Model · DeepSeek

DeepSeek V4 Flash

DeepSeek V4 Flash is served by DeepSeek through OpenRouter. It provides 1.05M tokens of context and supports text inputs.

Snapshot 2026-10-16 deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash-0731

Context window

1.05M tokens

Input / 1M tokens

$0.007

Output / 1M tokens

$1.28

Key facts

Provider	DeepSeek
OpenRouter ID	`deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash-0731`
Modalities	Text
Best for	Budget, Long Context

Source openrouter.ai/api/v1/models Verified 2026-10-16 Drift-checked daily 06:00 CST

Best-fit workloads

Best for long context

Large context window for documents and transcripts.

Best for budget

Low input/output cost for high-volume workloads.

Cost estimates

These examples use the 2026-10-16 input and output prices. Cache discounts, provider surcharges and tool fees are excluded.

Workload	Input	Output	Estimated cost
Quick test	20,000	5,000	$0.007
Product chat month	500,000	125,000	$0.163
Document batch	5,000,000	1,000,000	$1.31

Strengths

✓ Still the cheapest paid input in this hub at $0.016 per million tokens, even after this read took it back up 3.5x from its floor
✓ Very large context window for text-heavy workloads
✓ Output is 40x input at this reading, so the row no longer punishes generation the way it did on 10-10

Limitations

! Text-only
! Output now costs 40x its input rather than the 278x of the 2026-10-10 read: the two ends moved toward each other, which makes the row easier to reason about and less of a specialist
! Requires careful evaluation for complex reasoning tasks

OpenRouter API quickstart

Run these examples from your server or edge function. Keep the OpenRouter API key private and do not expose it in browser code.

cURL

curl https://openrouter.ai/api/v1/chat/completions \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $OPENROUTER_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "model": "deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash-0731",
    "messages": [{ "role": "user", "content": "Summarize this document in five bullet points." }],
    "max_tokens": 500
  }'

JavaScript / TypeScript

const response = await fetch("https://openrouter.ai/api/v1/chat/completions", {
  method: "POST",
  headers: {
    Authorization: `Bearer ${process.env.OPENROUTER_API_KEY}`,
    "Content-Type": "application/json",
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    model: "deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash-0731",
    messages: [{ role: "user", content: "Summarize this document in five bullet points." }],
    max_tokens: 500,
  }),
});

const data = await response.json();
console.log(data.choices[0].message.content);

How to evaluate DeepSeek V4 Flash

Run five real tasks from your product, not generic demo prompts.
Record token usage, latency and output quality.
Estimate cost using your real input/output mix.
Compare it against one model with a similar price and one stronger model.

Compare models View on OpenRouter ↗

DeepSeek V4 Flash FAQ

What is DeepSeek V4 Flash?

DeepSeek V4 Flash is a DeepSeek model available through OpenRouter. It supports text inputs and is suited for budget, long context workloads.

How much does DeepSeek V4 Flash cost on OpenRouter?

The 2026-10-16 snapshot lists $0.007 per 1M input tokens and $1.28 per 1M output tokens. Verify current pricing on OpenRouter before production.

How large is DeepSeek V4 Flash's context window?

DeepSeek V4 Flash offers 1.05M tokens of context in the current snapshot. Provider-specific limits and surcharges may apply.

Head-to-head comparisons

DeepSeek V4 Flash vs Z.ai GLM 5.3 Flash

Since the 2026-09-22 repricing this is a read-versus-write decision rather than a cheaper-versus-dearer one. DeepSeek V4 Flash wins on anything that reads a lot and writes a little; GLM 5.3 Flash wins on mixed-media input and on generation.

Xiaomi MiMo-V2.5 vs DeepSeek V4 Flash

MiMo-V2.5 is the one to test for mixed-media input, and it is the cheaper model per output token. DeepSeek V4 Flash is the better fit for pure-text work whose output is short — the two swap places as soon as the job starts generating.

Meta Llama 4 Maverick vs DeepSeek V4 Flash

Llama 4 Maverick is the better low-cost choice when image input matters. DeepSeek V4 Flash is the better pure-text batch choice when output cost dominates.

Union Alpha vs DeepSeek V4 Flash

Pareto is the pick when the input is an image, which V4 Flash cannot take at all. For text the gap is uneven rather than uniform: V4 Flash costs about a sixty-second of Pareto's input price and about a twelfth of its output price, with a five-times-larger window — the old 'Union Alpha is free' reasoning disappeared with the reveal, and the arithmetic on the other side moved on 2026-09-22.

Xiaomi MiMo-V2.6-Flash vs DeepSeek V4 Flash

DeepSeek V4 Flash is cheaper to read and much dearer to write; since the repricing its output costs 16x its input, which makes it a reading model. MiMo-V2.6-Flash is the safer default because the two directions are priced within a factor of two of each other and it accepts media, so a workload that changes shape does not force a migration.

Pricing and context data are based on a 2026-10-16 snapshot. Provider limits can change; always verify on OpenRouter before production.