Model comparison

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash vs Qwen3 Max

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash is the stronger model overall, scoring 50.3 to 43.5 on the Noometry Index.

Last verified October 10, 2026. 19 shared benchmarks.

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash

DeepSeek

50.3

Rank #40 Confirmed

Qwen3 Max

Alibaba (Qwen)

43.5

Rank #82 Confirmed

Summary

They share 19 benchmarks with published results for both. DeepSeek V4.1 Flash scores higher in 7 categories and Qwen3 Max in 1 category; 8 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
The widest gap is in reasoning, where DeepSeek V4.1 Flash leads 46.2 to 22.0.
The biggest single-benchmark swing is NYT Connections (extended): 89.6% for DeepSeek V4.1 Flash and 30.1% for Qwen3 Max.
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash is cheaper at $0.15 / $0.60 per million input/output tokens, against $1.20 / $6 for Qwen3 Max.
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash accepts more context: 1M tokens versus 262K.
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.

Side by side

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash and Qwen3 Max specifications
	DeepSeek V4.1 Flash	Qwen3 Max
Provider	DeepSeek	Alibaba (Qwen)
Noometry Index	50.3	43.5
Released	2026-09-09	2025-09-23
Weights	Open	Proprietary
Context window	1M	262K
Max output	393K	66K
Input $ / M tokens	$0.15	$1.20
Output $ / M tokens	$0.60	$6
Results tracked	25	33

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Category by category

Coding DeepSeek V4.1 Flash leads

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash: 52.8 (#29), Qwen3 Max: 42.4 (#93)

Coding benchmarks
Benchmark	DeepSeek V4.1 Flash	Qwen3 Max
LMArena Coding	1511	1456
ALE-Bench	1,092	370.45
LMArena WebDev	1620	—
SciCode	51.9%	—

Agentic & Tool Use Not comparable

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash: —, Qwen3 Max: —

Agentic & Tool Use benchmarks
Benchmark	DeepSeek V4.1 Flash	Qwen3 Max
Vending-Bench 2	—	71.56

Reasoning DeepSeek V4.1 Flash leads

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash: 46.2 (#39), Qwen3 Max: 22.0 (#186)

Reasoning benchmarks
Benchmark	DeepSeek V4.1 Flash	Qwen3 Max
NYT Connections (extended)	89.6%	30.1%
LMArena Hard Prompts	1485	1448
DTBench	89.9%	82.1%
LMCA	47%	28.3%
Epoch Capabilities Index	155.01	142.41
Kagi LLM Benchmark	—	72.5%
CritPt	14.3%	—
Chess Puzzles	—	4%
Mystery Game Puzzles	—	5%
Surface Evolver Bench	46.3%	—

Math DeepSeek V4.1 Flash leads

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash: 48.4 (#52), Qwen3 Max: 37.6 (#94)

Math benchmarks
Benchmark	DeepSeek V4.1 Flash	Qwen3 Max
LMArena Math	1493	1447
FrontierMath (Tiers 1-3)	—	18.9%
OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025	—	73.3%
ProofBench	54%	—
MATH Level 5	—	97.1%

Knowledge Qwen3 Max leads

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash: 41.6 (#97), Qwen3 Max: 48.1 (#72)

Knowledge benchmarks
Benchmark	DeepSeek V4.1 Flash	Qwen3 Max
LMArena Expert	1505	1457
GPQA Diamond	—	72.6%
SimpleQA Verified	—	48.7%

Multilingual DeepSeek V4.1 Flash leads

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash: 55.5 (#29), Qwen3 Max: 53.9 (#58)

Multilingual benchmarks
Benchmark	DeepSeek V4.1 Flash	Qwen3 Max
LMArena Non-English	1452	1429
LMArena Chinese	1506	1479
LMArena French	1448	1450
LMArena Russian	1473	1428
LMArena Spanish	1499	1463
LMArena German	—	1463
LMArena Japanese	—	1399
LMArena Korean	—	1397

Instruction Following DeepSeek V4.1 Flash leads

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash: 77.6 (#24), Qwen3 Max: 75.0 (#81)

Instruction Following benchmarks
Benchmark	DeepSeek V4.1 Flash	Qwen3 Max
LMArena Instruction Following	1475	1420

Long Context DeepSeek V4.1 Flash leads

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash: 45.2 (#46), Qwen3 Max: 41.6 (#129)

Long Context benchmarks
Benchmark	DeepSeek V4.1 Flash	Qwen3 Max
LMArena Longer Query	1476	1439
Fiction.LiveBench	—	66.7%
CL-bench	—	14.5%

Writing & Preference DeepSeek V4.1 Flash leads

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash: 65.8 (#43), Qwen3 Max: 62.6 (#72)

Writing & Preference benchmarks
Benchmark	DeepSeek V4.1 Flash	Qwen3 Max
LMArena Text	1465	1439
LMArena Creative Writing	1436	1401
LMArena Multi-Turn	1460	1446
EQ-Bench Creative Writing	1540	—

Frequently asked questions

Is DeepSeek V4.1 Flash better than Qwen3 Max?

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash is the stronger model overall, scoring 50.3 to 43.5 on the Noometry Index.

Which is cheaper, DeepSeek V4.1 Flash or Qwen3 Max?

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash is cheaper. It lists at $0.15 per million input tokens and $0.60 per million output tokens; Qwen3 Max lists at $1.20 and $6.

Is DeepSeek V4.1 Flash or Qwen3 Max better for coding?

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash scores higher on coding benchmarks: 52.8 versus 42.4 in the Noometry coding category.

Which has the bigger context window?

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash does, with 1M tokens against 262K.

How many benchmarks do DeepSeek V4.1 Flash and Qwen3 Max share?

19 benchmarks have published results for both models. DeepSeek V4.1 Flash has 25 scored results on Noometry and Qwen3 Max has 33.