DeepSeek V4 vs Gemini 3.5 Flash
Benchmarks, API pricing and specs, head to head. Data updated 2026-06-10.
DeepSeek · Mar 2026
The open-weights shock of 2026: ~81% SWE-bench Verified, a 1M context and MIT license at $0.30/$0.50 per million tokens.
Google · May 2026
Google's I/O 2026 headliner: near-Pro intelligence at Flash speed, 78.8% on SWE-bench Verified with full multimodal input.
The verdict
DeepSeek V4 wins 1 of the 1 benchmarks these models share, against 0 for Gemini 3.5 Flash. On price the gap is dramatic: DeepSeek V4 works out roughly 9.6x cheaper per blended million tokens. And DeepSeek V4 is open-weights (MIT), so it can be self-hosted — a structural advantage if data control or vendor independence matters.
Benchmark head-to-head 1–0
Specs & pricing
| DeepSeek V4 | Gemini 3.5 Flash | |
|---|---|---|
| modhub Index | — | — |
| Input price / 1M | $0.3 | $1.5 |
| Output price / 1M | $0.5 | $9 |
| Context window | 1M | 1M |
| Max output | 64K | 66K |
| Open weights | yes (MIT) | no |
| Reasoning model | yes | yes |
| Multimodal input | text | text, image, audio, video |
| Knowledge cutoff | Dec 2025 | Feb 2026 |
| Released | Mar 2026 | May 2026 |
| Example monthly cost* | $3.75 | $28.50 |
* 10M input + 1.5M output tokens per month at list prices, no caching. Green = better value on that row.
Frequently asked questions
- Which is better, DeepSeek V4 or Gemini 3.5 Flash?
- DeepSeek V4 wins 1 of the 1 benchmarks these models share, against 0 for Gemini 3.5 Flash. On price the gap is dramatic: DeepSeek V4 works out roughly 9.6x cheaper per blended million tokens. And DeepSeek V4 is open-weights (MIT), so it can be self-hosted — a structural advantage if data control or vendor independence matters.
- Which is cheaper, DeepSeek V4 or Gemini 3.5 Flash?
- DeepSeek V4 costs $0.3/$0.5 per million input/output tokens, while Gemini 3.5 Flash costs $1.5/$9. For a typical workload of 10M input and 1.5M output tokens per month, that's $3.75 versus $28.50.
- Which model is better for coding, DeepSeek V4 or Gemini 3.5 Flash?
- On SWE-bench Verified — the standard agentic-coding benchmark — DeepSeek V4 scores ~81% versus 78.8% for Gemini 3.5 Flash, making DeepSeek V4 the stronger pick for coding agents.