Pick DeepSeek V4-Pro for open-weight 1.6t moe (~49b active) — deepseek's largest, self-hostable or 1m-token context with up to 384k output tokens. Pick Gemini 3.1 Pro for full multimodal input — text, image, audio and video in one 1m-token window or long video and document analysis. Choose DeepSeek V4-Pro if you need self-hosting or data privacy; Gemini 3.1 Pro if you want a managed API.
DeepSeek V4-Pro (DeepSeek, China) and Gemini 3.1 Pro (Google, US) line up two different AI ecosystems against each other — a comparison that is as much about cost philosophy and openness as raw capability. DeepSeek V4-Pro is deepSeek's 1.6-trillion-parameter open-weight model at $0.435/$0.87 — strong open-weight coding and a 1M context at a fraction of flagship prices. Gemini 3.1 Pro is a 1M-token multimodal workhorse — huge breadth across text, image, audio and video, but recall fades deep in the window. They diverge most on price, context window and open vs. closed weights — each quantified below from the models' real specs.
Key differences
Price: DeepSeek V4-Pro is about 4.6× cheaper on input ($0.435/$0.87 per 1M tokens vs $2/$12 per 1M tokens) — meaningful once you are processing millions of tokens a month.
Context window: 1M vs 1M — within a few percent of each other, so treat this as a tie and test on your own long inputs, since usable recall varies by model.
Recency: DeepSeek V4-Pro is the newer model by about 2 months (released April 24, 2026), usually meaning fresher training data and capabilities.
Ecosystem: this is a China-vs-US matchup — they differ in pricing philosophy, data-residency options, and tooling ecosystems, not only benchmarks.
Specifications
Spec
DeepSeek V4-Pro
Gemini 3.1 Pro
Provider
DeepSeek (China)
Google (US)
Released
April 24, 2026
February 19, 2026
Context window
1M (~1,500 pages)
1M (~1,573 pages)
Price (in/out)
$0.435/$0.87 per 1M tokens
$2/$12 per 1M tokens
Open weight?
Yes — self-hostable
No — API only
Modalities
text, code
text, image, audio, video, code
SWE-Bench Verified
Not published
Not published
MRCR v2 @ 1M
Not published
26.3%
Who wins what
Open-weight 1.6T MoE (~49B active) — DeepSeek's largest, self-hostable: DeepSeek V4-Pro — Open weights make this possible at all — Gemini 3.1 Pro is API-only, so it cannot leave the vendor's servers.
1M-token context with up to 384K output tokens: DeepSeek V4-Pro — Gemini 3.1 Pro is comparatively weak here — long-context recall drops sharply past 256K (26.3% on MRCR v2 at 1M)
Permanent low pricing at $0.435/$0.87 per million, set May 2026: DeepSeek V4-Pro — DeepSeek's 1.6-trillion-parameter open-weight model at $0.435/$0.87 — strong open-weight coding and a 1M context at a fraction of flagship prices — and it runs cheaper at $0.435/$0.87 per 1M tokens.
Full multimodal input — text, image, audio and video in one 1M-token window: Gemini 3.1 Pro — DeepSeek V4-Pro is comparatively weak here — text and code only — no image, audio or video
Long video and document analysis: Gemini 3.1 Pro — Gemini 3.1 Pro lists long video and document analysis among its strengths; DeepSeek V4-Pro does not.
Agentic reasoning (high ARC-AGI-2): Gemini 3.1 Pro — Gemini 3.1 Pro lists agentic reasoning (high ARC-AGI-2) among its strengths; DeepSeek V4-Pro does not.
Lowest cost at scale: DeepSeek V4-Pro — At $0.435/$0.87 per 1M tokens, it is the cheaper of the two — the gap dominates the bill on high-volume workloads.
Which should you pick?
A cost-sensitive startup shipping high volume: DeepSeek V4-Pro — At $0.435/$0.87 per 1M tokens it undercuts Gemini 3.1 Pro, and on millions of tokens that margin decides the monthly bill.
