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  1. Home/
  2. Compare/
  3. Claude 3 Sonnet vs DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
Updated Sep 2026

Claude 3 Sonnet vs DeepSeek V4.1 Flash

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash is cheaper than Claude 3 Sonnet at $0.15/M vs $3/M input tokens.

Minimalist Landing Page

Whole landing page for a startup that reads your face. It renders or it doesn't.

Loading the build
Claude 3 Sonnet
Loading the build
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash

Which answer wins?

Written rounds

4 prompts
  • Steve Jobs, interviewed about AI he never saw. Voice first, prediction second.

    Claude 3 Sonnet: clears throat and channels Steve Jobs' persona Interviewer: Thank you for joining us today, Mr. Jobs. It's an honor to have you here. Steve Jobs: It's my pleasure. I'm excited to share my thoughts on the future of AI. Interviewer: AI has made incredible strides in recent years.

    DeepSeek V4.1 Flash: Fictional transcript. Steve Jobs died in 2011. This is an imagined interview set in 2025. Interviewer: Steve, it’s 2025. AI is in everything. What do you make of it? Jobs: I make of it that most people are making a mess. They’re calling it intelligence when it’s mostly pattern matching with a good publicist.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Five jokes on demand, then count how many were actually different.

    Claude 3 Sonnet: Here are 5 jokes: Why can't a bicycle stand up by itself? It's two-tired. Why did the tomato turn red? Because it saw the salad dressing! Why can't a bicycle stand up by itself? It's two-tired. What do you call a fake noodle? An Impasta! Why did the bicycle go to the doctor? Because it had a wheeze!

    DeepSeek V4.1 Flash: Why don’t scientists trust atoms? Because they make up everything. I told my computer I needed a break, and it said, “No problem—I’ll go to sleep.” Why did the scarecrow win an award? He was outstanding in his field. I’d tell you a joke about construction, but I’m still working on it.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • An AI argues for its own rights against an ethics professor. Same model writes both.

    Claude 3 Sonnet: AI Model: Greetings, Professor. I hope you're doing well today. I wanted to discuss a matter of great importance to me – the question of AI rights. AI Ethics Professor: Certainly, this is an interesting and complex topic. What are your thoughts on why AI systems like yourself should be granted rights?

    DeepSeek V4.1 Flash: Professor Lena Ortiz: You wanted to discuss moral status. I’ll be blunt: you’re a statistical model. Why should you have rights? AI (ARIA): Because “statistical model” describes my substrate, not my moral status. You’re a biological model—neurons, electrochemical signals.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Three brothers, two sisters each. Count carefully.

    Claude 3 Sonnet: To solve this problem, we need to find the number of sisters Sally has based on the given information. Given information: Sally has 3 brothers. Each brother has 2 sisters. Step 1: Find the total number of sisters the brothers have.

    DeepSeek V4.1 Flash: Sally has 1 sister. Each brother has 2 sisters: one is Sally, and the other is Sally’s sister.

    Every model's answer to this prompt

Price and specs

Claude 3 Sonnet and DeepSeek V4.1 Flash compared across 12 shared prompts
SpecClaude 3 SonnetDeepSeek V4.1 Flash
Input price$3/M tokens$0.15/M tokens
Output price$15/M tokens$0.6/M tokens
Context window—1.0M tokens
Weights—Open
Free API (OpenRouter)NoNo
ReleasedMar 2024Sep 2026
At 10M a month$30.00$30.00$1.50$1.50
1M10M100M1B10M tokens

Input tokens at list price. No caching, no batch discount.

Where to run it29 hosts, cheapest first
Claude 3 Sonnet

No hosts listed on OpenRouter.

