# DeepSeek V4.1 Flash vs Step 3

> DeepSeek V4.1 Flash is the stronger model overall, scoring 52.8 to 40.5 on the Noometry Index.

- Canonical page: https://noometry.com/compare/deepseek-v4-1-flash-vs-step-3
- Last updated: 2026-10-11
- Shared benchmarks: 16

## Summary

- They share 16 benchmarks with published results for both. DeepSeek V4.1 Flash scores higher in 9 categories and Step 3 in 0 categories; 9 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in math, where DeepSeek V4.1 Flash leads 66.7 to 37.6.

## Snapshot

| | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash | Step 3 |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | DeepSeek | StepFun |
| Noometry Index | 52.8 | 40.5 |
| Rank | 38 | 149 |
| Context | 1M | — |
| Input $/M | $0.15 | — |
| Output $/M | $0.60 | — |
| Weights | Open | Open |

## Coding

- DeepSeek V4.1 Flash: 52.9 (#32)
- Step 3: 40.1 (#147)

| Benchmark | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash | Step 3 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Coding | 1506 | 1367 |
| LMArena WebDev | 1619 | — |
| SciCode | 51.9% | — |
| ALE-Bench | 1,092 | — |

## Agentic & Tool Use

- DeepSeek V4.1 Flash: 31.2 (#69)
- Step 3: —

| Benchmark | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash | Step 3 |
|---|---|---|
| APEX-Agents | 39.5% | — |
| GDP.pdf | 19.8% | — |

## Reasoning

- DeepSeek V4.1 Flash: 50.2 (#36)
- Step 3: 28.4 (#105)

| Benchmark | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash | Step 3 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1483 | 1355 |
| Kagi LLM Benchmark | — | 62.3% |
| NYT Connections (extended) | 89.6% | — |
| CritPt | 14.3% | — |
| Mystery Game Puzzles | 43% | — |
| DTBench | 89.9% | — |
| LMCA | 47% | — |
| Surface Evolver Bench | 46.3% | — |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 154.9 | — |

## Math

- DeepSeek V4.1 Flash: 66.7 (#25)
- Step 3: 37.6 (#148)

| Benchmark | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash | Step 3 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Math | 1477 | 1366 |
| FrontierMath (Tiers 1-3) | 67.4% | — |
| FrontierMath Tier 4 | 26.8% | — |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025 | 98.3% | — |
| ProofBench | 54% | — |

## Knowledge

- DeepSeek V4.1 Flash: 57.9 (#38)
- Step 3: 36.8 (#164)

| Benchmark | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash | Step 3 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Expert | 1506 | 1333 |
| GPQA Diamond | 89.8% | — |

## Multimodal

- DeepSeek V4.1 Flash: 39.1 (#61)
- Step 3: 35.5 (#86)

| Benchmark | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash | Step 3 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Vision | 1277 | 1177 |
| Furniture Assembly | 34.2% | — |

## Multilingual

- DeepSeek V4.1 Flash: 55.0 (#35)
- Step 3: 46.3 (#159)

| Benchmark | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash | Step 3 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1448 | 1327 |
| LMArena Chinese | 1497 | 1397 |
| LMArena German | 1484 | 1371 |
| LMArena Korean | 1452 | 1269 |
| LMArena Russian | 1471 | 1331 |
| LMArena Spanish | 1459 | 1371 |
| LMArena French | 1452 | — |
| LMArena Japanese | 1412 | — |

## Instruction Following

- DeepSeek V4.1 Flash: 77.3 (#26)
- Step 3: 70.4 (#164)

| Benchmark | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash | Step 3 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1474 | 1332 |

## Long Context

- DeepSeek V4.1 Flash: 45.2 (#47)
- Step 3: 40.3 (#157)

| Benchmark | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash | Step 3 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1475 | 1326 |

## Writing & Preference

- DeepSeek V4.1 Flash: 65.4 (#48)
- Step 3: 54.3 (#151)

| Benchmark | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash | Step 3 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1462 | 1350 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1435 | 1321 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1457 | 1341 |
| EQ-Bench Creative Writing | 1540 | — |

## FAQ

### Is DeepSeek V4.1 Flash better than Step 3?

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash is the stronger model overall, scoring 52.8 to 40.5 on the Noometry Index.

### Is DeepSeek V4.1 Flash or Step 3 better for coding?

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash scores higher on coding benchmarks: 52.9 versus 40.1 in the Noometry coding category.

### How many benchmarks do DeepSeek V4.1 Flash and Step 3 share?

16 benchmarks have published results for both models. DeepSeek V4.1 Flash has 37 scored results on Noometry and Step 3 has 17.