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Van Data Team

text model comparison

DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash vs LongCat-2.5

DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash and LongCat-2.5 are both current text models, from DeepSeek and Meituan. Both cost $0.30 per 1M input tokens. Both accept about 1.05M tokens of context (1,048,576 and 1,000,000).

Longer context window
LongCat-2.51.05M tokens against 1M tokens
Newer release
LongCat-2.5Nov 2026 against Sep 2026

Data verified November 3, 2026 · Dataset 2026-11-03

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Side by side

DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash and LongCat-2.5, line by line

Prices in effect today, compared at the same tier wherever both list one. The better value in each row is highlighted.

FactDeepSeek-V4.1-FlashLongCat-2.5
Price
Price per 1M input tokens$0.30$0.30
Price per 1M output tokens$1.20$1.20
Independent benchmarks
Arena Text1476 Elo (#21 of 51)Not measured
Arena WebDev1665 Elo (#12 of 45)Not measured
FrontierMath Tiers 1-3 (v2)71.2% (#23 of 42)Not measured
GPQA Diamond93.2% (#16 of 41)Not measured
SimpleQA Verified42.5% (#27 of 38)Not measured
Specs
ProviderDeepSeekMeituan
Release dateSeptember 10, 2026November 2, 2026
AccessAPI and open weightsAPI only
Context window1,000,000 tokens1,048,576 tokens
Max output384,000 tokens262,144 tokens
Inputtext, imagetext, image, video
Outputtexttext

No independent benchmark has scored both models yet. Each rank counts the current models scored on that benchmark.

Scores:Arena · 2026-11-03Epoch AI · 2026-11-03

Charts

Against every current text model

Where DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash and LongCat-2.5 land among the current models of their task, on every independent benchmark, on price and on context.

Where each stands

Only DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash has a current Arena Text score: #21 of 51. Each bar is the share of current models it beats.

DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash and LongCat-2.5 among the current text models, one row per benchmark, price and context window.

Independent benchmarks

Arena Text

DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash:#21of 51

1,476 Elo · ahead of 58%

LongCat-2.5: Not scored

Arena WebDev

DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash:#12of 45

1,665 Elo · ahead of 75%

LongCat-2.5: Not scored

FrontierMath Tiers 1-3 (v2)

DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash:#23of 42

71.2% · ahead of 46%

LongCat-2.5: Not scored

GPQA Diamond

DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash:#16of 41

93.2% · ahead of 63%

LongCat-2.5: Not scored

SimpleQA Verified

DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash:#27of 38

42.5% · ahead of 30%

LongCat-2.5: Not scored

Price and context

Price per 1M input tokens

DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash:#11of 52

$0.30 · cheaper than 75%

LongCat-2.5:#11of 52

$0.30 · cheaper than 75%

Price per 1M output tokens

DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash:#10of 52

$1.20 · cheaper than 76%

LongCat-2.5:#10of 52

$1.20 · cheaper than 76%

Context window

DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash:#26of 64

1M tokens · longer than 22%

LongCat-2.5:#11of 64

1.05M tokens · longer than 67%

Scores fromArena · 2026-11-03Epoch AI · 2026-11-03

Quality against price

Arena Text · measured October 28, 2026

DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash scores 1,476 at $0.525 (blended price per 1M tokens). The line joins the current models no other beats on both price and Arena Text score; hover any point to name it.

Quality against priceArena Text score against price for 43 text models, DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash and LongCat-2.5 marked.1,2501,3001,3501,4001,4501,5001,550$0.30$1$3$10MOST ATTRACTIVE QUADRANTMedian price $3Median 1,475Blended price per 1M tokens (3 input : 1 output), log scaleArena Text (Elo)DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash
Quality against price: the data
Arena Text score against price for 43 text models, DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash and LongCat-2.5 marked.
ModelProviderBlended price per 1M tokensArena Text (Elo)
Gemini 4 ArgonGoogle$41,520
Claude Opus 5.5Anthropic$81,509
Muse WonderMeta$81,507
Claude Fable 5Anthropic$201,504
Claude Fable 5.1Anthropic$201,504
Gemini 3.8 FlashGoogle$1.501,496
Muse Spark 1.3Meta$21,495
Claude Opus 5Anthropic$101,492
Kimi K3Moonshot Kimi$61,488
GPT-5.6 SolOpenAI$81,485
Gemini 3.6 FlashGoogle$31,483
GPT-5.5OpenAI$111,482
Claude Opus 4.8Anthropic$101,482
Qwen3.8-MaxAlibaba Qwen$31,482
GPT-6.1 SolOpenAI$41,481
GLM-5.3Z.ai$2.151,481
MiMo-V2.6-ProXiaomi MiMo$0.541,480
Claude Sonnet 5.5Anthropic$41,477
GLM-5.3-FlashZ.ai$0.241,477
GPT-6 AstraOpenAI$201,476
DeepSeek-V4.1-FlashDeepSeek$0.521,476
GPT-5.4OpenAI$5.631,475
Gemini 3 Flash PreviewGoogle$1.131,473
Grok 4.20xAI$1.561,472
GPT-5.6 TerraOpenAI$4.501,467
Grok 4.5xAI$31,465
DeepSeek-V4-ProDeepSeek$1.981,465
Claude Sonnet 5Anthropic$41,462
GPT-6 SolOpenAI$41,458
Gemini 3.5 Flash-LiteGoogle$0.851,456
Grok 4.6xAI$31,455
GPT-5.6 LunaOpenAI$0.451,453
MiMo-V2.6-FlashXiaomi MiMo$0.181,448
Step 5 PreviewStepFun$1.431,448
Grok 4.3xAI$1.561,442
GPT-6 LunaOpenAI$0.201,441
Grok 4.7xAI$31,441
Mistral Large 4Mistral AI$1.051,432
Claude Haiku 5.5Anthropic$0.201,425
GPT-4.1OpenAI$3.501,415
Solar Pro 4Upstage$0.521,388
GPT-4.1 miniOpenAI$0.701,383
GPT-4.1 nanoOpenAI$0.181,322

