DeepSeek V4.1 Flash vs GLM 5.3 Flash
A side-by-side of live API prices, providers, speed, usage and benchmarks. No verdict: the right choice depends on your workload.
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash costs $0.09 per 1M input and $0.18 per 1M output tokens at the standard tier, via Decart (fp4); GLM 5.3 Flash costs $0.075 and $0.25, via DeepInfra (fp4). At a 3:1 input:output mix, DeepSeek V4.1 Flash is 5% cheaper than GLM 5.3 Flash.
Why these two are compared
Two of the most-used models on OpenRouter in October 2026, both with weights on the Hugging Face Hub and each served by dozens of inference providers, so the cheapest host and the speed spread between hosts matter as much as the list price.
Side by side
| Measure | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash | GLM 5.3 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| Developer | DeepSeek | Z.ai (Zhipu) |
| Released | 2026-09-10 | 2026-08-26 |
| Standard price, input / output per 1M | $0.09 / $0.18 | $0.075 / $0.25 |
| Blended price (3:1) | $0.1125 | $0.1188 |
| Cheapest standard provider | Decartfp4 | DeepInfrafp4 |
| Cache read per 1M | $0.018 | $0.015 |
| Providers at the standard tier | 30 | 28 |
| Context window (tokens) | 1,048,576 | 1,048,576 |
| Max output (tokens) | 943,718 | 943,718 |
| Input modalities | text, image | text, image, video |
| Long-prompt pricing | No threshold listed | No threshold listed |
| Fastest endpoint | 237 tok/sFireworks AI (US region) | 170 tok/sFriendli |
| Lowest latency | 241 msBaseten (US region) | 256 msBaseten (fp8) |
| OpenRouter tokens (2026-10-16) | 5.41T | 1.73T |
| AA intelligence | 39.5 | 41.8 |
| AA coding | Not reported | 71.5 |
| AA agentic | Not reported | 50.9 |
“Not reported” means the source publishes no value. AA scores are the Artificial Analysis indexes reported through OpenRouter (CC BY 4.0), not SF·SIX measurements.
Cost for three example workloads
| Workload | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash / month | GLM 5.3 Flash / month |
|---|---|---|
| Support chatbot50,000 requests × 1,500 in / 400 out tokens | $10.35 | $10.63 |
| RAG / research assistant20,000 requests × 8,000 in / 700 out tokens | $16.92 | $15.50 |
| Batch summarisation10,000 requests × 10,000 in / 500 out tokens | $9.90 | $8.75 |
Standard headline prices; caching and long-context surcharges not included. Price your own workload.
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash providers
| Provider and terms | Input / 1M | Output / 1M | Throughput | Latency |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Decartfp4 | $0.09 | $0.18 | 76 tok/s | 3.01 s |
| Sail Researchfp4 | $0.09 | $0.30 | 60 tok/s | 1.85 s |
| Morphfp8 | $0.083 | $0.55 | 122 tok/s | 402 ms |
| DeepInfrafp8 | $0.14 | $0.42 | 84 tok/s | 684 ms |
| AtlasCloudfp8 | $0.135 | $0.54 | 99 tok/s | 972 ms |
| Wafermxfp4 | $0.10 | $0.65 | 126 tok/s | 647 ms |
| InferenceNetfp8 | $0.103 | $0.715 | 128 tok/s | 395 ms |
| StreamLakefp8 | $0.1497 | $0.5988 | 64 tok/s | 1.37 s |
| DeepSeek | $0.15 | $0.60 | 53 tok/s | 903 ms |
| Cloudflare | $0.10 | $0.90 | 79 tok/s | 2.52 s |
GLM 5.3 Flash providers
| Provider and terms | Input / 1M | Output / 1M | Throughput | Latency |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DeepInfrafp4 | $0.075 | $0.25 | 27 tok/s | 2.13 s |
| Decartfp4 | $0.0825 | $0.275 | 56 tok/s | 1.68 s |
| Novita AIfp8 | $0.084 | $0.28 | 35 tok/s | 2.31 s |
| Sail Researchfp4 | $0.0784 | $0.30 | 56 tok/s | 1.15 s |
| GMI Cloudfp8 | $0.09 | $0.30 | 51 tok/s | 1.93 s |
| OpenInferencefp4 | $0.075 | $0.50 | 43 tok/s | 614 ms |
| Relace | $0.075 | $0.50 | 51 tok/s | 1.48 s |
| Near AIfp8 | $0.08 | $0.50 | 15 tok/s | 2.54 s |
| InferenceNetfp4 | $0.12 | $0.388 | 109 tok/s | 577 ms |
| Phalanvfp4 | $0.1275 | $0.425 | 30 tok/s | 3.64 s |
Sources and method
Prices are USD per 1M tokens at the standard service tier in the default region: the cheapest qualifying provider per model, with flex, batch, priority and fast endpoints and unusually low outliers never used as the headline. “Blended” weights input and output 3:1. Prices: OpenRouter, observed at the times on each model page. Speed: OpenRouter, previous 30 minutes. Usage: OpenRouter rankings, latest full UTC day (CC BY 4.0).