Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite vs DeepSeek V4 Flash
DeepSeek V4 Flash is the cheaper of the two across every workload shape tested below. Headline rates are $0.3 in / $2.5 out for Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite versus $0.44 in / $1.32 out for DeepSeek V4 Flash, per million tokens.
Real monthly cost, three workloads
| Workload | Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite | DeepSeek V4 Flash | Cheaper |
|---|---|---|---|
| Support chatbot 1.5k in / 400 out · 100k req/mo · 30% cached | $132.85 | $99.63 | DeepSeek V4 Flash (1.3× cheaper) |
| RAG / doc Q&A 12k in / 700 out · 50k req/mo · 60% cached | $170.30 | $156.84 | DeepSeek V4 Flash (1.1× cheaper) |
| Coding agent 25k in / 2.5k out · 20k req/mo · 80% cached | $167.00 | $115.60 | DeepSeek V4 Flash (1.4× cheaper) |
Costs include prompt caching at the stated hit rate and per-model tokenizer correction. Adjust for your own traffic →
Specifications side by side
| Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite | DeepSeek V4 Flash | |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | DeepSeek | |
| Input / M tokens | $0.3 | $0.44 |
| Output / M tokens | $2.5 | $1.32 |
| Cached input | $0.03 | $0.014 |
| Context window | — | 1000K |
| Batch discount | −50% | — |
| Tokenizer factor | ×1 | ×1 |
| Min prefix to cache | — | — |
| Announced retirement | — | — |
Which should you pick?
On cost alone, DeepSeek V4 Flash wins every workload shape above.
Full detail: Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite · DeepSeek V4 Flash
All figures verified 2026-08-18 against official provider documentation. Fields a provider does not publish are shown as “—” rather than estimated.