Transcript

00:00:00So last week DeepSeq released V4 Flash, and I kind of brushed it off as it only scored 52 points on
00:00:04the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, which is 8 points behind Kimi K3, and it slots between
00:00:09GLM 5.2 and Gemini 3.6 Flash. The part I completely missed though was its cost. To run the entire
00:00:15test suite at Artificial Analysis, it costs $72 with this model. That is 10 times cheaper than
00:00:21models with the same intelligence scores, and 33 times cheaper than Kimi K3. So this is definitely
00:00:26one to check out, and it's a pretty interesting model, so let's get into it.
00:00:34So the model is called DeepSeq V4 Flash 0731, and the TLDR of the model is it's got 300 billion
00:00:39parameters, with 13 billion of those being active, and has a million token context window, and its
00:00:44weights are on Hugging Face already with an MIT license. If we jump straight to the benchmarks,
00:00:48as I mentioned in the intro, it scores a 52 on the Intelligence Index, so it's not a frontier model,
00:00:53but if we look at this in the context of other models around it, like these 21 here, you can see
00:00:58that it slots in nicely with Gemini 3.6 and 3.5 Flash, GPT 5.6 Lunar on max effort, GLM 5.2 on max,
00:01:05Opus 5 on low, and it's 4 points ahead of Kimi K3 on a low effort. If I switch this over to the
00:01:11agentic index, you can see out of those same models, DeepSeq is actually the third best one. So it's
00:01:15definitely not state-of-the-art, but pricing is where it dominates. If we take those same 21 models,
00:01:20but we look at cost per task, you can see that DeepSeq V4 Flash is actually the cheapest out of
00:01:24all of the models, and GPT 5.6 Lunar that costs the same is actually two points behind on the
00:01:29Intelligence Index. If you compare this to other open models like Kimi K3 on low, which again is worse
00:01:34on Intelligence, it's actually 8 times cheaper, and the same goes for GLM 5.2. It's about 18 times
00:01:39cheaper than the Gemini models, and it gets the same score as them, and obviously it's a lot cheaper
00:01:44than Sonic 5. And all of this is despite the fact that it uses the third most output tokens on all
00:01:49of these tasks across all of the models, which is a pretty crazy result. If we look at a graph of the
00:01:53Intelligence versus cost, you can see it's incredibly close to that most attractive quadrant. Models
00:01:58like GLM 5.2, GPT 5.6 Terra, and Muse Spark are in there, but they're actually only one point ahead
00:02:03of DeepSeq V4 Flash, and that one point difference would come at 9 times the price, so it's probably not
00:02:09worth it. You can even see on a benchmark like RKGI that it stands out in a place of its own,
00:02:13because it's much cheaper than any other model for its performance level, and by the way, on this
00:02:17benchmark, it actually beats Kimi K3 on a max effort, and is 20 times cheaper. As for the raw cost of the
00:02:23tokens themselves, from DeepSeq they advertise 14 cents for a million input tokens, and 28 cents for a
00:02:28million output tokens, but if you go to Open Router, other providers have got this cheaper, and the average
00:02:33is around 8 cents for a million input tokens, and 25 cents for a million output tokens. When you compare this
00:02:38to other models in its intelligence level, it is just so much cheaper. But how well does it do in
00:02:42actual use? I took DeepSeq V4 Flash, and then 7 other similar comparing models, tested them out in
00:02:47open code with the exact same prompt, to create me a personal finance management dashboard, create a
00:02:52full stack application that includes a front end and a back end, and I gave them all an empty folder,
00:02:56so they are starting completely from scratch. Now this is the result I got back from DeepSeq V4 Flash,
00:03:01it actually turned out to be the second cheapest, and also the sixth quickest, so it's a little bit
00:03:05slow there, and I'll show you a full chart at the end of how these models compare. What we can see though is
00:03:09we do have a semi-working CRUD app, there's something going wrong with the responsiveness and the sizing
00:03:13of these cards here, but everything else is working, the charts are pretty nice and working, all of this