Cost

What each costs

Example workloads at each provider's listed rates, then every other rate either one lists. The cheaper figure in each row is highlighted.

The same work, priced

At each provider's listed rates.

What DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash and LongCat-2.5 cost for the same work, at the rates each provider lists.

  • 10M input and 2M output tokens

    The same price

    DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash
    $5.40
    LongCat-2.5
    $5.40

  • The same, with 9M of the input tokens cached

    The same price

    DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash
    $2.75
    LongCat-2.5
    $2.75
Workload or rateDeepSeek-V4.1-FlashLongCat-2.5
Example workloads
10M input and 2M output tokens$5.40$5.40
The same, with 9M of the input tokens cached$2.75$2.75
Other listed rates
1M input tokens, cached$0.006$0.006
1M input tokens, off peak$0.15Not listed
1M output tokens, off peak$0.60Not listed
1M input tokens, off-peak, cached$0.003Not listed

Your own bill will differ. These figures use list prices and example workloads. The AI Model Cost Audit reviews your real usage, shortlists models that score as well for each task for less, and estimates the savings.

Launch price $100, regular price $150

Book the cost audit

Verdict

When to choose each

DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash

Where it leads

  • Longer responses, up to 384,000 vs 262,144 output tokens
  • Open weights you can run yourself

Best for

  • High-volume agent and multimodal workloads where per-token cost dominates
  • Teams that want a frontier-adjacent model they can also self-host under MIT terms

Watch out for

  • The recorded API rates are the peak-hour prices; DeepSeek charges half outside 01:00-04:00 and 06:00-10:00 UTC on weekdays
  • Running the open weights moves cost to your own infrastructure, which the token rates here do not represent
  • Epoch AI and Arena WebDev scored build 1017, which the API serves; Arena Text has rated only the September build so far
Full DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash profile

LongCat-2.5

Where it leads

  • Accepts video input

Best for

  • Coding agents working through whole projects in Claude Code, Codex or similar harnesses
  • Visual coding and design work that mixes screenshots or screen recordings with code

Watch out for

  • The recorded rates are a limited-time discount: Meituan publishes no list price and no end date
  • API only: no weights had been published when this record was made
  • Released on 2 November 2026, so no independent benchmark score is recorded here yet
Full LongCat-2.5 profile

From benchmark to production

Building on DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash or LongCat-2.5?

Public scores rarely hold on your own data. We test both models on your real tasks, then build the agent or pipeline around the one that wins.

AI Model Cost AuditLaunch price $100, regular price $150What the audit includes

Book the cost auditAI agent development

FAQ

DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash vs LongCat-2.5 FAQ

Which is cheaper, DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash or LongCat-2.5?

Both cost $0.30 per 1M input tokens. For 10M input and 2M output tokens, DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash costs $5.40 and LongCat-2.5 $5.40 at standard rates.

Which is cheaper with prompt caching, DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash or LongCat-2.5?

DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash charges $0.006 per 1M cached input tokens, 98% below its standard input rate, and LongCat-2.5 $0.006, 98% below. With 9M of 10M input tokens cached and 2M output tokens, DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash costs $2.75 and LongCat-2.5 $2.75.

Which has the larger context window, DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash or LongCat-2.5?

Both accept about 1.05M tokens of context (1,048,576 and 1,000,000). DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash returns up to 384,000 tokens per response, LongCat-2.5 262,144.

How do DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash and LongCat-2.5 differ in features?

DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash takes text and image input; LongCat-2.5 takes text, image and video.

Can I run DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash or LongCat-2.5 myself?

DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash is released as open weights you can run yourself; LongCat-2.5 is available through its provider's API only.

Further reading

More on DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash and LongCat-2.5

Articles on DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash and LongCat-2.5

Related comparisons

Production evaluation

Choosing between DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash and LongCat-2.5?

Public benchmarks narrow the shortlist. We run both on your own tasks, data and cost limits, then build the routing and review controls to run the winner in production.

  • A head-to-head evaluation on your real workload
  • Routing between models by cost and difficulty
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