DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017: Benchmarks, Pricing and Access
Compare DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 with the September model, GPT-5.6 Sol and Opus 5. Check API pricing, billing changes, official access links and our take.
The useful distinction: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 updates capability and efficiency, while keeping the model API rate card unchanged. The official release name is DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash-1017; the API alias remains deepseek-flash. Official change log.
This model overview and comparison was checked on October 19, 2026. Benchmark scores below are vendor-reported, not independently reproduced here. Differences are score points, not relative percentage gains.
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 at a glance
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Release | DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash-1017; October 17, 2026 |
| Previous version | September 10, 2026 V4.1 Flash |
| API alias | deepseek-flash |
| Inputs and context | Image/text understanding, text output and tool calls; 1M-token API context |
| Weights | MIT license; self-hosting still requires inference infrastructure |
Sources: release history, API model details and the official model card. API service limits and suggested settings for running open weights are not interchangeable.
Benchmark comparison: 1017 versus the September release
| Benchmark | September Flash | 1017 | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| HLE, no tools | 36.8 | 42.6 | +5.8 |
| Terminal-Bench 4.0 | 31.2 | 42.3 | +11.1 |
| DeepSWE v1.1 | 74.2 | 77.0 | +2.8 |
| ProgramBench | 20.3 | 29.1 | +8.8 |
| Automation-Bench v1.0.6 | 54.8 | 60.5 | +5.7 |
| BabyVision, with tools | 89.6 | 92.5 | +2.9 |
Source: official comparison table, cross-checked against the September and October release notes. HLE's headline no-tools result is 42.6; 44.0 is a separate text-only subset. Terminal-Bench uses the Claude Code harness; DeepSWE uses Mini-SWE-V2. Do not compare these Terminal-Bench 4.0 values with scores from versions 2.1 or 3.0.
How does it compare with GPT-5.6 Sol and Opus 5?
| Benchmark | 1017 | GPT-5.6 Sol | Opus 5 |
|---|---|---|---|
| HLE, no tools | 42.6 | 44.5 | 56.3 |
| Terminal-Bench 4.0 | 42.3 | 39.9 | 51.8 |
| DeepSWE v1.1 | 77.0 | 73.0 | 74.0 |
Source: DeepSeek model card. Our interpretation: the table makes 1017 worth evaluating for coding, but does not establish an overall lead. A benchmark result also cannot tell you your application's latency, retries or cost per completed task.
Pricing: unchanged token rates, potentially different task costs
DeepSeek recorded a price adjustment when V4.1 Flash launched in September. Its October 17 update explicitly kept pricing unchanged, while reporting shorter outputs and task runtimes. Those efficiency claims are not a guaranteed saving for every workflow. Official change log.
| Billing category | Off-peak | Peak |
|---|---|---|
| Cached input | $0.003 | $0.006 |
| Uncached input | $0.15 | $0.30 |
| Output | $0.60 | $1.20 |
Source: official pricing. Peak windows are 01:00–04:00 and 06:00–10:00 UTC on weekdays, excluding Chinese public holidays. Other times are off-peak. Third-party providers can charge differently.
Our arithmetic example: 1 million uncached input tokens plus 100,000 billed output tokens costs $0.21 off-peak or $0.42 peak, before search, fetch and other tool charges. Count the whole workflow's billed output and repeated calls, rather than just the final visible answer.
Search and Fetch are billed separately
The Search & Fetch guide lists $0.75 per 1,000 successful requests for each endpoint. Server-side tool calls through DeepSeek Harness, Claude Code or Codex currently have a free period, with per-request billing scheduled for November 1, 2026 at 00:00 Beijing time—October 31 at 16:00 UTC. This does not make every standalone request, or model tokens, free.
Where to use DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017
| Use case | Entry point | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| Try a conversation | DeepSeek web chat | Official release notes say web and app were updated |
| Use the mobile app | App links on the DeepSeek website | Follow official download/store links |
| Build an application | DeepSeek developer platform | Use deepseek-flash with platform API credentials |
| Read integration docs | API quick start | OpenAI-format base URL: https://api.deepseek.com |
| Run open weights | Official Hugging Face repository | Budget for compatible inference hardware and operations |
The API quick start says legacy aliases deepseek-v4-flash and deepseek-v4-flash-vision-exp currently route to 1017 and use Flash pricing. They do not provide access to the retired models. Prefer the current deepseek-flash alias for a new integration.
Our assessment: rerun your evaluations before switching
1017 is a sensible candidate to retest for code changes, terminal workflows and repeated tool calls when costs matter. Use tasks with known outcomes; fix the reasoning setting, tool access and retry policy. Compare success rate, total token usage, end-to-end time and cost per successful task.
We have not independently evaluated this release. The supplied comparison does not measure your region's API reliability or every workload. Peak pricing and external tools can also change the budget. Our conclusion is worth testing, rather than a blanket migration recommendation.
Image understanding is not object removal
A model that interprets a picture is not necessarily a model that edits its pixels. This overview does not imply that DeepSeek powers this website's erasing feature. For actual photo cleanup, use the online object remover or follow our unwanted-object removal guide.
Frequently asked questions
What is DeepSeek 4.1 Flash 1017?
DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash-1017 is the October 17, 2026 update to V4.1 Flash. Its API model name is deepseek-flash.
Did the 1017 update cut API token prices?
No. The October update kept the rate card unchanged. Off-peak cache-miss input and output cost $0.15 and $0.60 per million tokens; peak rates are $0.30 and $1.20.
Did this website independently benchmark the model?
No. Scores are reported by DeepSeek. We organize the published comparisons and calculate score differences, rather than claiming an independent evaluation.
Can this model directly erase objects from photos?
Visual understanding and text generation are different from pixel-level image editing. Object removal requires an appropriate image-editing tool or model.
Sources and update policy
This page uses DeepSeek's change log, model card, rate card, quick start and Search & Fetch guide. Vendor results and our calculations are identified separately. Check those pages again before purchasing or migrating: aliases, rates and tool billing can change. This is an independent editorial overview, not an official DeepSeek announcement.