00:03:18add funds and send money, I've tested that out and that did work as well, and we can also see that the
00:03:23accounts, transactions, and goals pages here are also working too. As for the UI design of this, I would say
00:03:28it's pretty standard for what I expect out of some of these AI models, maybe the frontier ones are using
00:03:33a bit of a different design these days, but this just has that very AI CRUD app feel. I'm pretty happy
00:03:37with the stack it shows as well, we're using React, although it is using React 18 and not 19, it's using
00:03:42recharts for the charts, which is a sensible choice, and it's also using V on the front end here. For the
00:03:47server, we're using Express and Cores, and bonus points here because it did actually use a real
00:03:52database using Node SQLite. Next up, we have the result that we got back from GPT 5.6 Luna on a
00:03:57max effort, and I've got to say, I had to double check that I chose the right model here, as this
00:04:01UI is just way better than the one we got back from Deep Seek, and this actually only cost me 6 cents
00:04:06and took 6 minutes to make. Now one thing worth knowing is that Open Router currently has a
00:04:10discount on GPT 5.6 Luna, so it is 50% off, so this would have cost 12 cents if we weren't under the
00:04:15discount, so only a few cents more than Deep Seek's, and I think this UI is definitely worth that price
00:04:20difference. As for the features, I have tested, and we can add funds and send money, but we can't go to
00:04:25accounts, transactions, or goals. All of that just has to be on this main page here. It hasn't actually
00:04:29implemented those tabs. It does lose a few points, however, on the stack it chose. It did choose React
00:04:3319, V, and also Express for the server. When it comes to the actual database, it just did all of it in
00:04:38memory in this file here, but obviously this is something that you could modify the original prompt
00:04:42with and just say include a real database. So both of those models cost us under 10 cents, but I want to go to
00:04:47the other end of the spectrum now and take a look at what Opus 5 gave us on a low effort. This cost me
00:04:52$9.65, which is over 160 times more expensive than those other models. You can see here it does have a
00:04:59fairly nice UI. It's a pretty standard CRUD app as we've seen. It's more similar to the Deep Seek one
00:05:03than it is to GPT 5.6, and I will say what Opus has done really well is the UI inside some of these
00:05:09features. So when we transfer or send money, I think this is a really well-built UI, and all of these features
00:05:14work as well. So it's got the accounts, transaction, budgets, goals, and investment pages. When it comes
00:05:19to the actual code, it shows a fairly standard React stack, as we can see here, but where it gets
00:05:23negative points is on the database, because again, it's used an Express database, but this one has used
00:05:28an in-memory data store and not a real database. Now I'm going to go a bit quicker through the other
00:05:31five models. This one here is GLM 5.2 on extra high. It was actually the second most expensive,
00:05:37costing me $3.68, and it also took the longest of 47 minutes. I would say it's done a fairly good job,
00:05:43though. This looks like a standard CRUD app that a lot of these models are producing, and it's got
00:05:46all of the features like dashboard, accounts, transactions, and goals, and we can even click
00:05:50on these and everything is working. It did also choose a pretty good stack for the backend. It
00:05:54actually elected to use Next.js. It's the only model to do so, and it used a real database linked
00:05:59with Prisma. Gemini 3.6 flashes next, and it was actually the sixth most expensive, costing me $1.69,
00:06:05and also the fifth quickest at 11 minutes. Now for the job it's done, I wouldn't say it's great.
00:06:09I mean it does have all of the charts and all of the information, and a pretty similar look to some
00:06:14of the other apps. It's chosen a top nav bar up here, and just overall everything looks a bit more
00:06:19clustered than I think some of the other examples we've seen, and it's a bit of a shame. Gemini
