Performance Benchmarks for DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash-20261017 (Max)

Analyze how DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash-20261017 (Max) stacks up against other frontier models in terms of cost-to-performance and raw intelligence (LMArena Elo).

2026 Performance Summary

🚀 Intelligence (Elo): 1670
💰 API Cost (Input): $3e-7 / 1M tokens
⚡ API Cost (Output): $0.0000012 / 1M tokens
⏱️ Real-world Throughput: 215 tokens/s

Analysis: DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash-20261017 (Max) is currently positioned on the Pareto Frontier. This means it offers a unique and optimal balance between intelligence (Elo: 1670) and cost ($3e-7/1M tokens), making it a top-tier choice for its price bracket.

Highly Recommended Alternatives

Frontier Model	LMArena Elo	API Cost (1M)	Throughput
Claude Haiku 5.5 (High)	1586	$1e-7	95
glm-5.3-max	1479	$7.9e-8	128
deepseek-v4.1-flash-max	1475	$4.56e-8	174
glm-5.3-flash	1474	$3.52e-8	115
gpt-oss-20b	1317	$1.8e-8	39

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