DeepSeek V4.1 Flash vs Claude Haiku 5.5
Official DeepSeek and Anthropic API prices and LMArena scores, checked 2026-10-29. Add up to 2 more models to compare 4.
Claude Haiku 5.5 costs less; DeepSeek V4.1 Flash wins more LMArena tasks.
Claude Haiku 5.5 is 3x cheaper on input and 2.4x cheaper on output. DeepSeek V4.1 Flash scores 40 points higher for reasoning and math. Across 6 shared LMArena tasks, DeepSeek V4.1 Flash leads 4 to 0 (2 tied). A medium month (20M input + 5M output tokens) costs $12 on DeepSeek V4.1 Flash and $4.50 on Claude Haiku 5.5.
- Pick DeepSeek V4.1 Flash if you care most about reasoning and math (+40), coding (+28) and chat (+17) or you reuse long prompts (cached input $0.006 vs $0.01).
- Pick Claude Haiku 5.5 if you want the lower bill ($4.50 vs $12 for a medium month).
Medium: 20M input + 5M output tokens a month at list price (short-context rate, no caching or batch discounts).
Marked side is better: lower for prices, higher for context and scores. Bars are scaled to the larger of the two.
| Spec | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash | Claude Haiku 5.5 |
|---|---|---|
| Price per 1M tokens | ||
| Input | $0.30 | $0.10 |
| Cached input | $0.006 | $0.01 |
| Output | $1.20 | $0.50 |
| Blend 3:1 | $0.525 | $0.20 |
| Sample month, medium | $12 | $4.50 |
| Context | ||
| Context window | 1M tokens | 1M tokens |
| Quality (LMArena, out of 100) | ||
| Coding | 46/100 #12 of 50 | 18/100 #24 of 50 |
| Chat | 17/100 #18 of 51 | 0/100 #45 of 51 |
| Creative writing | 0/100 #22 of 51 | 0/100 #47 of 51 |
| Roleplay and characters | 0/100 #24 of 51 | 0/100 #45 of 51 |
| Reasoning and math | 40/100 #14 of 51 | 0/100 #34 of 51 |
| Vision | 14/100 #19 of 33 | Not ranked |
| Long documents | Not ranked | Not ranked |
| Cheap bulk and agents | 50/100 #16 of 34 | 49/100 #17 of 34 |
| Details | ||
| Provider | DeepSeek | Anthropic |
| API model id | deepseek-flash | claude-haiku-5.5 |
| Notes | Peak rate. Off-peak is half price. | Prompts up to 100K tokens. Longer prompts cost $0.50 in, $2.50 out. 5-minute cache writes $0.125. |
| Sources | ||
| Last checked | 2026-10-29 | 2026-10-29 |
| Official pricing | DeepSeek pricing | Anthropic pricing |
Plans from data checked hourly against each vendor's official pricing page. Vendors state limits in different units, so we quote them as published. Team and enterprise plans are per seat.
API prices in USD per 1M tokens from each provider's official pricing page. Blend 3:1 = (3 x input + output) / 4. Sample month = stated input and output tokens at the list price, no caching. Quality: relative score out of 100 on each LMArena leaderboard (100 = top model we price on that board, n/a = not ranked there), data licensed CC BY 4.0. See how we pick.
Where each one ranks on LMArena
Relative score out of 100 on each leaderboard (100 = the top model we price there), with the rank among the models from our API price table that appear on that board.
- Coding (Code Arena): DeepSeek V4.1 Flash #12 of 50 (46/100), Claude Haiku 5.5 #24 of 50 (18/100)
- Chat (Text Arena): DeepSeek V4.1 Flash #18 of 51 (17/100), Claude Haiku 5.5 #45 of 51 (0/100)
- Creative writing (Text Arena creative writing): DeepSeek V4.1 Flash #22 of 51 (0/100), Claude Haiku 5.5 #47 of 51 (0/100)
- Roleplay and characters (Text Arena multi-turn): DeepSeek V4.1 Flash #24 of 51 (0/100), Claude Haiku 5.5 #45 of 51 (0/100)
- Reasoning and math (Text Arena math): DeepSeek V4.1 Flash #14 of 51 (40/100), Claude Haiku 5.5 #34 of 51 (0/100)
- Vision (Vision Arena): DeepSeek V4.1 Flash #19 of 33 (14/100), Claude Haiku 5.5 not ranked
- Long documents (Document Arena): DeepSeek V4.1 Flash not ranked, Claude Haiku 5.5 not ranked
- Cheap bulk and agents (Agent Arena): DeepSeek V4.1 Flash #16 of 34 (50/100), Claude Haiku 5.5 #17 of 34 (49/100)
Pricing details from the official pages
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash lists $0.30 input, $1.20 output, $0.006 cached input per 1M tokens on DeepSeek pricing. Claude Haiku 5.5 lists $0.10 input, $0.50 output, $0.01 cached input per 1M tokens on Anthropic pricing. Prices checked 2026-10-29.
- DeepSeek V4.1 Flash: Peak rate. Off-peak is half price.
- Claude Haiku 5.5: Prompts up to 100K tokens. Longer prompts cost $0.50 in, $2.50 out. 5-minute cache writes $0.125.
Sample monthly bill at list price, no caching: Light (2M input + 0.5M output tokens): $1.20 vs $0.45. Medium (20M input + 5M output tokens): $12 vs $4.50. Heavy (200M input + 50M output tokens): $120 vs $45.
FAQ
Is DeepSeek V4.1 Flash cheaper than Claude Haiku 5.5?
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash costs $0.30 input and $1.20 output per 1M tokens; Claude Haiku 5.5 costs $0.10 and $0.50. For a medium month (20M input + 5M output tokens) Claude Haiku 5.5 is cheaper: $4.50 vs $12.
Which is better for coding, DeepSeek V4.1 Flash or Claude Haiku 5.5?
On LMArena's Code Arena DeepSeek V4.1 Flash scores 46/100 (#12 of 50) and Claude Haiku 5.5 18/100 (#24 of 50), so DeepSeek V4.1 Flash is ahead by 28 points.
Which has the bigger context window?
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash: 1M tokens. Claude Haiku 5.5: 1M tokens. Both list the same window. Long prompts can cost more; see the pricing notes above.
How much do DeepSeek V4.1 Flash and Claude Haiku 5.5 cost per month?
Light (2M input + 0.5M output tokens): $1.20 vs $0.45. Medium (20M input + 5M output tokens): $12 vs $4.50. Heavy (200M input + 50M output tokens): $120 vs $45. Pick your own token counts in the plan vs API calculator.
Where do these numbers come from?
Prices come from each provider's official pricing page, checked daily. Quality is the relative score on the LMArena leaderboard dataset, licensed CC BY 4.0. Where a model is not ranked we show n/a.
Sources
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