API cost decision in 10 seconds

🔥DeepSeek V4 Flash vs 🔥Gemma 4 31B

Pick DeepSeek V4 Flash when budget and context both matter.

Pricing data updated: 2026-05-17T02:07:32Z Prices normalized to USD per 1M tokens Sample workload: 1M input + 500K output

Budget verdict

Pick DeepSeek V4 Flash when budget and context both matter.

On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, DeepSeek V4 Flash is estimated at $0.22 vs $0.3 for Gemma 4 31B, saving $0.08 (26.6% lower).

Cost-first pickDeepSeek V4 Flash

Context-first pickDeepSeek V4 Flash

Sample savings$0.0826.6%

10x traffic gap$0.81

DeepSeek V4 Flash is cheaper on the standard workload and also has the larger context window. At 10x that traffic, the same price gap is about $0.81. Use the calculator below to replace the sample workload with your own token volume.

Cheaper input DeepSeek V4 Flash $0.112 vs $0.12 / 1M

DeepSeek V4 Flash is $0.008 cheaper per 1M input tokens (6.7% lower; 1.07x difference).

Cheaper output DeepSeek V4 Flash $0.224 vs $0.37 / 1M

DeepSeek V4 Flash is $0.15 cheaper per 1M output tokens (39.5% lower; 1.65x difference).

Larger context DeepSeek V4 Flash 1.05M vs 262.14K

DeepSeek V4 Flash has 786.43K more context (4x larger).

Sample workload DeepSeek V4 Flash $0.22 vs $0.3

DeepSeek V4 Flash is $0.08 cheaper on the standard workload (26.6% lower).

Estimate your workload cost

Your Workload Cost

Prices are normalized to USD per 1M tokens.

Monthly input tokens Monthly output tokens

DeepSeek V4 Flash Calculating… Estimated API cost

Gemma 4 31B 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

DeepSeek V4 Flash has the lower input price; DeepSeek V4 Flash has the lower output price; DeepSeek V4 Flash offers the larger context window. For the 1M input plus 500K output sample, DeepSeek V4 Flash is cheaper for the standard workload.

For a 1M input token plus 500K output token workload, the estimated API cost is $0.22 for DeepSeek V4 Flash and $0.3 for Gemma 4 31B.

Best Fit

Choose DeepSeek V4 Flash when you care most about lower input-token price, lower output-token price, and larger context window.

Choose Gemma 4 31B when its provider, model quality, latency, or availability is more important than the numeric price/context winner.

Decision Notes

On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, DeepSeek V4 Flash is estimated at $0.22 vs $0.3 for Gemma 4 31B, saving $0.08 (26.6% lower).
DeepSeek V4 Flash is $0.08 cheaper on the standard workload (26.6% lower).
DeepSeek V4 Flash is $0.008 cheaper per 1M input tokens (6.7% lower; 1.07x difference).
DeepSeek V4 Flash is $0.15 cheaper per 1M output tokens (39.5% lower; 1.65x difference).
DeepSeek V4 Flash has 786.43K more context (4x larger).

Head-to-Head Specs

Feature	🔥DeepSeek V4 Flash (DeepSeek)	🔥Gemma 4 31B (Google)
Input Price prompt tokens per 1M	$0.112	$0.12
Completion Price per 1M tokens	$0.224	$0.37
Sample Workload Cost 1M input + 500K output	$0.22	$0.3
Context Window	1.05M	262.14K
Release Date	2026-04-24	2026-04-02
Popularity Rank current rank	#1	#18

Use-Case Decision Matrix

Use case	Better pick	Why
Budget-constrained production	DeepSeek V4 Flash	On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, DeepSeek V4 Flash is estimated at $0.22 vs $0.3 for Gemma 4 31B, saving $0.08 (26.6% lower).
High-volume input processing	DeepSeek V4 Flash	Lower prompt-token price matters most when prompts, retrieved passages, or documents dominate the bill.
Long responses and chatbots	DeepSeek V4 Flash	Lower output-token price matters most when assistants generate many completion tokens.
RAG or long-document work	DeepSeek V4 Flash	A larger context window leaves more room for retrieved passages, conversation history, or source files.

Related Alternatives

Same-provider lower-cost swaps

DeepSeek V4 Flash (free) can replace DeepSeek V4 Flash when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.
Gemma 4 26B A4B (free) can replace Gemma 4 31B when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.
Gemma 4 31B (free) can replace Gemma 4 31B when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.
Lyria 3 Pro Preview can replace Gemma 4 31B when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.

Larger context near this budget

Llama 4 Scout offers 10M context with $0.23 sample workload cost.
Owl Alpha offers 1.05M context with $0 sample workload cost.

Popular competitors

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Cheaper alternatives

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Larger context alternatives

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Provider catalogs

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DeepSeek catalog

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Google catalog

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DeepSeek V4 Flash

DeepSeek V4 Flash is an efficiency-optimized Mixture-of-Experts model from DeepSeek with 284B total parameters and 13B activated parameters, supporting a 1M-token context window. It is designed for fast inference and...

Gemma 4 31B

Gemma 4 31B Instruct is Google DeepMind's 30.7B dense multimodal model supporting text and image input with text output. Features a 256K token context window, configurable thinking/reasoning mode, native function...