00:06:23used to have the UI advantage, but it's really gone over to OpenAI now. This also uses a pretty normal
00:06:27stack, so it chose React and Express, but it is storing its data in a JSON file. After that we then have
00:06:32GPT 5.5 on a medium effort, and this was actually the fifth most expensive at $1.15, but it was the
00:06:37third quickest, taking only seven minutes. Now it's done a bit of a weird job here compared to the rest
00:06:42of them. It's done everything in a single page. UI design I would say is fairly nice. It is that
00:06:47OpenAI UI design that a lot of these apps have that we've already seen, and everything is working.
00:06:52It's just not really a full stack application, it's more of just a single page app. It did use React
00:06:57and Express for its stack though, but it chose an in-memory datastore. This is the last GPT model
00:07:01that I tested, and it's GPT 5.6 sold on a low effort. This is actually the fourth cheapest,
00:07:05costing me only 90 cents, and it was the quickest, only taking 3 minutes and 42 seconds. You can see
00:07:11it's a pretty similar UI design to Luna, and in my opinion this is the best UI that we got out of all
00:07:15of the models that I tested. And all of these features are working, like the add funds here,
00:07:20but it doesn't have the accounts, transactions, budgets, or goal pages. None of those tabs work.
00:07:24It also picked the pretty standard stack of React and Express, but it does have an in-memory
00:07:28datastore. Finally, the last model that I tested was Kimi K3 on a low effort. This is actually the
00:07:32third cheapest, coming in at 58 cents, and the fourth fastest, taking me 8 minutes. I've got to
00:07:37say though, I'm not blown away by the UI design that we have here. Technically it is all functional,
00:07:41just looks a bit similar to the DeepSeq one, I'd say it's on the same level as that, but all of the
00:07:45features are working, and it actually went with a weird approach for its stack. It chose VanillaJS,
00:07:50so it didn't use any framework, but it did use Express, and it also did have JSON file as its database.
00:07:55I may have gone a bit overboard with the number of tests that I did here, but I really wanted to see
00:07:58how these models with similar scores would stack up. If we take a look at the rankings that I got
00:08:02for my cost per run, I think GPT 5.6 Luna was definitely the winner here. We got a really nice
00:08:07UI design for 6 cents. Again, without the discount, that would cost 12 cents, so it's a bit more
00:08:12expensive than DeepSeat, 50% more, but for that UI design difference, it is definitely a winner.
00:08:17Opus 5, I wouldn't use that for any of these tasks. Opus 5 on a low effort costing me $9.65,
00:08:23when we have models that can cost us under a dollar and give us super impressive results
00:08:27like GPT 5.6 Sol. One thing I will say though is the code base for DeepSeat V4 Flash. The actual
00:08:32backend and the code was really good in comparison to something like GPT 5.6 Luna, where it chose a
00:08:37real database, so maybe I'd use an OpenAI model for the UI design and DeepSeat V4 Flash for some of
00:08:43the backend code, and that way I get the best of both worlds. When it comes to how long each of these
00:08:46models actually ran for, DeepSeat was pretty bad here. It took 23 minutes. When you compare that
00:08:51something like 5.6 Sol, which only took 3 minutes and 42 seconds to create that super impressive
00:08:56result, I do think it could do a bit of work on its speed, but again, since it's so cheap, does it
00:09:00really matter? Overall, I think DeepSeat V4 Flash is a pretty competent model, just maybe not great at
00:09:05UI design, and that's pretty much all I wanted to say. I'm certainly enjoying this trend of the
00:09:09Chinese labs coming in and undercutting the US labs on the pricing and also matching their
00:09:13intelligence, as it might start a price war that benefits all of us, and I think we've already seen
00:09:17that from OpenAI. They have some really cheap pricing for some really competent models. What
00:09:21do you think? Let me know in the comments down below if you would use this model, wait there,
00:09:25subscribe, and as always, see you in the next one.

