DeepSeek Flash (4.1) vs Kimi K3
DeepSeek Flash (4.1) scores higher on the Models at Work leaderboard (70 vs 60 out of 100). DeepSeek Flash (4.1) is about 4.4× cheaper per blended million tokens ($0.52 vs $2.31, one figure an Artificial Analysis estimate).
| DeepSeek Flash (4.1) · DeepSeek | Kimi K3 · Moonshot | |
|---|---|---|
| Leaderboard rank | #9 | #11 |
| Score (0–100) | 70 | 60 |
| Tier | Fast and cheap | Open weights |
| Price per 1M tokens | $0.30 in · $1.20 out | $2.31 blended (estimate) |
| Context window | 1M | Not verified |
| Open weights | Not verified | Yes |
| Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index | — | 44 |
| Arena text score | — | 1488 |
| Best for | Cheap coding tiers, Bulk generation, Experiments where data residency is not a constraint | Self-hosting, Open-licence requirements, Arena-style chat quality |
Choose DeepSeek Flash (4.1) if…
- you need cheap coding tiers
- you need bulk generation
- you need experiments where data residency is not a constraint
The reason a thousand people argued on Hacker News this week: frontier-adjacent coding for pocket change, with the caveats you would expect.
Caveats: Open-weights status and licence not verified from a primary source at time of writing. Off-peak and peak pricing differ; the cheap numbers are off-peak. Data handling terms should be read before any enterprise use.
Choose Kimi K3 if…
- you need self-hosting
- you need open-licence requirements
- you need arena-style chat quality
The highest-placed open-licence model on Arena, and the one most teams have not tried yet.
Caveats: Price is Artificial Analysis' blended figure, not a vendor list price; context not verified from a primary source.
What practitioners say
DeepSeek Flash (4.1): The 'why isn't the industry freaking out' post hit 1,067 points; the most-upvoted replies say the price is real and the coding gap to Opus is also real.
Questions people ask
Which is better, DeepSeek Flash (4.1) or Kimi K3?
DeepSeek Flash (4.1) scores higher on the Models at Work leaderboard (70 vs 60 out of 100). DeepSeek Flash (4.1) is about 4.4× cheaper per blended million tokens ($0.52 vs $2.31, one figure an Artificial Analysis estimate).
When should I choose DeepSeek Flash (4.1) over Kimi K3?
Choose DeepSeek Flash (4.1) for cheap coding tiers, bulk generation, experiments where data residency is not a constraint. The reason a thousand people argued on Hacker News this week: frontier-adjacent coding for pocket change, with the caveats you would expect.
When should I choose Kimi K3 over DeepSeek Flash (4.1)?
Choose Kimi K3 for self-hosting, open-licence requirements, arena-style chat quality. The highest-placed open-licence model on Arena, and the one most teams have not tried yet.
Which is cheaper, DeepSeek Flash (4.1) or Kimi K3?
DeepSeek Flash (4.1) costs $0.30 per million input tokens and $1.20 per million output tokens on DeepSeek's list price (DeepSeek API pricing, read Oct 10, 2026). Moonshot does not publish a simple list price for Kimi K3; Artificial Analysis estimates a blended $2.31 per million tokens (three input to one output).
Scores come from the Models at Work leaderboard: Score is 0 to 100: 50% independent evals normalised within this table, 20% price-performance, 15% practitioner sentiment from Signals and community threads, 15% operational fit (context, speed, availability, open weights). Models within three points are a tie in practice. Vendor-published figures are labelled as such and never counted as independent. Prices are vendor list prices where published; blended figures assume three input tokens per output token.