# DeepSeek V4.1 Flash vs Granite 4.2 8B

> DeepSeek V4.1 Flash is the stronger model overall, scoring 50.3 to 40.0 on the Noometry Index. Granite 4.2 8B costs 2.4× less per token, which makes it the better buy when DeepSeek V4.1 Flash's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

- Canonical page: https://noometry.com/compare/deepseek-v4-1-flash-vs-granite-4-2-8b
- Last updated: 2026-10-10
- Shared benchmarks: 11

## Summary

- They share 11 benchmarks with published results for both. DeepSeek V4.1 Flash scores higher in 7 categories and Granite 4.2 8B in 0 categories; 7 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in reasoning, where DeepSeek V4.1 Flash leads 46.2 to 25.5.
- Granite 4.2 8B is cheaper at $0.06 / $0.25 per million input/output tokens, against $0.15 / $0.60 for DeepSeek V4.1 Flash.
- DeepSeek V4.1 Flash accepts more context: 1M tokens versus 131K.

## Snapshot

| | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash | Granite 4.2 8B |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | DeepSeek | IBM |
| Noometry Index | 50.3 | 40.0 |
| Rank | 40 | 143 |
| Context | 1M | 131K |
| Input $/M | $0.15 | $0.06 |
| Output $/M | $0.60 | $0.25 |
| Weights | Open | Open |

## Coding

- DeepSeek V4.1 Flash: 52.8 (#29)
- Granite 4.2 8B: 39.9 (#138)

| Benchmark | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash | Granite 4.2 8B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Coding | 1511 | 1379 |
| LMArena WebDev | 1620 | — |
| SciCode | 51.9% | — |
| ALE-Bench | 1,092 | — |

## Reasoning

- DeepSeek V4.1 Flash: 46.2 (#39)
- Granite 4.2 8B: 25.5 (#130)

| Benchmark | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash | Granite 4.2 8B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1485 | 1327 |
| NYT Connections (extended) | 89.6% | — |
| CritPt | 14.3% | — |
| DTBench | 89.9% | — |
| LMCA | 47% | — |
| Surface Evolver Bench | 46.3% | — |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 155.01 | — |

## Math

- DeepSeek V4.1 Flash: 48.4 (#52)
- Granite 4.2 8B: —

| Benchmark | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash | Granite 4.2 8B |
|---|---|---|
| ProofBench | 54% | — |
| LMArena Math | 1493 | — |

## Knowledge

- DeepSeek V4.1 Flash: 41.6 (#97)
- Granite 4.2 8B: 37.7 (#144)

| Benchmark | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash | Granite 4.2 8B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Expert | 1505 | 1380 |

## Multilingual

- DeepSeek V4.1 Flash: 55.5 (#29)
- Granite 4.2 8B: 44.5 (#173)

| Benchmark | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash | Granite 4.2 8B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1452 | 1299 |
| LMArena Chinese | 1506 | 1361 |
| LMArena Russian | 1473 | 1283 |
| LMArena French | 1448 | — |
| LMArena Spanish | 1499 | — |

## Instruction Following

- DeepSeek V4.1 Flash: 77.6 (#24)
- Granite 4.2 8B: 68.7 (#183)

| Benchmark | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash | Granite 4.2 8B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1475 | 1298 |

## Long Context

- DeepSeek V4.1 Flash: 45.2 (#46)
- Granite 4.2 8B: 40.2 (#154)

| Benchmark | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash | Granite 4.2 8B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1476 | 1323 |

## Writing & Preference

- DeepSeek V4.1 Flash: 65.8 (#43)
- Granite 4.2 8B: 49.8 (#183)

| Benchmark | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash | Granite 4.2 8B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1465 | 1319 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1436 | 1238 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1460 | 1299 |
| EQ-Bench Creative Writing | 1540 | — |

## FAQ

### Is DeepSeek V4.1 Flash better than Granite 4.2 8B?

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash is the stronger model overall, scoring 50.3 to 40.0 on the Noometry Index. Granite 4.2 8B costs 2.4× less per token, which makes it the better buy when DeepSeek V4.1 Flash's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

### Which is cheaper, DeepSeek V4.1 Flash or Granite 4.2 8B?

Granite 4.2 8B is cheaper. It lists at $0.06 per million input tokens and $0.25 per million output tokens; DeepSeek V4.1 Flash lists at $0.15 and $0.60.

### Is DeepSeek V4.1 Flash or Granite 4.2 8B better for coding?

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash scores higher on coding benchmarks: 52.8 versus 39.9 in the Noometry coding category.

### Which has the bigger context window?

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash does, with 1M tokens against 131K.

### How many benchmarks do DeepSeek V4.1 Flash and Granite 4.2 8B share?

11 benchmarks have published results for both models. DeepSeek V4.1 Flash has 25 scored results on Noometry and Granite 4.2 8B has 11.