Someone analysing very long documents or codebases: Gemini 3.1 Pro — Larger 1M window fits more in one prompt.
A team with data-privacy or self-hosting needs: DeepSeek V4-Pro — Open weights let you run it on your own hardware; Gemini 3.1 Pro is API-only.
Anyone whose priority is open-weight 1.6t moe (~49b active) — deepseek's largest, self-hostable: DeepSeek V4-Pro — It is specifically built for that.
Anyone whose priority is full multimodal input — text, image, audio and video in one 1m-token window: Gemini 3.1 Pro — That is its strongest area.
An enterprise with regional data-residency rules: Gemini 3.1 Pro or DeepSeek V4-Pro — Origin (China vs US) affects where data is processed and which compliance regime applies — check the provider's terms for your region.
DeepSeek V4-Pro: where it fits
DeepSeek's 1.6-trillion-parameter open-weight model at $0.435/$0.87 — strong open-weight coding and a 1M context at a fraction of flagship prices. Released April 24, 2026 by DeepSeek, it is built for open-weight 1.6T MoE (~49B active) — DeepSeek's largest, self-hostable, 1M-token context with up to 384K output tokens, permanent low pricing at $0.435/$0.87 per million, set May 2026, and sources place it near the top of open-weight coding, around 80 on SWE-Bench Verified.
Its trade-offs are real: independent SWE-Bench Verified placement is inconsistent across sources, pro and Pro-Max variants are quoted with different scores, text and code only — no image, audio or video, and overlaps DeepSeek V4 and V3.2 already in this comparison. At $0.435 in / $0.87 out per million tokens, it sits in the budget price band.
Gemini 3.1 Pro: where it fits
A 1M-token multimodal workhorse — huge breadth across text, image, audio and video, but recall fades deep in the window. Released February 19, 2026 by Google, it is built for full multimodal input — text, image, audio and video in one 1M-token window, long video and document analysis, agentic reasoning (high ARC-AGI-2), and broad multimodal understanding across formats.
Its trade-offs: long-context recall drops sharply past 256K (26.3% on MRCR v2 at 1M), premium price per token at $2/$12, and superseded within Google's own line by the newer 3.5/3.6 Flash releases for cost-sensitive work. At $2 in / $12 out per million tokens, it sits in the mid price band.
The bottom line for this matchup
The defining split here is open vs. closed. DeepSeek V4-Pro gives you weights you control — self-host it, fine-tune it, keep data in-house, pay only for hardware. Gemini 3.1 Pro gives you a managed, always-updated API with no infrastructure to run. Teams with GPUs, privacy requirements, or huge volume often favour the open model; teams that want zero ops and the latest capabilities favour the closed one. Capability is close enough that this operational question, not the benchmark, usually decides it.
Frequently asked questions
Is DeepSeek V4-Pro or Gemini 3.1 Pro better for coding?
Public SWE-Bench figures are not available for either model, so the honest test is your own repository — run an identical real bug through both. By design, DeepSeek V4-Pro leans toward open-weight 1.6t moe (~49b active) — deepseek's largest, self-hostable while Gemini 3.1 Pro leans toward full multimodal input — text, image, audio and video in one 1m-token window, and that positioning usually predicts which feels better on your codebase.
Which is cheaper, DeepSeek V4-Pro or Gemini 3.1 Pro?
DeepSeek V4-Pro is open-weight, so self-hosting means no per-token fee (you pay for hardware instead), while Gemini 3.1 Pro is API-metered at $2/$12 per 1M tokens. For most teams without GPUs, the API model is cheaper to start; at very high volume, self-hosting can win.
Which has the bigger context window?
Effectively neither — 1M vs 1M is a difference of a few percent. Remember advertised ≠ usable: recall typically degrades before the ceiling.
Can I use both DeepSeek V4-Pro and Gemini 3.1 Pro together?
Yes — a multi-model platform like LumiChats gives you DeepSeek V4-Pro, Gemini 3.1 Pro and 40+ others under one ₹69/day pass (about $1/day), so you can draft with one and cross-check with the other instead of buying two subscriptions.
