DeepSeek V4 Flash vs Qwen3-235B-A22B

DeepSeek V4 Flash (2026) and Qwen3-235B-A22B (2025) are frontier reasoning models from DeepSeek and Alibaba. DeepSeek V4 Flash ships a 1m-token context window, while Qwen3-235B-A22B ships a 128k-token context window. On MMLU PRO, DeepSeek V4 Flash leads by 3.6 pts. 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 Qwen3-235B-A22B for tighter calls.

Decision scorecard

Local evidence first
SignalDeepSeek V4 FlashQwen3-235B-A22B
Best forreasoning-heavy apps, tool-calling agents, and long-context analysisprovider-routed production
Decision fitCoding, RAG, and AgentsCoding, RAG, and Long context
Context window1m128k
Cheapest output$0.12/1M tokens$0.58/1M tokens
Provider routes5 tracked5 tracked
Shared benchmarksMMLU PRO leader4 shared

Decision tradeoffs

Choose DeepSeek V4 Flash when...
  • DeepSeek V4 Flash holds a shared-benchmark lead on MMLU PRO, ahead by 3.6 points.
  • 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 uniquely exposes Reasoning and JSON / Tool use in local model data.
  • Local decision data tags DeepSeek V4 Flash for Coding, RAG, and Agents.
Choose Qwen3-235B-A22B when...
  • Qwen3-235B-A22B holds a shared-benchmark lead on HumanEval, ahead by 23.2 points.
  • Local decision data tags Qwen3-235B-A22B for Coding, RAG, and Long context.

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

DeepSeek V4 Flash

$76.26

Cheapest tracked route/tier: OpenRouter

Qwen3-235B-A22B

$217

Cheapest tracked route/tier: Novita AI

Estimated monthly gap: $141. Batch, cache, alternate speed tiers, and negotiated pricing are excluded from this local estimate.

Switch friction

DeepSeek V4 Flash -> Qwen3-235B-A22B
  • Provider overlap exists on OpenRouter and Novita AI; start route-level A/B tests there.
  • Qwen3-235B-A22B is $0.46/1M 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.
Qwen3-235B-A22B -> DeepSeek V4 Flash
  • Provider overlap exists on OpenRouter and Novita AI; start route-level A/B tests there.
  • DeepSeek V4 Flash is $0.46/1M tokens lower on cheapest tracked output pricing before cache, batch, or negotiated discounts.
  • DeepSeek V4 Flash adds Reasoning and JSON / Tool use in local capability data.

Specs

Specification
Released2026-04-242025-04-29
Context window1m128k
Parameters284B235B
ArchitectureMixture of ExpertsDecoder Only
LicenseMITOSI-approvedApache 2.0OSI-approved
OpennessOpen sourceOpen source
WeightsAvailableUnknown
CodeUnknownUnknown
Commercial useCommercial use: permittedCommercial use: permitted
Knowledge cutoff--

Pricing and availability

Pricing attributeDeepSeek V4 FlashQwen3-235B-A22B
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.
$0.09/1M 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.
$0.58/1M tokens
Providers
DeepSeek PlatformOpenRouterMicrosoft FoundryVercel AI GatewayNovita AI
Fireworks AIAWS BedrockOpenRouterVenice AINovita AI

Capabilities

CapabilityDeepSeek V4 FlashQwen3-235B-A22B
VisionNoNo
MultimodalNoNo
ReasoningYesNo
JSON / Tool useYesNo
Structured outputsYesYes
Code executionNoNo
IDE integrationNoNo
Computer useNoNo
Parallel agentsNoNo

Benchmarks

BenchmarkDeepSeek V4 FlashQwen3-235B-A22B
MMLU PRO86.482.8
Google-Proof Q&A88.186.1
LiveCodeBench91.680.4
HumanEval69.592.7

Continue comparing

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