Model comparison
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash vs Qwen3.6 Max Preview
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash is the stronger model overall, scoring 52.8 to 51.5 on the Noometry Index.
Last verified . 22 shared benchmarks.
DeepSeek
Alibaba (Qwen)Summary
- They share 22 benchmarks with published results for both. DeepSeek V4.1 Flash scores higher in 8 categories and Qwen3.6 Max Preview in 0 categories; 5 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in math, where DeepSeek V4.1 Flash leads 66.7 to 54.1.
- The biggest single-benchmark swing is Mystery Game Puzzles: 43% for DeepSeek V4.1 Flash and 19% for Qwen3.6 Max Preview.
- DeepSeek V4.1 Flash is cheaper at $0.15 / $0.60 per million input/output tokens, against $1.30 / $7.80 for Qwen3.6 Max Preview.
- 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 | Qwen3.6 Max Preview | |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | DeepSeek | Alibaba (Qwen) |
| Noometry Index | 52.8 | 51.5 |
| Released | 2026-09-09 | 2026-04-20 |
| Weights | Open | Proprietary |
| Context window | 1M | 262K |
| Max output | 393K | 66K |
| Input $ / M tokens | $0.15 | $1.30 |
| Output $ / M tokens | $0.60 | $7.80 |
| Results tracked | 37 | 29 |
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Category by category
Coding DeepSeek V4.1 Flash leads
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash: 52.9 (#32), Qwen3.6 Max Preview: 48.7 (#54)
| Benchmark | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash | Qwen3.6 Max Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena WebDev | 1619 | 1482 |
| LMArena Coding | 1506 | 1471 |
| SWE-bench Verified | — | 76.7% |
| SciCode | 51.9% | — |
| ALE-Bench | 1,092 | — |
Agentic & Tool Use Not comparable
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash: 31.2 (#69), Qwen3.6 Max Preview: —
| Benchmark | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash | Qwen3.6 Max Preview |
|---|---|---|
| APEX-Agents | 39.5% | — |
| GDP.pdf | 19.8% | — |
| Vending-Bench 2 | — | 4,254 |
Reasoning DeepSeek V4.1 Flash leads
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash: 50.2 (#36), Qwen3.6 Max Preview: 41.7 (#53)
| Benchmark | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash | Qwen3.6 Max Preview |
|---|---|---|
| NYT Connections (extended) | 89.6% | 74.1% |
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1483 | 1457 |
| Mystery Game Puzzles | 43% | 19% |
| DTBench | 89.9% | 87.2% |
| LMCA | 47% | 42.5% |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 154.9 | 149.24 |
| SimpleBench | — | 63% |
| CritPt | 14.3% | — |
| Chess Puzzles | — | 20% |
| Surface Evolver Bench | 46.3% | — |
Math DeepSeek V4.1 Flash leads
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash: 66.7 (#25), Qwen3.6 Max Preview: 54.1 (#46)
| Benchmark | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash | Qwen3.6 Max Preview |
|---|---|---|
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025 | 98.3% | 91.1% |
| LMArena Math | 1477 | 1465 |
| FrontierMath (Tiers 1-3) | 67.4% | — |
| FrontierMath Tier 4 | 26.8% | — |
| ProofBench | 54% | — |
| FrontierMath (Feb 2025 set) | — | 23.1% |
| FrontierMath Tier 4 (v1) | — | 4.2% |
Knowledge Too close to call
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash: 57.9 (#38), Qwen3.6 Max Preview: 57.6 (#39)
| Benchmark | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash | Qwen3.6 Max Preview |
|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond | 89.8% | 87.4% |
| LMArena Expert | 1506 | 1478 |
| SimpleQA Verified | — | 52% |
Multimodal Not comparable
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash: 39.1 (#61), Qwen3.6 Max Preview: —
| Benchmark | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash | Qwen3.6 Max Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Vision | 1277 | — |
| Furniture Assembly | 34.2% | — |
Multilingual Too close to call
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash: 55.0 (#35), Qwen3.6 Max Preview: 54.2 (#48)
| Benchmark | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash | Qwen3.6 Max Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1448 | 1437 |
| LMArena Chinese | 1497 | 1487 |
| LMArena French | 1452 | 1449 |
| LMArena Russian | 1471 | 1445 |
| LMArena Spanish | 1459 | 1454 |
| LMArena German | 1484 | — |
| LMArena Japanese | 1412 | — |
| LMArena Korean | 1452 | — |
Instruction Following DeepSeek V4.1 Flash leads
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash: 77.3 (#26), Qwen3.6 Max Preview: 75.7 (#55)
| Benchmark | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash | Qwen3.6 Max Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1474 | 1438 |
Long Context Too close to call
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash: 45.2 (#47), Qwen3.6 Max Preview: 44.6 (#61)
| Benchmark | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash | Qwen3.6 Max Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1475 | 1457 |
Writing & Preference DeepSeek V4.1 Flash leads
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash: 65.4 (#48), Qwen3.6 Max Preview: 63.8 (#60)
| Benchmark | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash | Qwen3.6 Max Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1462 | 1447 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1435 | 1435 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1457 | 1456 |
| EQ-Bench Creative Writing | 1540 | — |
Frequently asked questions
Is DeepSeek V4.1 Flash better than Qwen3.6 Max Preview?
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash is the stronger model overall, scoring 52.8 to 51.5 on the Noometry Index.
Which is cheaper, DeepSeek V4.1 Flash or Qwen3.6 Max Preview?
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash is cheaper. It lists at $0.15 per million input tokens and $0.60 per million output tokens; Qwen3.6 Max Preview lists at $1.30 and $7.80.
Is DeepSeek V4.1 Flash or Qwen3.6 Max Preview better for coding?
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash scores higher on coding benchmarks: 52.9 versus 48.7 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 Qwen3.6 Max Preview share?
22 benchmarks have published results for both models. DeepSeek V4.1 Flash has 37 scored results on Noometry and Qwen3.6 Max Preview has 29.