How much does the DeepSeek-V4-Flash API cost?

DeepSeek-V4-Flash lists at $0.44 per million input tokens and $1.32 per million output tokens as of August 2026. On a realistic task of 1,500 input and 500 output tokens across 3 calls, that is $0.00396 per task, or $3,960 per million tasks.

Is DeepSeek-V4-Flash expensive compared to other models?

DeepSeek-V4-Flash ranks #2 of 10 tracked models on cost per task. It costs 2.51x more than the cheapest tracked model (Mistral Small), while the most expensive (GPT-5.5) costs 17.0x more than it.

When does self-hosting beat the DeepSeek-V4-Flash API?

Against a $2/hour dedicated GPU ($1,460/month), self-hosting becomes cheaper than DeepSeek-V4-Flash above 368,687 tasks per month, within that box's physical capacity of 788,400 tasks.

Model pricing · DeepSeek · value tier · August 2026

DeepSeek-V4-Flash API pricing, in numbers that matter

List price, real cost per task, rank against the field, and the self-hosting break-even, all computed from our open dataset.

Input, $/1M tokens

$0.44

Output, $/1M tokens

$1.32

Cost per task

$0.00396

Cost rank

#2 of 10

The task profile behind every figure: 1,500 input and 500 output tokens per call, 3 calls per task. On that profile DeepSeek-V4-Flash costs $0.00396 per task and $3,960 per million tasks. Output is billed at 3x the input rate, so despite the profile sending three times more input than output, output makes up 50% of the bill. Input and output carry comparable weight here, so prompt caching and context trimming return nearly as much as output caps.

DeepSeek-V4-Flash against the field

#	Model	$/task	vs DeepSeek-V4-Flash	Head-to-head
1	Mistral Small	$0.00158	0.40x	compare
2	DeepSeek-V4-Flash	$0.00396	-	-
3	Gemini 2.5 Flash	$0.00510	1.29x	compare
4	Grok 4.3	$0.00938	2.37x	compare
5	GPT-5.4 mini	$0.01013	2.56x	compare
6	Claude Haiku 4.5	$0.01200	3.03x	compare
7	Claude Sonnet 5	$0.02400	6.06x	compare
8	Gemini 3.1 Pro	$0.02700	6.82x	compare
9	Claude Opus 4.8	$0.06000	15.2x	compare
10	GPT-5.5	$0.06750	17.0x	compare

Self-hosting break-even

Against a reference $2/hour dedicated instance ($1,460/month fixed, 788,400 tasks/month capacity at full utilisation), the break-even against DeepSeek-V4-Flash is 368,687 tasks per month. That sits inside the box's capacity, so past that volume self-hosting genuinely wins on cost. Work through your own numbers in the $/task calculator or the break-even guide.

Frequently asked

How much does the DeepSeek-V4-Flash API cost?: DeepSeek-V4-Flash lists at $0.44 per million input tokens and $1.32 per million output tokens as of August 2026. On a realistic task of 1,500 input and 500 output tokens across 3 calls, that is $0.00396 per task, or $3,960 per million tasks.
Is DeepSeek-V4-Flash expensive compared to other models?: DeepSeek-V4-Flash ranks #2 of 10 tracked models on cost per task. It costs 2.51x more than the cheapest tracked model (Mistral Small), while the most expensive (GPT-5.5) costs 17.0x more than it.
When does self-hosting beat the DeepSeek-V4-Flash API?: Against a $2/hour dedicated GPU ($1,460/month), self-hosting becomes cheaper than DeepSeek-V4-Flash above 368,687 tasks per month, within that box's physical capacity of 788,400 tasks.