Key Takeaway

DeepSeek V4 Flash delivers highly competitive performance and backend code quality at a fraction of the cost of rival models, despite slower execution speeds and basic user interface design capabilities.

Highlights

  • DeepSeek V4 Flash costs 72 dollars to run the entire Artificial Analysis test suite, which is 10 times cheaper than models with identical intelligence scores.

  • DeepSeek V4 Flash scores 52 on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index and features 300 billion total parameters with 13 billion active parameters.

  • Input token costs average 8 cents per million on Open Router, while output token costs average 25 cents per million.

  • GPT 5.6 Luna generated a superior user interface for 6 cents under a current promotion, compared to DeepSeek V4 Flash which ranked as the second cheapest at 23 minutes execution time.

  • GLM 5.2 required 47 minutes and cost 3.68 dollars, representing the longest execution time and second highest expense among tested full-stack applications.

  • Opus 5 on low effort reached 9.65 dollars per run, making it over 160 times more expensive than the cheapest alternatives while utilizing an in-memory data store.

Timeline

Model Overview and Benchmarks

  • DeepSeek V4 Flash features a million token context window and MIT-licensed weights hosted on Hugging Face.
  • The model achieves an Intelligence Index score of 52 and ranks as the third best agentic model among the compared group.
  • Cost per task analyses position DeepSeek V4 Flash as the most economical option across the entire evaluated model set.

Initial evaluations dismissed the model due to a modest Intelligence Index score of 52, but testing revealed unprecedented cost efficiency at 72 dollars for the full benchmark suite. The architecture utilizes 300 billion total parameters with 13 billion active parameters. Pricing from DeepSeek lists 14 cents per million input tokens and 28 cents per million output tokens, though Open Router averages lower rates at 8 cents for input and 25 cents for output.

Full-Stack Application Development Performance

  • DeepSeek V4 Flash produced a functional CRUD finance dashboard utilizing React 18, Vite, Express, and a Node SQLite database.
  • GPT 5.6 Luna delivered a significantly superior user interface for 6 cents under a temporary promotion, utilizing React 19 and an in-memory database.
  • Opus 5 on low effort cost 9.65 dollars, providing a well-crafted transfer interface but relying on an in-memory data store.

Comparative testing across eight models assigned the task of building a personal finance management dashboard from an empty folder. DeepSeek V4 Flash ranked as the second cheapest and sixth quickest, resulting in a functional application with minor card sizing issues but a legitimate SQLite database integration. GPT 5.6 Luna surpassed visual expectations for 6 cents, though it omitted auxiliary tabs and stored data in memory.

Comparative Analysis of Alternative Models

  • GLM 5.2 on extra high required 47 minutes and 3.68 dollars, utilizing Next.js and a Prisma-linked real database.
  • Gemini 3.6 Flash cost 1.69 dollars with an 11-minute run time, presenting a clustered user interface layout.
  • GPT 5.6 Sol achieved the fastest completion time of 3 minutes and 42 seconds for 90 cents with an intuitive user interface.

Additional model evaluations demonstrated varied architectural and financial tradeoffs. GLM 5.2 stood out as the sole model implementing Next.js alongside Prisma, albeit at a high time cost. Gemini 3.6 Flash stored data in a JSON file with standard React and Express configurations. GPT 5.6 Sol offered peak execution speed and high visual quality, though key secondary pages remained non-functional.

Final Rankings and Strategic Insights

  • GPT 5.6 Luna emerged as the overall winner for cost efficiency balanced with high-tier user interface design.
  • DeepSeek V4 Flash demonstrated strong backend code generation paired with a slow 23-minute execution duration.
  • Aggressive pricing strategies from Chinese labs are driving market competition and lowering deployment costs for developers.

Synthesizing all benchmark runs highlights a hybrid development strategy: leveraging OpenAI models for rapid, high-quality user interface creation while utilizing DeepSeek V4 Flash for cost-effective backend logic and real database integration. Despite slower processing speeds, aggressive pricing models from international labs establish a new baseline for affordable AI utility.

Community Posts

No posts yet. Be the first to write about this video!

Write about this video