Which is newer, DeepSeek V4-Pro or Gemini 3.1 Pro?
DeepSeek V4-Pro — released April 24, 2026, about 2 months after Gemini 3.1 Pro.
DeepSeek V4-Pro vs Gemini 3.1 Pro
DeepSeek · China | Google · US · Updated June 2026
Quick verdict
Pick DeepSeek V4-Pro for open-weight 1.6t moe (~49b active) — deepseek's largest, self-hostable or 1m-token context with up to 384k output tokens. Pick Gemini 3.1 Pro for full multimodal input — text, image, audio and video in one 1m-token window or long video and document analysis. Choose DeepSeek V4-Pro if you need self-hosting or data privacy; Gemini 3.1 Pro if you want a managed API.
DeepSeek V4-Pro (DeepSeek, China) and Gemini 3.1 Pro (Google, US) line up two different AI ecosystems against each other — a comparison that is as much about cost philosophy and openness as raw capability. DeepSeek V4-Pro is deepSeek's 1.6-trillion-parameter open-weight model at $0.435/$0.87 — strong open-weight coding and a 1M context at a fraction of flagship prices. Gemini 3.1 Pro is a 1M-token multimodal workhorse — huge breadth across text, image, audio and video, but recall fades deep in the window. They diverge most on price, context window and open vs. closed weights — each quantified below from the models' real specs.
Key differences at a glance
▸Price: DeepSeek V4-Pro is about 4.6× cheaper on input ($0.435/$0.87 per 1M tokens vs $2/$12 per 1M tokens) — meaningful once you are processing millions of tokens a month.
▸Context window: 1M vs 1M — within a few percent of each other, so treat this as a tie and test on your own long inputs, since usable recall varies by model.
▸Recency: DeepSeek V4-Pro is the newer model by about 2 months (released April 24, 2026), usually meaning fresher training data and capabilities.
▸Ecosystem: this is a China-vs-US matchup — they differ in pricing philosophy, data-residency options, and tooling ecosystems, not only benchmarks.
Open weights make this possible at all — Gemini 3.1 Pro is API-only, so it cannot leave the vendor's servers.
1M-token context with up to 384K output tokens
DeepSeek V4-Pro
Gemini 3.1 Pro is comparatively weak here — long-context recall drops sharply past 256K (26.3% on MRCR v2 at 1M)
Permanent low pricing at $0.435/$0.87 per million, set May 2026
DeepSeek V4-Pro
DeepSeek's 1.6-trillion-parameter open-weight model at $0.435/$0.87 — strong open-weight coding and a 1M context at a fraction of flagship prices — and it runs cheaper at $0.435/$0.87 per 1M tokens.
Full multimodal input — text, image, audio and video in one 1M-token window
Gemini 3.1 Pro
DeepSeek V4-Pro is comparatively weak here — text and code only — no image, audio or video
Long video and document analysis
Gemini 3.1 Pro
Gemini 3.1 Pro lists long video and document analysis among its strengths; DeepSeek V4-Pro does not.
Agentic reasoning (high ARC-AGI-2)
Gemini 3.1 Pro
Gemini 3.1 Pro lists agentic reasoning (high ARC-AGI-2) among its strengths; DeepSeek V4-Pro does not.
Lowest cost at scale
DeepSeek V4-Pro
At $0.435/$0.87 per 1M tokens, it is the cheaper of the two — the gap dominates the bill on high-volume workloads.
Which should you pick?
A cost-sensitive startup shipping high volume
→ DeepSeek V4-Pro
At $0.435/$0.87 per 1M tokens it undercuts Gemini 3.1 Pro, and on millions of tokens that margin decides the monthly bill.
Someone analysing very long documents or codebases
→ Gemini 3.1 Pro
Larger 1M window fits more in one prompt.
A team with data-privacy or self-hosting needs
→ DeepSeek V4-Pro
Open weights let you run it on your own hardware; Gemini 3.1 Pro is API-only.
Anyone whose priority is full multimodal input — text, image, audio and video in one 1m-token window
→ Gemini 3.1 Pro
That is its strongest area.
