AI model APIs · head-to-head
DeepSeek V4 Flash vs Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite
Same usage, official rates, ranked by nothing but price. Both rate cards, the monthly bill at five workloads, and the exact usage mix where the answer flips.
The pricing verdict Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is cheaper while output tokens make up less than 25% of your total volume; past that, DeepSeek V4 Flash takes over. Most chat and agent workloads run 20–30% output.
Rate cards
| Per 1M tokens | DeepSeek V4 Flash | Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite |
|---|---|---|
| Input | $0.14 | $0.10 |
| Cached input | $0.0028 | $0.01 |
| Output | $0.28 | $0.40 |
| Context window | — | — |
Monthly cost at five workloads
| Workload | Tokens / month | DeepSeek V4 Flash | Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prototype | 1M in · 0.3M out | $0.22 | $0.22 |
| Small app | 10M in · 3M out | $2.24 | $2.20 |
| Production app | 50M in · 15M out | $11.2 | $11 |
| High volume | 200M in · 60M out | $44.8 | $44 |
| Heavy platform | 1B in · 300M out | $224 | $220 |
Exact switch point
Cost per 1M blended tokens is $0.14→$0.28 for DeepSeek V4 Flash and $0.10→$0.40 for Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite as your mix shifts from all-input to all-output. The lines cross at 25.0% output share — below it Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite wins, above it DeepSeek V4 Flash does. Long documents in, short answers out favours Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite; generation-heavy work favours DeepSeek V4 Flash.
Standard on-demand rates from each provider's official pricing page, verified July 2026; figures exclude caching and batch discounts and any long-context surcharges. DeepSeek V4 Flash: Cache-hit input bills at $0.0028 per 1M. The legacy deepseek-chat and deepseek-reasoner names map to this model. Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite: Text/image/video input rate; audio input bills at $0.30 per 1M. Price is one input — quality, latency and context limits differ. Confirm live pricing before committing.