DeepSeek V4 vs MiniMax M3.1 Flash
DeepSeek · China | MiniMax · China · Updated June 2026
Quick verdict
Pick DeepSeek V4 for near-frontier coding at ~1/12 the cost or open mit-licensed weights you can self-host. Pick MiniMax M3.1 Flash for $0.15/$0.60 per million tokens (cached $0.015) with flat pricing regardless of prompt length or 428b-parameter moe (about 23b active) with weights on hugging face from october 23, 2026. On a tight budget at scale, MiniMax M3.1 Flash is the value pick.
DeepSeek V4 (DeepSeek) and MiniMax M3.1 Flash (MiniMax) are two of the models people most often weigh against each other in 2026. DeepSeek V4 is china's open-weight price earthquake — near-frontier capability at roughly a twelfth of GPT-5.5's cost. MiniMax M3.1 Flash is miniMax's October 19, 2026 always-thinking agentic Flash model - 1M context, text/image/video input, $0.15/$0.60 and open weights under a community license. Their biggest split is price, and the breakdown below shows exactly how that plays out for your workload.
Key differences at a glance
- ▸Price: MiniMax M3.1 Flash is about 4.4× cheaper on input ($0.15/$0.6 per 1M tokens vs $0.66/$1.98 per 1M tokens) — meaningful once you are processing millions of tokens a month.
- ▸Context window: both advertise 1M (~1,500 pages). Tie on paper — test on your own long inputs, since usable recall varies by model.
- ▸Recency: MiniMax M3.1 Flash is the newer model by about 6 months (released October 19, 2026), usually meaning fresher training data and capabilities.
Side-by-side specs
| Spec | DeepSeek V4 | MiniMax M3.1 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | DeepSeek (China) | MiniMax (China) |
| Released | April 24, 2026 | October 19, 2026 |
| Context window | 1M (~1,500 pages) | 1M tokens (~1,500 pages) |
| Price (in/out) | $0.66/$1.98 per 1M tokens | $0.15/$0.6 per 1M tokens |
| Open weight? | Yes — self-hostable | Yes — self-hostable |
| Modalities | text, code | text, image, video, code |
| SWE-Bench Verified | 80.6% | Not published |
| MRCR v2 @ 1M | Not published | Not published |
Who wins what
Near-frontier coding at ~1/12 the cost
DeepSeek V4
DeepSeek V4 lists near-frontier coding at ~1/12 the cost among its strengths; MiniMax M3.1 Flash does not.
Open MIT-licensed weights you can self-host
DeepSeek V4
DeepSeek V4 lists open MIT-licensed weights you can self-host among its strengths; MiniMax M3.1 Flash does not.
No long-context surcharge
DeepSeek V4
DeepSeek V4 lists no long-context surcharge among its strengths; MiniMax M3.1 Flash does not.
$0.15/$0.60 per million tokens (cached $0.015) with flat pricing regardless of prompt length
MiniMax M3.1 Flash
MiniMax's October 19, 2026 always-thinking agentic Flash model - 1M context, text/image/video input, $0.15/$0.60 and open weights under a community license — and it runs cheaper at $0.15/$0.6 per 1M tokens.
428B-parameter MoE (about 23B active) with weights on Hugging Face from October 23, 2026
MiniMax M3.1 Flash
MiniMax's October 19, 2026 always-thinking agentic Flash model - 1M context, text/image/video input, $0.15/$0.60 and open weights under a community license — and it is the newer of the two.
DeepSWE v1.1 of 73.7% and OSWorld V2 of 61.7 (MiniMax-reported)
MiniMax M3.1 Flash
MiniMax M3.1 Flash lists deepSWE v1.1 of 73.7% and OSWorld V2 of 61.7 (MiniMax-reported) among its strengths; DeepSeek V4 does not.
Lowest cost at scale
MiniMax M3.1 Flash
At $0.15/$0.6 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
→ MiniMax M3.1 Flash
At $0.15/$0.6 per 1M tokens it undercuts DeepSeek V4, and on millions of tokens that margin decides the monthly bill.
