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AI model comparison

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash vs Kimi K2 0905

Side by side comparison of DeepSeek V4.1 Flash and Kimi K2 0905 on pricing, benchmark scores, context window, and more.

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash is a sparse mixture-of-experts model from DeepSeek, and the first built on the company's Causal Encoder-Decoder (CED) architecture.

Input / 1M
$0.30
Output / 1M
$1.20
Context
1.05M

Kimi K2 0905 is the September update of [Kimi K2 0711](moonshotai/kimi-k2).

Input / 1M
$0.60
Output / 1M
$2.50
Context
262K

Comparing image generators? Compare image models

At a glance

Quick verdict

How the two models stack up on the things people ask about most.

Lower price

deepseek logo

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash

2.0x cheaper for a typical chat

Higher intelligence score

deepseek logo

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash

24.7 vs 15.3 on Artificial Analysis

Larger context window

deepseek logo

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash

1.05M vs 262K tokens

Newer release

deepseek logo

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash

Released September 10, 2026

Benchmarks

Benchmark scores

Independent scores from Artificial Analysis. Higher is better.

Intelligence index

deepseek logoDeepSeek V4.1 Flash24.7
moonshotai logoKimi K2 090515.3

Coding index

deepseek logoDeepSeek V4.1 FlashNot available
moonshotai logoKimi K2 0905Not available

Agentic index

deepseek logoDeepSeek V4.1 FlashNot available
moonshotai logoKimi K2 0905Not available

Pricing

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash vs Kimi K2 0905 API pricing

Per-token API rates. Cheaper option highlighted.

Metricdeepseek logoDeepSeek V4.1 Flashmoonshotai logoKimi K2 0905
Input tokensPer 1M tokens$0.30$0.60
Output tokensPer 1M tokens$1.20$2.50
Cached input (read)Per 1M tokens$0.01Not available
Cache writePer 1M tokensNot availableNot available

What it costs in practice

Estimated cost per 1,000 requests at standard rates. Coding and long-document figures also show the cost when the input is already cached.

Chat message

2K in, 500 out

deepseek logoDeepSeek V4.1 Flash$1.20
moonshotai logoKimi K2 0905$2.45

Coding task

30K in, 4K out

deepseek logoDeepSeek V4.1 Flash$13.80$4.98 cached
moonshotai logoKimi K2 0905$28

Long document summary

150K in, 2K out

deepseek logoDeepSeek V4.1 Flash$47.40$3.30 cached
moonshotai logoKimi K2 0905$95

Specs

Context window and capabilities

How much each model can read, how much it can write, and what it accepts as input.

Metricdeepseek logoDeepSeek V4.1 Flashmoonshotai logoKimi K2 0905
Context window1.05M tokens262K tokens
Max output944K tokens98K tokens
Input typesImage, TextText
Output typesTextText
Reasoning effort levelsMax, High, Low, NoneNot available
Default reasoning effortHighNot available
Release dateSeptember 10, 2026September 4, 2025

Features

Supported features

API features available for each model.

Metricdeepseek logoDeepSeek V4.1 Flashmoonshotai logoKimi K2 0905
Tool callingSupportedSupported
Structured outputsSupportedSupported
JSON modeSupportedSupported
ReasoningSupportedNot supported
TemperatureSupportedSupported
Stop sequencesSupportedSupported
Deterministic seedSupportedSupported
Verbosity controlNot supportedNot supported

Our take

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash is 2.0x cheaper for a typical chat. DeepSeek V4.1 Flash scores higher on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index (24.7 vs 15.3). DeepSeek V4.1 Flash has the larger context window (1.05M vs 262K tokens). The right pick depends on your workload, so the quickest way to settle it is to send the same prompt to both and compare.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Is DeepSeek V4.1 Flash or Kimi K2 0905 cheaper?

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash is cheaper for a typical chat (2K input tokens and 500 output tokens). DeepSeek V4.1 Flash costs $0.30 per 1M input tokens and $1.20 per 1M output tokens, while Kimi K2 0905 costs $0.60 per 1M input tokens and $2.50 per 1M output tokens.

Which has a bigger context window, DeepSeek V4.1 Flash or Kimi K2 0905?

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash supports up to 1.05M tokens of context, compared with 262K for Kimi K2 0905.

Is DeepSeek V4.1 Flash smarter than Kimi K2 0905?

On the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, DeepSeek V4.1 Flash scores 24.7 and Kimi K2 0905 scores 15.3, putting DeepSeek V4.1 Flash ahead. Benchmarks don't capture everything, so the best test is running your own prompts through both.

Can I use DeepSeek V4.1 Flash and Kimi K2 0905 at the same time?

Yes. Shortcut Chat sends one prompt to multiple models at once, so you can see DeepSeek V4.1 Flash and Kimi K2 0905 answer side by side and keep the better response.

deepseek logomoonshotai logo

Why choose? Ask both.

Send one prompt to DeepSeek V4.1 Flash and Kimi K2 0905 at the same time. Compare the answers side by side and keep the best one.

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