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Model comparison

DeepSeek V4 Flash vs Grok 4.5

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

Catalog record checked September 5, 2026Individual provider fields may changeEvidence confidence: High — see receipts below

DeepSeek

DeepSeek V4 Flash

Balanced · Open weights

vs

xAI

Grok 4.5

Balanced

AI model capability comparison
SpecificationDeepSeek V4 FlashGrok 4.5
ProviderDeepSeekxAI
TierBalancedBalanced
Context windowWinner: 1M500K
Max outputWinner: 384K131K
Input / 1M tokensWinner: $0.44$2
Output / 1M tokensWinner: $1.32$6
WeightsOpenClosed
Parameters284B total / 13B active (MoE)Not disclosedUnverified
Reasoning levelslow, high, maxlow, medium, high
Modalitiestexttext, image
LicenseMITNot disclosedUnverified
API model iddeepseek-v4-flashgrok-4.5
ReleasedApril 24, 2026July 8, 2026
Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index (2026-08-14)49Not verifiedUnverified
Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index [high] (2026-08-14)Not verifiedUnverified56
SWE-bench Verified (2026-04-24)79Not verifiedUnverified
GPQA Diamond (2026-04-24)88.1Not verifiedUnverified
Humanity's Last Exam (2026-04-24)45.1Not verifiedUnverified
MMLU-Pro (2026-04-24)86.2Not verifiedUnverified
Terminal-Bench 2.1 (2026-07-16)Not verifiedUnverified83.3
DeepSWE 1.1 (2026-07)Not verifiedUnverified54

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).
  • 2026-07-16: xAI — Introducing Grok 4.5 (vendor; Datacurve-run)Agentic terminal work: multi-step tasks executed in a sandboxed shell environment. Comparability: comparable with caveat — Scores across Terminal-Bench major versions (v1 vs v2) are NOT comparable; harness configuration (container, time limits) also shifts results.
  • 2026-07: Google DeepMind 3.6 Flash evaluation report (independent tabulation; conflicts with xAI's 53 — both preserved)Agentic software engineering: pass@1 on real repo tasks with reported cost per completed task. Comparability: directly comparable
  • 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. · Grok 4.5: $2/$6 per MTok (<200K prompt); $4/$12 (≥200K). Cached input $0.30/MTok.

BalancedOpen weightsRecord checked September 3, 2026

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.

BalancedRecord checked September 5, 2026

Grok 4.5

Grok 4.5 is xAI's balanced model with a 500K context and real-time X integration.

Best for

  • Real-time data queries
  • Technical tasks
  • Cost-sensitive reasoning

Watch out

A step behind Grok 4.6; 500K context is smaller than the 1M-class models.

When the cheaper one wins

DeepSeek V4 Flash is cheaper on output at $1.32 per million tokens against $6 for Grok 4.5 — about 4.5×. 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.
  • 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 6 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 V4 Flash · Grok 4.5

Common questions

DeepSeek V4 Flash vs Grok 4.5

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

Is DeepSeek V4 Flash or Grok 4.5 cheaper for input?

DeepSeek V4 Flash is cheaper at $0.44 per million input tokens, against $2 for Grok 4.5 — roughly 4.5× 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. Grok 4.5 has tiered pricing: $2/$6 per MTok (<200K prompt); $4/$12 (≥200K). Cached input $0.30/MTok.

Is DeepSeek V4 Flash or Grok 4.5 cheaper for output?

DeepSeek V4 Flash is cheaper at $1.32 per million output tokens, against $6 for Grok 4.5 — roughly 4.5× 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. Grok 4.5 has tiered pricing: $2/$6 per MTok (<200K prompt); $4/$12 (≥200K). Cached input $0.30/MTok.

Which has the larger context window, DeepSeek V4 Flash or Grok 4.5?

DeepSeek V4 Flash accepts 1M tokens against 500K for Grok 4.5. This only matters if you routinely send very long documents or large codebases.

Do DeepSeek V4 Flash and Grok 4.5 support the same reasoning levels?

DeepSeek V4 Flash exposes low, high, max, while Grok 4.5 exposes low, medium, high.

Should I use DeepSeek V4 Flash or Grok 4.5?

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; Grok 4.5 suits real-time data queries.

Can I self-host DeepSeek V4 Flash or Grok 4.5?

DeepSeek V4 Flash publishes open weights, but self-hosting and third-party provider access depend on the licence, hardware, serving support, and availability. Grok 4.5 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 $2 for Grok 4.5 — a 4.5x difference at the headline tier.
  • Context: DeepSeek V4 Flash takes 1M against 500K for Grok 4.5 — only decisive if your prompts approach the smaller window.
  • Measured capability: Grok 4.5 leads Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index 56 to 49 (measured 2026-08-14).
  • Deployment: DeepSeek V4 Flash publishes weights you can self-host; the other is API-only.
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