Anyone whose priority is near-frontier coding at ~1/12 the cost
→ DeepSeek V4
It is specifically built for that.
Anyone whose priority is $0.15/$0.60 per million tokens (cached $0.015) with flat pricing regardless of prompt length
→ MiniMax M3.1 Flash
That is its strongest area.
DeepSeek V4: where it fits
China's open-weight price earthquake — near-frontier capability at roughly a twelfth of GPT-5.5's cost. Released April 24, 2026 by DeepSeek, it is built for near-frontier coding at ~1/12 the cost, open MIT-licensed weights you can self-host, no long-context surcharge, and highest LiveCodeBench result.
Its trade-offs are real: this generic 'V4' entry mirrors DeepSeek V4-Pro's specs - see DeepSeek V4-Pro and DeepSeek V4-Flash for DeepSeek's actual named product tiers, trails the very best on hardest agentic coding, and text/code focused, less multimodal. At $0.66 in / $1.98 out per million tokens, it sits in the budget price band.
MiniMax M3.1 Flash: where it fits
MiniMax's October 19, 2026 always-thinking agentic Flash model - 1M context, text/image/video input, $0.15/$0.60 and open weights under a community license. Released October 19, 2026 by MiniMax, it is built for $0.15/$0.60 per million tokens (cached $0.015) with flat pricing regardless of prompt length, 428B-parameter MoE (about 23B active) with weights on Hugging Face from October 23, 2026, deepSWE v1.1 of 73.7% and OSWorld V2 of 61.7 (MiniMax-reported), and artificial Analysis Intelligence Index of 42, 13 points above MiniMax M3.
Its trade-offs: thinking is always on and default effort is max, which inflates output-token cost, behind DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 on Artificial Analysis's independent index, custom MiniMax Community license: attribution required, and products above $20M annual revenue need written authorization, and benchmarks are mostly self-reported; no SWE-bench Verified figure published. At $0.15 in / $0.6 out per million tokens, it sits in the budget price band.
The bottom line for this matchup
DeepSeek V4 and MiniMax M3.1 Flash overlap enough that the right pick depends on your specific job. MiniMax M3.1 Flash costs less per token; and each leads in its own area — DeepSeek V4 for near-frontier coding at ~1/12 the cost, MiniMax M3.1 Flash for $0.15/$0.60 per million tokens (cached $0.015) with flat pricing regardless of prompt length. Rather than crowning one, run the same hard task through both once and let the results decide.
Want both DeepSeek V4 and MiniMax M3.1 Flash 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.
See pricingFrequently asked questions
Is DeepSeek V4 or MiniMax M3.1 Flash better for coding?
Public SWE-Bench figures are not available for MiniMax M3.1 Flash, so the honest test is your own repository — run an identical real bug through both. By design, DeepSeek V4 leans toward near-frontier coding at ~1/12 the cost while MiniMax M3.1 Flash leans toward $0.15/$0.60 per million tokens (cached $0.015) with flat pricing regardless of prompt length, and that positioning usually predicts which feels better on your codebase.
Which is cheaper, DeepSeek V4 or MiniMax M3.1 Flash?
MiniMax M3.1 Flash is cheaper — $0.66/$1.98 per 1M tokens vs $0.15/$0.6 per 1M tokens, roughly 4.4× apart on input.
Which has the bigger context window?
Both advertise 1M (~1,500 pages). Remember advertised ≠ usable: recall typically degrades before the ceiling.
Can I use both DeepSeek V4 and MiniMax M3.1 Flash together?
Yes — a multi-model platform like LumiChats gives you DeepSeek V4, MiniMax M3.1 Flash 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 or MiniMax M3.1 Flash?
MiniMax M3.1 Flash — released October 19, 2026, about 6 months after DeepSeek V4.
Related comparisons
Specifications and benchmarks reflect publicly reported figures as of June 2026 and may change as providers release updates. Always verify on your own workload.