Performance Benchmarks for deepseek-v4.1-flash-max

Analyze how deepseek-v4.1-flash-max stacks up against other frontier models in terms of cost-to-performance and raw intelligence (LMArena Elo).

2026 Performance Summary

🚀 Intelligence (Elo): 1614
💰 API Cost (Input): $1.5e-7 / 1M tokens
⚡ API Cost (Output): $6e-7 / 1M tokens
⏱️ Real-world Throughput: 85 tokens/s

Analysis: deepseek-v4.1-flash-max is currently positioned on the Pareto Frontier. This means it offers a unique and optimal balance between intelligence (Elo: 1614) and cost ($1.5e-7/1M tokens), making it a top-tier choice for its price bracket.

Highly Recommended Alternatives

Frontier Model	LMArena Elo	API Cost (1M)	Throughput
hy4-preview	1624	$8.34e-7	38
glm-5.3-flash	1475	$9e-8	12
hy3	1456	$8.25e-8	59
deepseek-v4-flash-high-preview	1438	$4.956e-8	33
qwen3-30b-a3b-instruct-2507	1382	$4.815e-8	51

*These models represent the Pareto Frontier (optimal cost-to-performance).*