DeepSeek V4 Flash vs Grok 3 Mini

Name: DeepSeek V4 Flash
Author: DeepSeek

DeepSeek V4 Flash (2026) and Grok 3 Mini (2025) are frontier reasoning models from DeepSeek and xAI. DeepSeek V4 Flash ships a 1m-token context window, while Grok 3 Mini ships a 131k-token context window. On pricing, DeepSeek V4 Flash ranges from $0.22 to $0.44/1M input tokens by tier; Grok 3 Mini costs $0.25/1M input tokens. This comparison covers specs, pricing, API access, capabilities, benchmarks, input and output token costs, and production fit for coding and agent workloads.

DeepSeek V4 Flash fits 8x more tokens; pick it for long-context work and Grok 3 Mini for tighter calls.

Decision scorecard

Local evidence first

Signal	DeepSeek V4 Flash	Grok 3 Mini	How to read it
Best for	reasoning-heavy apps, tool-calling agents, and long-context analysis	multimodal apps and provider-routed production	Use-case synthesis from product type, capability flags, context, and provider data.
Decision fit	Coding, RAG, and Agents	RAG, Long context, and Vision	Primary workload tags from local decision data.
Context window	1m	131k	Higher is better when prompts, retrieval chunks, or transcripts are large.
Cheapest output	$0.12/1M tokens	$1.27/1M tokens	Cheapest tracked provider route; verify your exact region and tier.
Provider routes	5 tracked	2 tracked	Broader coverage can reduce vendor lock-in and fallback risk.
Shared benchmarks	0 shared	0 shared	No shared benchmark scores are available for this pair yet.

Decision tradeoffs

Choose DeepSeek V4 Flash when...

DeepSeek V4 Flash has the larger context window for long prompts, retrieval packs, or transcript analysis.
DeepSeek V4 Flash has the lower cheapest tracked output price at $0.12/1M tokens.
DeepSeek V4 Flash has broader tracked provider coverage for fallback and route flexibility.
DeepSeek V4 Flash uniquely exposes Reasoning and JSON / Tool use in local model data.
Local decision data tags DeepSeek V4 Flash for Coding, RAG, and Agents.

Choose Grok 3 Mini when...

Grok 3 Mini uniquely exposes Vision and Multimodal in local model data.
Local decision data tags Grok 3 Mini for RAG, Long context, and Vision.

Monthly cost at traffic

Estimate token spend from the cheapest tracked input and output route or tier on this page.

Lower estimate DeepSeek V4 Flash

Requests / monthInput tokens / requestOutput tokens / request

DeepSeek V4 Flash

$76.26

Cheapest tracked route/tier: OpenRouter

Grok 3 Mini

$518

Cheapest tracked route/tier: Microsoft Foundry

Estimated monthly gap: $441. Batch, cache, alternate speed tiers, and negotiated pricing are excluded from this local estimate.

Switch friction

DeepSeek V4 Flash -> Grok 3 Mini

Provider overlap exists on OpenRouter and Microsoft Foundry; start route-level A/B tests there.
Grok 3 Mini is $1.15/1M tokens higher on cheapest tracked output pricing, so quality gains need to justify the spend.
Check replacement coverage for Reasoning and JSON / Tool use before moving production traffic.
Grok 3 Mini adds Vision and Multimodal in local capability data.

Grok 3 Mini -> DeepSeek V4 Flash

Provider overlap exists on OpenRouter and Microsoft Foundry; start route-level A/B tests there.
DeepSeek V4 Flash is $1.15/1M tokens lower on cheapest tracked output pricing before cache, batch, or negotiated discounts.
Check replacement coverage for Vision and Multimodal before moving production traffic.
DeepSeek V4 Flash adds Reasoning and JSON / Tool use in local capability data.

Specs

Specification	DeepSeek V4 Flash DeepSeek	Grok 3 Mini xAI
Released	2026-04-24	2025-02-17
Context window	1m	131k
Parameters	284B	—
Architecture	Mixture of Experts	-
License	MITOSI-approved	Proprietary
Openness	Open source	Proprietary
Weights	Available	Not released
Code	Unknown	Unknown
Commercial use	Commercial use: permitted	Commercial use: conditional
Knowledge cutoff	-	2024-11

Pricing and availability

Pricing attribute	DeepSeek V4 Flash	Grok 3 Mini
Input price	Off-peak $0.22/1M tokens All UTC hours outside DeepSeek's peak windows. Cache-hit input: $0.007 per 1M tokens; cache-miss input: $0.22 per 1M; output: $0.66 per 1M. Peak $0.44/1M tokens 01:00-04:00 and 06:00-10:00 UTC. Cache-hit input: $0.014 per 1M tokens; cache-miss input: $0.44 per 1M; output: $1.32 per 1M.	$0.25/1M tokens
Output price	Off-peak $0.66/1M tokens All UTC hours outside DeepSeek's peak windows. Cache-hit input: $0.007 per 1M tokens; cache-miss input: $0.22 per 1M; output: $0.66 per 1M. Peak $1.32/1M tokens 01:00-04:00 and 06:00-10:00 UTC. Cache-hit input: $0.014 per 1M tokens; cache-miss input: $0.44 per 1M; output: $1.32 per 1M.	$1.27/1M tokens
Providers	DeepSeek Platform OpenRouter Microsoft Foundry Vercel AI Gateway Novita AI	OpenRouter Microsoft Foundry

Capabilities

Capability	DeepSeek V4 Flash	Grok 3 Mini
Vision	No	Yes
Multimodal	No	Yes
Reasoning	Yes	No
JSON / Tool use	Yes	No
Structured outputs	Yes	Yes
Code execution	No	No
IDE integration	No	No
Computer use	No	No
Parallel agents	No	No

Benchmarks

No shared benchmark scores are currently available for this pair.

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Model pages

Labs and families

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Last reviewed: 2026-07-03. Data sourced from public model cards and provider documentation.

Both models

DeepSeek V4 Flash Grok 3 Mini