deepseek-v4-flash
Input price$0.14
Output price$0.28
DeepSeekText
deepseek-chat-v4
deepseek-chat-v4 is DeepSeek's model at $0.26 input and $1.03 output per million tokens, with a 131K context window. On a typical 3:1 input-to-output mix that blends to roughly $0.45 per million tokens, placing it in the budget band of the 68 models tracked here — cheaper than 72% of them.
Context window131K
Input price$0.2574 / 1M
Output price$1.0287 / 1M
Output speed140 tok/s
Quality score88
Data updatedUpdated Aug 2026
Price verified2026-07-31 · OpenRouter
Price noteOff-peak list rate; peak hours (01:00–04:00 and 06:00–10:00 UTC) bill at 2×
By price, deepseek-chat-v4 ranks 20th cheapest of 68 on input and 21st on output. Its quality score of 88 ranks 29th of 68, and on value (quality score ÷ output price) it ranks 21st of 68. Its blended rate sits 85% below the catalog average.
In real billing terms: a support chatbot handling 50,000 turns a month (2,000 input / 500 output tokens each) costs about $51 per month on deepseek-chat-v4, while a RAG workload of 20,000 queries (8,000 input / 800 output tokens each) runs about $58. Because output is priced 4.0× input here, long-generation tasks scale cost fastest — cap output length before you optimise anything else.
A 131K context window holds roughly 175 pages of A4 text (at ~750 tokens per page), ranking 47th of 68 here. That covers typical RAG and multi-turn chat, though book-length inputs still need retrieval and chunking. Output runs at about 140 tok/s (20th fastest of 68), fast enough for real-time interaction and high-throughput batches.
We track 3 DeepSeek models, and deepseek-chat-v4's blended rate sits 16% above that provider's average. If your task tolerates a little less headroom, Hunyuan HY3 (Tencent) blends about 78% cheaper at a quality score of 87, and is worth benchmarking first. Going the other way, qwen3.5 scores 91 on quality for about 75% less.
The closest model in DeepSeek's line-up is deepseek-reasoner-v4 ($0.43 input / $0.87 output, quality 92). Against it, deepseek-chat-v4 scores 4 points lower on quality, runs 110 tok/s faster (about 367%), costs 21% less blended. When two models sit this close on price, the deciding factor is usually the quality ceiling — run both against your real prompts before picking.
Estimated monthly cost
Monthly API spend across four common workloads, next to the cheapest model we track.
| Workload | Usage assumption | This model | Cheapest model |
|---|---|---|---|
| Support chatbot | 2,000 input / 500 output tokens per turn, 50,000 turns per month | $51 | $3.00 |
| RAG document Q&A | 8,000 input / 800 output tokens per query, 20,000 queries per month | $58 | $3.84 |
| Coding assistant | 12,000 input / 2,000 output tokens per request, 10,000 requests per month | $51 | $3.20 |
| Batch summarization | 4,000 input / 400 output tokens per item, 200,000 items per month | $288 | $19 |
Derived directly from the rates on this page. Excludes prompt caching, batch discounts and free tiers.
How it compares
The alternatives worth benchmarking alongside it, from the same dataset.
| Model | Provider | Blended /1M | Quality | Price delta |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| deepseek-chat-v4 | DeepSeek | $0.45 | 88 | — |
| Hunyuan HY3Cheaper option | Tencent | $0.10 | 87 | -78% |
| qwen3.5Higher quality | Alibaba | $0.11 | 91 | -75% |
| deepseek-reasoner-v4Same provider | DeepSeek | $0.54 | 92 | +21% |
| qwen3.5-flashBest value overall | Alibaba | $0.055 | 82 | -88% |
Best for
ChatbotAffordableFast
Modalities
Text
Where it fits — and where it doesn't
Good fit
- Chat and support: natural multi-turn conversation for user-facing products.
- High throughput and real-time UX: 140 tok/s keeps streamed responses feeling instant.
- High-volume, cost-sensitive batch work: low rates suit classification, tagging and summarization at scale.
Poor fit
- Image understanding: this model is text-only, so vision tasks need a multimodal alternative.
Frequently asked questions
How much does the deepseek-chat-v4 API cost?
deepseek-chat-v4 costs $0.26 per million input tokens and $1.03 per million output tokens. On a 3:1 input-to-output mix that blends to about $0.45 per million tokens.
What does deepseek-chat-v4 cost per month?
It depends on volume. Using the four worked scenarios on this page: a support chatbot runs about $51/month, RAG document Q&A about $58/month, a coding assistant about $51/month, and batch summarization about $288/month. Plug your own token counts into the cost calculator for a tailored figure.
How large is the deepseek-chat-v4 context window?
131K tokens — roughly 175 pages of A4 text at ~750 tokens per page, ranking 47th of the 68 models tracked here.
deepseek-chat-v4 or Hunyuan HY3 — which is better value?
Hunyuan HY3 blends to about $0.10 per million tokens versus $0.45 for deepseek-chat-v4 — roughly 78% cheaper — at a quality score of 87 against 88. If that quality gap does not show up on your task, take the cheaper one; if it does, stay with deepseek-chat-v4. Benchmark both on your own data before deciding.
What is deepseek-chat-v4 best suited for?
Tagged use cases: chatbot, cheap, fast. Chat and support: natural multi-turn conversation for user-facing products. Less suitable: Image understanding: this model is text-only, so vision tasks need a multimodal alternative.
How current is this deepseek-chat-v4 pricing?
Pricing here was last verified on 2026-07-31 against OpenRouter. llmprice.app runs a daily collection job, but providers can change rates between runs — confirm against DeepSeek's official pricing page before you commit.
Estimate the real cost of this model
Bring tokens per request and monthly volume into the calculator to compare total model costs.
Related models
Continue by provider and use case.
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deepseek-reasoner-v4
Input price$0.435
Output price$0.87
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Input price$0.2
Output price$1.2
Pricing, speed and quality scores change over time. Confirm official documentation before production use.