# DeepSeek V4.1 Flash vs GPT-4.1 mini

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash is the cheaper of the 2: for the same tokens, 3 read for each 1 written, GPT-4.1 mini costs 1.3 times as much. Below are both price lists, what 8 everyday jobs cost a month on each, and how many tokens the same text takes on each, which can change the answer.

- Page, with a calculator for your own job: https://tecyfy.com/prices/compare/deepseek-flash-vs-gpt-4-1-mini
- Makers: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash from DeepSeek, GPT-4.1 mini from OpenAI

## Price per million tokens, in US dollars

| | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash | GPT-4.1 mini |
| --- | --: | --: |
| Input | $0.30 | $0.40 |
| Cached input | $0.006 | $0.10 |
| Cache write | not listed | not listed |
| Output | $1.20 | $1.60 |
| Blend, 3 read for each 1 written | $0.525 | $0.70 |
| Batch input | not listed | $0.20 |
| Batch output | not listed | $0.80 |
| Context window, tokens | 1M | 1.05M |
| Capability score (Epoch Capabilities Index; GPT-5 is 150) | 156 | 135 |
| Longest answer, tokens | not listed | 33K |

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash: The peak-hours price. Off-peak hours are half. Peak is 01:00 to 04:00 and 06:00 to 10:00 UTC on weekdays.

## The same text, counted by each maker

Our lesson "How AI writes" (https://tecyfy.com/learn/how-ai-works/how-ai-writes), about 1,700 words of English:

- DeepSeek V4.1 Flash: 2,063 tokens. Counted with the tokenizer DeepSeek publishes with V4-Pro and V4.1 Flash, the same models its API serves.
- GPT-4.1 mini: about 2,100 tokens. GPT-5.6 is counted with o200k_base, the tokenizer OpenAI publishes for it, so its count is exact. OpenAI has not published the tokenizer of GPT-6, so its count is the same o200k_base figure, marked as about.

## What 8 everyday jobs cost a month on each

Each job at its usual runs a day, for 30 days, at the standard price.

| Job | Tokens in, out, runs a day | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash | GPT-4.1 mini |
| --- | --- | --: | --: |
| A chat question | 300, 500, 100 | $2.07 | $2.76 |
| A hard question, with thinking | 300, 1,400, 100 | $5.31 | $7.08 |
| A long report, summarised | 60,000, 2,000, 20 | $12.24 | $16.32 |
| A 40-turn agent task | 2,800,000, 40,000, 10 | $44.14 | $128 |
| A support bot's reply | 4,000, 300, 2,000 | $58.32 | $88.80 |
| Sort a message into a category | 250, 5, 50,000 | $122 | $162 |
| Read an invoice into fields | 1,500, 250, 1,000 | $22.50 | $30.00 |
| Review a pull request | 25,000, 4,500, 50 | $19.35 | $25.80 |

## Questions

### Which is cheaper, DeepSeek V4.1 Flash or GPT-4.1 mini?

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash is cheaper: $0.30 per million tokens read and $1.20 per million written, against $0.40 and $1.60 on GPT-4.1 mini. On a mix of 3 tokens read for each 1 written, GPT-4.1 mini costs 1.3 times as much.

### Which is better, DeepSeek V4.1 Flash or GPT-4.1 mini?

On the Epoch Capabilities Index, an independent score from Epoch AI that combines over 50 benchmarks, DeepSeek V4.1 Flash scores 156 and GPT-4.1 mini 135, above the top of the range of doubt around GPT-4.1 mini's score (GPT-5 is 150). One score is an average; test both on your own work before you switch.

### What does a support bot cost a month on DeepSeek V4.1 Flash and GPT-4.1 mini?

At 2,000 replies a day, each reading 4,000 tokens (50 percent of them from cache) and writing 300, it costs $58.32 a month on DeepSeek V4.1 Flash and $88.80 on GPT-4.1 mini: GPT-4.1 mini costs 1.5 times as much for this job.

### What does an AI agent task cost on DeepSeek V4.1 Flash and GPT-4.1 mini?

One 40-turn task that reads 2,800,000 tokens in all, 90 percent of them from cache, and writes 40,000, costs 15 cents on DeepSeek V4.1 Flash and 43 cents on GPT-4.1 mini. At 10 tasks a day that is $44.14 and $128 a month.

### Which has the larger context window, DeepSeek V4.1 Flash or GPT-4.1 mini?

GPT-4.1 mini, with 1.05M tokens against 1M on DeepSeek V4.1 Flash. The window holds your instructions, the files you attach, the conversation so far and the answer, all at once.

### Does the same text take the same number of tokens on DeepSeek V4.1 Flash and GPT-4.1 mini?

No. Our lesson "How AI writes", 1,700 words long, is 2,063 tokens on DeepSeek V4.1 Flash and about 2,100 on GPT-4.1 mini. Each maker cuts text its own way, and every extra token is paid for at the model's price.

### Can I pay less on DeepSeek V4.1 Flash and GPT-4.1 mini for work that can wait?

On GPT-4.1 mini only: with a batch, where you collect the answers later, it costs $0.20 per million tokens read and $0.80 written. DeepSeek's price page lists no batch price for DeepSeek V4.1 Flash.

## Sources

- [DeepSeek: API prices](https://api-docs.deepseek.com/quick_start/pricing)
- [OpenAI: API prices](https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/pricing)
- [Epoch Capabilities Index, by Epoch AI (CC BY 4.0)](https://epoch.ai/benchmarks/eci)

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