API cost decision in 10 seconds

🔥DeepSeek V3.2 vs 🔥Step 3.5 Flash

Pick Step 3.5 Flash when budget and context both matter.

Pricing data updated: 2026-05-13T16:32:23Z Prices normalized to USD per 1M tokens Sample workload: 1M input + 500K output

Budget verdict

Pick Step 3.5 Flash when budget and context both matter.

On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Step 3.5 Flash is estimated at $0.25 vs $0.44 for DeepSeek V3.2, saving $0.19 (43.3% lower).

Cost-first pickStep 3.5 Flash

Context-first pickStep 3.5 Flash

Sample savings$0.1943.3%

10x traffic gap$1.91

Step 3.5 Flash is cheaper on the standard workload and also has the larger context window. At 10x that traffic, the same price gap is about $1.91. Use the calculator below to replace the sample workload with your own token volume.

Cheaper input Step 3.5 Flash $0.252 vs $0.1 / 1M

Step 3.5 Flash is $0.15 cheaper per 1M input tokens (60.3% lower; 2.52x difference).

Cheaper output Step 3.5 Flash $0.378 vs $0.3 / 1M

Step 3.5 Flash is $0.08 cheaper per 1M output tokens (20.6% lower; 1.26x difference).

Larger context Step 3.5 Flash 131.07K vs 262.14K

Step 3.5 Flash has 131.07K more context (2x larger).

Sample workload Step 3.5 Flash $0.44 vs $0.25

Step 3.5 Flash is $0.19 cheaper on the standard workload (43.3% lower).

Estimate your workload cost

Your Workload Cost

Prices are normalized to USD per 1M tokens.

Monthly input tokens Monthly output tokens

DeepSeek V3.2 Calculating… Estimated API cost

Step 3.5 Flash Calculating… Estimated API cost

Cheaper for this workload Calculating… Difference: calculating…

This estimate uses normalized public API pricing per 1M tokens. It is a planning aid, not a billing quote. Verify provider pricing, limits, and terms before production use.

Quick Decision

Verdict

Step 3.5 Flash has the lower input price; Step 3.5 Flash has the lower output price; Step 3.5 Flash offers the larger context window. For the 1M input plus 500K output sample, Step 3.5 Flash is cheaper for the standard workload.

For a 1M input token plus 500K output token workload, the estimated API cost is $0.44 for DeepSeek V3.2 and $0.25 for Step 3.5 Flash.

Best Fit

Choose DeepSeek V3.2 when its provider, model quality, latency, or availability is more important than the numeric price/context winner.

Choose Step 3.5 Flash when you care most about lower input-token price, lower output-token price, and larger context window.

Decision Notes

On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Step 3.5 Flash is estimated at $0.25 vs $0.44 for DeepSeek V3.2, saving $0.19 (43.3% lower).
Step 3.5 Flash is $0.19 cheaper on the standard workload (43.3% lower).
Step 3.5 Flash is $0.15 cheaper per 1M input tokens (60.3% lower; 2.52x difference).
Step 3.5 Flash is $0.08 cheaper per 1M output tokens (20.6% lower; 1.26x difference).
Step 3.5 Flash has 131.07K more context (2x larger).

Head-to-Head Specs

Feature	🔥DeepSeek V3.2 (DeepSeek)	🔥Step 3.5 Flash (StepFun)
Input Price prompt tokens per 1M	$0.252	$0.1
Completion Price per 1M tokens	$0.378	$0.3
Sample Workload Cost 1M input + 500K output	$0.44	$0.25
Context Window	131.07K	262.14K
Release Date	2025-12-01	2026-01-29
Popularity Rank current rank	#7	#15

Use-Case Decision Matrix

Use case	Better pick	Why
Budget-constrained production	Step 3.5 Flash	On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Step 3.5 Flash is estimated at $0.25 vs $0.44 for DeepSeek V3.2, saving $0.19 (43.3% lower).
High-volume input processing	Step 3.5 Flash	Lower prompt-token price matters most when prompts, retrieved passages, or documents dominate the bill.
Long responses and chatbots	Step 3.5 Flash	Lower output-token price matters most when assistants generate many completion tokens.
RAG or long-document work	Step 3.5 Flash	A larger context window leaves more room for retrieved passages, conversation history, or source files.

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Step 3.5 Flash

Step 3.5 Flash is StepFun's most capable open-source foundation model. Built on a sparse Mixture of Experts (MoE) architecture, it selectively activates only 11B of its 196B parameters per token....