Model comparison
DeepSeek V4 Flash vs Gemini 2.5 Pro
DeepSeek against Google, compared on context, price, and verified benchmark results.
Catalog record checked September 3, 2026Individual provider fields may changeEvidence confidence: High — see receipts below
DeepSeek
DeepSeek V4 Flash
Balanced · Open weights
Gemini 2.5 Pro
Balanced
| Specification | DeepSeek V4 Flash | Gemini 2.5 Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | DeepSeek | |
| Tier | Balanced | Balanced |
| Context window | 1M | Winner: 1.05M |
| Max output | Winner: 384K | 66K |
| Input / 1M tokens | Winner: $0.44 | $1.25 |
| Output / 1M tokens | Winner: $1.32 | $10 |
| Weights | Open | Closed |
| Parameters | 284B total / 13B active (MoE) | Not disclosedUnverified |
| Reasoning levels | low, high, max | low, medium, high |
| Modalities | text | text, image, video, audio, pdf |
| License | MIT | Not disclosedUnverified |
| API model id | deepseek-v4-flash | gemini-2.5-pro |
| Released | April 24, 2026 | June 17, 2025 |
| Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index (2026-08-14) | Winner: 49 | 47 |
| SWE-bench Verified (2026-04-24) | 79 | Not verifiedUnverified |
| GPQA Diamond (2026-04-24) | 88.1 | Not verifiedUnverified |
| Humanity's Last Exam (2026-04-24) | 45.1 | Not verifiedUnverified |
| MMLU-Pro (2026-04-24) | 86.2 | Not verifiedUnverified |
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
- 2026-08-14: Artificial AnalysisComposite index blending reasoning, knowledge, and coding evals into one 0–100 score. Comparability: directly comparable — AA occasionally rebaselines the index scale between snapshots — a score captured on one date is only comparable to same-snapshot scores (check measuredAt).
- 2026-04-24: DeepSeek family HF model card (vendor, Think Max, exact match)Real GitHub issue resolution: does the model's patch pass the hidden tests. Comparability: comparable with caveat — Post-audit vendor claims and pre-audit scores sit on different task trust levels; scaffolding (agent harness, compute budget) also dominates results. Never aggregate across scaffolds.
Pricing tiers: DeepSeek V4 Flash: Official peak rates $0.44/$1.32 per MTok; off-peak $0.22/$0.66 (cache hit $0.014). Open weights (MIT). 284B/13B active MoE. · Gemini 2.5 Pro: $1.25/$10 per MTok (≤200K); $2.50/$15 (>200K). Legacy but still widely listed.
DeepSeek V4 Flash
DeepSeek V4 Flash is the efficient open-weight (MIT) sibling of V4 Pro with a 1M-token context.
Best for
- Open-weight deployments
- Cost-sensitive inference
- High-volume serving
Watch out
Peak/off-peak billing means the hour you run matters; off-peak is half price.
Gemini 2.5 Pro
Gemini 2.5 Pro is Google's previous-generation Pro with a 1.05M-token context and strong multimodal support.
Best for
- Long documents
- Multimodal input
- Google Workspace integration
Watch out
A generation behind Gemini 3.x; verify on your workload.
When the cheaper one wins
DeepSeek V4 Flash is cheaper on output at $1.32 per million tokens against $10 for Gemini 2.5 Pro — about 7.6×. 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.
Run the model pickerEvidence 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.
- 4/5 core specs verified on both sides — Not published for at least one side: parameter count.
- 1 shared named benchmark with differing scores — Measured on: Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index.
- Verified within the last 90 days — Newest catalog check was 8 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.
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: DeepSeek — V4 news (accessed 2026-08-29)
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: DeepSeek API pricing (accessed 2026-08-29)
- Gemini 2.5 Pro: Google — Gemini 2.5 Pro GA (accessed 2026-08-29)
- Gemini 2.5 Pro: Google AI pricing (accessed 2026-08-29)
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Diving deeper on one model? DeepSeek V4 Flash · Gemini 2.5 Pro
Common questions
DeepSeek V4 Flash vs Gemini 2.5 Pro
Answered from the verified figures on this page rather than general guidance.
Is DeepSeek V4 Flash or Gemini 2.5 Pro cheaper for input?
DeepSeek V4 Flash is cheaper at $0.44 per million input tokens, against $1.25 for Gemini 2.5 Pro — roughly 2.8× 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 V4 Flash has tiered pricing: Official peak rates $0.44/$1.32 per MTok; off-peak $0.22/$0.66 (cache hit $0.014). Open weights (MIT). 284B/13B active MoE. Gemini 2.5 Pro has tiered pricing: $1.25/$10 per MTok (≤200K); $2.50/$15 (>200K). Legacy but still widely listed.
Is DeepSeek V4 Flash or Gemini 2.5 Pro cheaper for output?
DeepSeek V4 Flash is cheaper at $1.32 per million output tokens, against $10 for Gemini 2.5 Pro — roughly 7.6× 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 V4 Flash has tiered pricing: Official peak rates $0.44/$1.32 per MTok; off-peak $0.22/$0.66 (cache hit $0.014). Open weights (MIT). 284B/13B active MoE. Gemini 2.5 Pro has tiered pricing: $1.25/$10 per MTok (≤200K); $2.50/$15 (>200K). Legacy but still widely listed.
Which has the larger context window, DeepSeek V4 Flash or Gemini 2.5 Pro?
Gemini 2.5 Pro accepts 1.05M tokens against 1M for DeepSeek V4 Flash. This only matters if you routinely send very long documents or large codebases.
Do DeepSeek V4 Flash and Gemini 2.5 Pro support the same reasoning levels?
DeepSeek V4 Flash exposes low, high, max, while Gemini 2.5 Pro exposes low, medium, high.
Should I use DeepSeek V4 Flash or Gemini 2.5 Pro?
Both sit in the balanced tier, so the choice usually comes down to price and context rather than capability. DeepSeek V4 Flash suits open-weight deployments; Gemini 2.5 Pro suits long documents.
Can I self-host DeepSeek V4 Flash or Gemini 2.5 Pro?
DeepSeek V4 Flash publishes open weights, but self-hosting and third-party provider access depend on the licence, hardware, serving support, and availability. Gemini 2.5 Pro is a closed model whose supported access paths are controlled by its provider.
Next step
Choosing between them
The verified figures that separate this pair, computed from the catalog rather than restated boilerplate.
- Input price: DeepSeek V4 Flash costs $0.44 per 1M tokens versus $1.25 for Gemini 2.5 Pro — a 2.8x difference at the headline tier.
- Context: Gemini 2.5 Pro takes 1.05M against 1M for DeepSeek V4 Flash — only decisive if your prompts approach the smaller window.
- Measured capability: DeepSeek V4 Flash leads Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index 49 to 47 (measured 2026-08-14).
- Deployment: DeepSeek V4 Flash publishes weights you can self-host; the other is API-only.
Choosing a harness rather than a model — Cursor, Copilot, Claude Code, Windsurf, or Lovable? Compare agentic harnesses · Latest releases.