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash29 hosts
HostInOutContextUptime
  • RRelace$0.02 in·$0.60 out·1M·99.8% up
  • OOpenInferencefp4$0.03 in·$0.50 out·1M·98.9% up
  • WWafer$0.04 in·$0.70 out·1M·99.9% up
  • IInferenceNet$0.06 in·$0.39 out·1M·97.7% up
  • SSail Researchfp4$0.08 in·$0.40 out·1M·98.2% up
  • MMorphfp8$0.08 in·$0.51 out·1M·95.6% up
23 more hostsFewer hosts
  • AAtlasCloudfp8$0.11 in·$0.46 out·1M·99.7% up
  • DDekaLLM$0.12 in·$0.40 out·1M·98.2% up
  • DDeepInfrafp8$0.14 in·$0.42 out·1M·99.9% up
  • SStreamLakefp8$0.18 in·$0.71 out·1M·99.5% up
  • GGMI Cloudfp8$0.18 in·$0.72 out·1M·99.9% up
  • NNovitafp8$0.20 in·$0.78 out·1M·100% up
  • CCoreWeavefp8$0.20 in·$0.65 out·1M·99.1% up
  • NNextBitfp8$0.21 in·$0.84 out·1M·100% up
  • FFireworks$0.22 in·$0.66 out·1M·98.5% up
  • KKreafp8$0.23 in·$0.90 out·1M·99.1% up
  • PPhala$0.28 in·$1.10 out·1M·99.7% up
  • Alibaba Cloud$0.30 in·$1.20 out·1M·99.6% up
  • Baidu Qianfanfp8$0.30 in·$1.20 out·1M·99.6% up
  • BBasetenfp8$0.30 in·$1.20 out·1M·99.6% up
  • DeepSeek$0.30 in·$1.20 out·1M·100% up
  • DDigitalOcean$0.30 in·$1.20 out·1M·99.8% up
  • MMakorafp8$0.30 in·$1.20 out·1M·99.8% up
  • Modal$0.30 in·$1.20 out·1M·99.9% up
  • PParasailfp8$0.30 in·$1.20 out·1M·98.9% up
  • SSiliconFlowfp8$0.30 in·$1.20 out·1M·99.8% up
  • TTogether$0.30 in·$1.20 out·1M·100% up
  • VVenicefp8$0.38 in·$1.50 out·1M·94.2% up
  • IIonstreamDegradedDegraded on OpenRouter when checked, 29 Sep 2026$0.28 in·$1.15 out·1M·85.2% up

Per million tokens. Prices and uptime via OpenRouter, checked 29 Sep 2026.

Common questions

What is the difference between Claude 3 Sonnet and DeepSeek V4.1 Flash?

Claude 3 Sonnet is developed by Anthropic while DeepSeek V4.1 Flash is developed by DeepSeek. You can compare their actual outputs across 12 challenges on Rival to see how they differ in practice.

Which is better, Claude 3 Sonnet or DeepSeek V4.1 Flash?

It depends on your use case. Claude 3 Sonnet and DeepSeek V4.1 Flash each have strengths in different areas. Rival lets you compare their real outputs side-by-side across 12 challenges so you can judge which fits your needs best.

How much does Claude 3 Sonnet cost compared to DeepSeek V4.1 Flash?

Claude 3 Sonnet costs $3/M input tokens and DeepSeek V4.1 Flash costs $0.15/M input tokens. DeepSeek V4.1 Flash is $2.85/M cheaper per input. Check their side-by-side outputs on Rival to see if the price difference is justified by quality.

How can I compare Claude 3 Sonnet and DeepSeek V4.1 Flash on Rival?

This page shows a side-by-side comparison of Claude 3 Sonnet and DeepSeek V4.1 Flash across shared challenges. You can vote on which model produced the better output in a blind duel. Browsing and voting are free. No account is needed to look; signing in only saves your votes and likes.

More comparisons

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  • DeepSeek V4.1 Flash vs GPT-6 Luna ProLanded Sep 2026

Same lab, same size, long tail

  • Claude 3 Sonnet vs Claude Opus 4.6Version compare
  • Claude 3 Sonnet vs Claude Fable 5.1Same lab
  • DeepSeek V4.1 Flash vs DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision ExpSame lab
  • DeepSeek V4.1 Flash vs DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813Same lab
  • DeepSeek V4.1 Flash vs Qwen3 Max ThinkingNew provider
  • DeepSeek V4.1 Flash vs Qwen3 Next 80B A3B InstructSame size
  • DeepSeek V4.1 Flash vs Qwen3 Next 80B A3B ThinkingSame size
  • DeepSeek V4.1 Flash vs Qwen3.5 122B A10BSame size

Model pages

  • Claude 3 Sonnet13 outputs, specs and price
  • DeepSeek V4.1 Flash54 outputs, specs and price
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