Compare / Qwen3-Max vs DeepSeek-V4-Flash (0423)
Qwen3-Max vs DeepSeek-V4-Flash (0423)
Which is cheaper, which is more capable, and which does better at each kind of work, from 16 results on 3 sources that measured both models.
Of the 16 results both models have, the better value on each. Results whose reported ranges overlap are too close to call.
Results as of 9 October 2026 (catalogue release 2026-10-09-dd620e778ac5). See also Alibaba vs DeepSeek, every model from both labs.
Qwen3-Max or DeepSeek-V4-Flash (0423)? The short answer
Pick DeepSeek-V4-Flash (0423): it scores higher (Intelligence Index 24.4 against 15.6) and costs less.
- DeepSeek-V4-Flash (0423) is cheaper: $0.18 against $1.56 per million tokens, 8.9 times less.
- DeepSeek-V4-Flash (0423) scores higher on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index: 24.4 against 15.6.
- DeepSeek-V4-Flash (0423) is newer: released 24 Apr 2026, against 24 Sep 2025 for Qwen3-Max.
- On third-party benchmarks, on the results both models have: DeepSeek-V4-Flash (0423) does better for reasoning and knowledge and writing.
Head to head
Every fact side by side
| Qwen3-Max | DeepSeek-V4-Flash (0423) | |
|---|---|---|
| Price per million tokens | $0.78 in · $3.90 out | $0.14 in · $0.28 out |
| Blended (3 in : 1 out) | $1.56 | $0.18 |
| Cheapest host, blended | – | $0.053 (StreamLake, FP8) |
| Intelligence Index | 15.6 | 24.4 |
| Spring Prompt overall | – | – |
| Output speed, tokens a second | – | – |
| Context window | 262,144 tokens | 1,048,576 tokens |
| Released | 24 Sep 2025 | 24 Apr 2026 (newer) |
| Weights | Closed | Open |
| Developer based in | China | China |
Prices are the developer's list price where we have read it, otherwise the typical host on OpenRouter; see every model's price. Intelligence and speed from Artificial Analysis.
Which is better for what
Each model's rank among the models on sale today, for each kind of work, from our own benchmarks and licensed sources. Further right is better; the better rank is in green.
Every shared result
Each model's best result on every measure both have, grouped by benchmark, with the setting that produced it. Under each measure, every model that benchmark has measured is a grey tick, best to the right, so you can see where the two sit in the field. The headline measures of each benchmark come first; the rest are under "Show all". Green marks the better value; where a source reports ranges that overlap, neither is marked.
| Measure | Qwen3-Max | DeepSeek-V4-Flash (0423) |
|---|---|---|
| Arena (formerly LMArena) reported by Arena (formerly LMArena) · 3 results | ||
| Overall · TextArena rating, higher is better 108 · 85 of 387 measured | 1,423 | 1,438high reasoning |
| Business, management and finance · TextArena rating, higher is better 110 · 91 of 380 measured | 1,419 | 1,439 |
| Creative writing · TextArena rating, higher is better 105 · 78 of 385 measured | 1,393 | 1,410high reasoning |
| Artificial Analysis reported by Artificial Analysis · 3 results | ||
| Artificial Analysis Intelligence Indexindex score, higher is better 123 · 80 of 243 measured | 15.6 | 24.4high reasoning |
| GPQA Diamond% of questions, higher is better 132 · 52 of 231 measured | 76.4% | 89.4%max reasoning |
| Humanity's Last Exam% of questions, higher is better 140 · 61 of 242 measured | 11.9% | 34.8%max reasoning |
| UGI Leaderboard reported by UGI Leaderboard · 3 results | ||
| Writing score · UGIscore out of 100, higher is better 115 · 60 of 230 measured | 38.6 | 54.6no reasoning |
| Requested-length error · UGI% off the requested word count, lower is better 134 · 54 of 230 measured | 23.0% | 12.0%thinking reasoning |
| Style adherence · UGIscore from 0 to 1, higher is better 155 · 55 of 230 measured | 0.33 | 0.37thinking reasoning |
Show all 16 results (7 more)
| Measure | Qwen3-Max | DeepSeek-V4-Flash (0423) |
|---|---|---|
| Arena (formerly LMArena) reported by Arena (formerly LMArena) · 3 results | ||
| Expert prompts · TextArena rating, higher is better 137 · 83 of 338 measured | 1,417 | 1,466high reasoning |
| Instruction following · TextArena rating, higher is better 106 · 79 of 387 measured | 1,413 | 1,433high reasoning |
| Writing, literature and language · TextArena rating, higher is better 101 · 78 of 386 measured | 1,405 | 1,422high reasoning |
| Artificial Analysis reported by Artificial Analysis · 4 results | ||
| IFBench% of instructions, higher is better 118 · 7 of 195 measured | 44.2% | 79.2%max reasoning |
| Long-context reasoning (AA-LCR)% of questions, higher is better 154 · 82 of 233 measured | 50.0% | 74.3%max reasoning |
| Terminal-Bench Hard% of tasks, higher is better 91 · 37 of 190 measured | 20.5% | 38.6%high reasoning |
| τ²-bench telecom% of tasks, higher is better 79 · 16 of 193 measured | 74.3% | 95.6%high reasoning |
Compare them with other models
Quick answers
Is Qwen3-Max better than DeepSeek-V4-Flash (0423)?
Pick DeepSeek-V4-Flash (0423): it scores higher (Intelligence Index 24.4 against 15.6) and costs less.
Which is cheaper, Qwen3-Max or DeepSeek-V4-Flash (0423)?
DeepSeek-V4-Flash (0423) is cheaper: $0.18 against $1.56 per million tokens, 8.9 times less.
Which is better for agents and tool use, Qwen3-Max or DeepSeek-V4-Flash (0423)?
DeepSeek-V4-Flash (0423) ranks 52 of 164 models on sale for multi-step tasks with tools: support desks, coding agents, function calls, against 154 for Qwen3-Max.
Which is better for reasoning and knowledge, Qwen3-Max or DeepSeek-V4-Flash (0423)?
DeepSeek-V4-Flash (0423) ranks 64 of 198 models on sale for hard questions across science, maths and general knowledge, against 121 for Qwen3-Max.
Which is better for writing, Qwen3-Max or DeepSeek-V4-Flash (0423)?
DeepSeek-V4-Flash (0423) ranks 62 of 188 models on sale for what people prefer in blind comparisons, and judged writing quality, against 99 for Qwen3-Max.
Which is better for sticking to the facts, Qwen3-Max or DeepSeek-V4-Flash (0423)?
Qwen3-Max ranks 50 of 152 models on sale for summarising without inventing things, and factual answers, against 83 for DeepSeek-V4-Flash (0423).
Which has the bigger context window, Qwen3-Max or DeepSeek-V4-Flash (0423)?
DeepSeek-V4-Flash (0423): 1,048,576 tokens, against 262,144 for Qwen3-Max.
Run Qwen3-Max and DeepSeek-V4-Flash (0423) on your own prompt
Benchmarks aren't your data. Try both side by side in the playground, with the cost of every answer.