetOpen weightsRecord checked September 26, 2026

Qwen 3.8 Flash Next

Qwen 3.8 Flash Next is Alibaba's experimental preview of the Qwen 4 architecture — very low active parameters plus an unusual n-gram embedding component for cheap long-context.

Best for

  • Early testing of Qwen 4 architecture
  • Cheap high-throughput work
  • Multimodal input

Watch out

Experimental preview; qwen-community-1.0 license is more restrictive than MIT/Apache; benchmark claims are vendor-reported.

When the cheaper one wins

Qwen 3.8 Flash Next is cheaper on output at $0.47 per million tokens against $0.95 for DeepSeek V3.1 — about 2.0×. Use the cheaper tier for classification, extraction, summarisation, and any task where the expensive model’s extra score does not change the accepted output. The expensive one only pays if your hardest task actually fails on the cheap tier. These are standard-tier API rates, excluding batch and cache discounts.

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Evidence confidence: High

How strong and complete the evidence behind this comparison is — not a prediction of which model is better.

  • Pricing verified on both sides — Input and output rates are verified for both models.
  • 3/5 core specs verified on both sides — Not published for at least one side: max output, reasoning levels.
  • 1 shared named benchmark with differing scores — Measured on: Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index.
  • Verified within the last 90 days — Newest catalog check was 2 days ago.
  • Both models carry source citations — Each side has at least two catalog sources on record.

Source receipts

Each catalog figure was checked against the provider or an independent second source on the date shown.

Related comparisons

Diving deeper on one model? DeepSeek V3.1 · Qwen 3.8 Flash Next

Common questions

DeepSeek V3.1 vs Qwen 3.8 Flash Next

Answered from the verified figures on this page rather than general guidance.

Is DeepSeek V3.1 or Qwen 3.8 Flash Next cheaper for input?
Qwen 3.8 Flash Next is cheaper at $0.15 per million input tokens, against $0.25 for DeepSeek V3.1 — roughly 1.7× the price. Output tokens usually dominate a real bill, so weigh the output rate more heavily than the input rate. These are base rates; DeepSeek V3.1 has tiered pricing: No first-party API: DeepSeek moved the deepseek-chat alias to V3.1-Terminus on 2025-09-22 (the alias itself was retired on 2026-07-24). Third-party hosts listed ~$0.25/$0.95 per MTok (secondary, last checked 2026-08-29) — verify with your host. Qwen 3.8 Flash Next has tiered pricing: Hosted qwen3.8-flash lists $0.15/$0.47 per MTok on Alibaba Cloud Model Studio with a 1M context. The open checkpoint is 262,144 tokens native, extensible to 1M.
Is DeepSeek V3.1 or Qwen 3.8 Flash Next cheaper for output?
Qwen 3.8 Flash Next is cheaper at $0.47 per million output tokens, against $0.95 for DeepSeek V3.1 — roughly 2.0× the price. Output tokens usually dominate a real bill, so weigh the output rate more heavily than the input rate. These are base rates; DeepSeek V3.1 has tiered pricing: No first-party API: DeepSeek moved the deepseek-chat alias to V3.1-Terminus on 2025-09-22 (the alias itself was retired on 2026-07-24). Third-party hosts listed ~$0.25/$0.95 per MTok (secondary, last checked 2026-08-29) — verify with your host. Qwen 3.8 Flash Next has tiered pricing: Hosted qwen3.8-flash lists $0.15/$0.47 per MTok on Alibaba Cloud Model Studio with a 1M context. The open checkpoint is 262,144 tokens native, extensible to 1M.
Which has the larger context window, DeepSeek V3.1 or Qwen 3.8 Flash Next?
Qwen 3.8 Flash Next accepts 262K tokens against 128K for DeepSeek V3.1. This only matters if you routinely send very long documents or large codebases.
Should I use DeepSeek V3.1 or Qwen 3.8 Flash Next?
Both sit in the budget tier, so the choice usually comes down to price and context rather than capability. DeepSeek V3.1 suits cost-sensitive hosted agents; Qwen 3.8 Flash Next suits early testing of qwen 4 architecture.

Next step

Choosing between them

The verified figures that separate this pair, computed from the catalog rather than restated boilerplate.

  • Input price: Qwen 3.8 Flash Next costs $0.15 per 1M tokens versus $0.25 for DeepSeek V3.1 — a 1.7x difference at the headline tier.
  • Context: Qwen 3.8 Flash Next takes 262K against 128K for DeepSeek V3.1 — only decisive if your prompts approach the smaller window.
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