An enterprise with regional data-residency rules
→ Gemini 3.1 Pro or DeepSeek V4-Pro
Origin (China vs US) affects where data is processed and which compliance regime applies — check the provider's terms for your region.
DeepSeek V4-Pro: where it fits
DeepSeek's 1.6-trillion-parameter open-weight model at $0.435/$0.87 — strong open-weight coding and a 1M context at a fraction of flagship prices. Released April 24, 2026 by DeepSeek, it is built for open-weight 1.6T MoE (~49B active) — DeepSeek's largest, self-hostable, 1M-token context with up to 384K output tokens, permanent low pricing at $0.435/$0.87 per million, set May 2026, and sources place it near the top of open-weight coding, around 80 on SWE-Bench Verified.
Its trade-offs are real: independent SWE-Bench Verified placement is inconsistent across sources, pro and Pro-Max variants are quoted with different scores, text and code only — no image, audio or video, and overlaps DeepSeek V4 and V3.2 already in this comparison. At $0.435 in / $0.87 out per million tokens, it sits in the budget price band.
Gemini 3.1 Pro: where it fits
A 1M-token multimodal workhorse — huge breadth across text, image, audio and video, but recall fades deep in the window. Released February 19, 2026 by Google, it is built for full multimodal input — text, image, audio and video in one 1M-token window, long video and document analysis, agentic reasoning (high ARC-AGI-2), and broad multimodal understanding across formats.
Its trade-offs: long-context recall drops sharply past 256K (26.3% on MRCR v2 at 1M), premium price per token at $2/$12, and superseded within Google's own line by the newer 3.5/3.6 Flash releases for cost-sensitive work. At $2 in / $12 out per million tokens, it sits in the mid price band.
The bottom line for this matchup
The defining split here is open vs. closed. DeepSeek V4-Pro gives you weights you control — self-host it, fine-tune it, keep data in-house, pay only for hardware. Gemini 3.1 Pro gives you a managed, always-updated API with no infrastructure to run. Teams with GPUs, privacy requirements, or huge volume often favour the open model; teams that want zero ops and the latest capabilities favour the closed one. Capability is close enough that this operational question, not the benchmark, usually decides it.
Want both DeepSeek V4-Pro and Gemini 3.1 Pro without two subscriptions? LumiChats gives you these plus 40+ models under one ₹69/day pass (about $1/day) — draft with one, cross-check with the other.
Is DeepSeek V4-Pro or Gemini 3.1 Pro better for coding?
Public SWE-Bench figures are not available for either model, so the honest test is your own repository — run an identical real bug through both. By design, DeepSeek V4-Pro leans toward open-weight 1.6t moe (~49b active) — deepseek's largest, self-hostable while Gemini 3.1 Pro leans toward full multimodal input — text, image, audio and video in one 1m-token window, and that positioning usually predicts which feels better on your codebase.
Which is cheaper, DeepSeek V4-Pro or Gemini 3.1 Pro?
DeepSeek V4-Pro is open-weight, so self-hosting means no per-token fee (you pay for hardware instead), while Gemini 3.1 Pro is API-metered at $2/$12 per 1M tokens. For most teams without GPUs, the API model is cheaper to start; at very high volume, self-hosting can win.
Which has the bigger context window?
Effectively neither — 1M vs 1M is a difference of a few percent. Remember advertised ≠ usable: recall typically degrades before the ceiling.
Can I use both DeepSeek V4-Pro and Gemini 3.1 Pro together?
Yes — a multi-model platform like LumiChats gives you DeepSeek V4-Pro, Gemini 3.1 Pro and 40+ others under one ₹69/day pass (about $1/day), so you can draft with one and cross-check with the other instead of buying two subscriptions.
Which is newer, DeepSeek V4-Pro or Gemini 3.1 Pro?
DeepSeek V4-Pro — released April 24, 2026, about 2 months after Gemini 3.1 Pro.
Specifications and benchmarks reflect publicly reported figures as of June 2026 and may change as providers release updates. Always verify on your own workload.