Qwen3.8-Max vs DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
Qwen3.8-Max is Alibaba's flagship and DeepSeek V4.1 Flash is DeepSeek's low-cost workhorse. Both ship open weights, but they sit at very different prices: $2 / $6 and $0.15 / $0.60 per 1M tokens.
Our verdict
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash is about 13 times cheaper on input ($0.15 against $2 per 1M tokens) and 10 times cheaper on output ($0.60 against $6). Qwen3.8-Max is a 2.4-trillion-parameter mixture of experts with 95 billion active parameters and a 1M-token context window, and it is the one to evaluate if you want a very large open model hosted by Alibaba Cloud. DeepSeek V4.1 Flash is the volume pick. We show no benchmark scores here because we have no independent score for Qwen3.8-Max on our tracker.
Benchmarks measure test tasks, not your business. Run a real job through both models before you commit.
Side by side
| Qwen3.8-Max | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash | |
|---|---|---|
| Lab | Alibaba | DeepSeek |
| List price per 1M tokens (input / output) | $2 / $6 | $0.15 / $0.60 |
| Scheduled price | - | - |
| Price notes | International (Singapore) rate; Alibaba Cloud may change it, so check the page. | Off-peak rate; peak hours (01:00-04:00 and 06:00-10:00 UTC on weekdays) are $0.30 / $1.20. |
| Example job at list price | $3.20 | $0.27 |
| Context window | 1,000,000 tokens | 1,048,576 tokens |
| Released | ||
| Open weights | Yes | Yes |
1M tokens in and 200K tokens out. List price only: models write different amounts, so a finished job can cost more or less. (1,000,000 / 200,000)
Benchmark rows are left out of this comparison because we do not have comparable independent scores for both models.
Common questions
Is Qwen3.8 Max cheaper than DeepSeek V4.1 Flash?
No. Alibaba's International rate for Qwen3.8 Max is $2 in and $6 out per 1M tokens, against DeepSeek's off-peak $0.15 and $0.60.
Are both open-weights models?
Yes, our tracker lists both as open weights. DeepSeek V4.1 Flash is MIT-licensed; read the Qwen license before commercial use.
Which should I use for a chatbot?
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash is the cheaper starting point for a high-volume chatbot. Test Qwen3.8 Max if you need Alibaba Cloud hosting or its larger scale.
Sources
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