# DeepSeek’s V4.1-Flash-1017 beats Claude Opus 5 in 4 of 9 benchmarks, costs less than $0.20 per task

Digest AI · Generative AI & Models · published 2026-10-24T09:04:00Z

Canonical: https://digestai.news/story/deepseeks-v4-1-flash-1017-beats-claude-opus-5-in-4-of-9-benchmarks-cos

## Summary

DeepSeek released **V4.1-Flash-1017** on October 17, an update to its September model, available via web, app, and API. The company claims it outperforms its predecessor in all metrics and surpasses **Claude Opus 5** and top GPT models in some coding and agentic tasks. DeepSeek’s own benchmarks show **4 wins** over Opus 5 in areas like **DeepSWE** and **Agents’ Last Exam**, but **5 losses** in others, including **Terminal-Bench** and **ProgramBench**. No third-party verification has been published yet, and the results are self-reported by DeepSeek.

The model’s cost efficiency stands out: DeepSeek says it costs **less than $0.20 per programming task** on **DeepSWE**, compared to **$2–$10+** for models like Claude Opus 5. API pricing is **$0.30 per million input tokens** (peak) and **$1.20 per million output tokens**, half the rate during off-peak hours. However, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security ordered federal agencies to remove DeepSeek products on October 19 due to data transfer risks to China. DeepSeek’s privacy policy confirms data is stored in China, raising privacy concerns for users handling sensitive information. The model’s **search API** is free until **October 31–November 1**, depending on the source.

## Key points

- DeepSeek’s V4.1-Flash-1017 wins 4 of 9 benchmarks against Claude Opus 5, per DeepSeek’s own data
- Costs less than $0.20 per programming task on DeepSWE, vs. $2–$10+ for Claude Opus 5
- U.S. federal agencies banned DeepSeek over data transfer risks to China; privacy policy confirms data stored in China

## Why it matters

A cheaper, competitive model could attract developers and small businesses, but data sovereignty risks limit adoption in regulated sectors.

## Sources

1. [AI Research File No. 07 DeepSeek's new model 'surpasses Claude Opus 5': How many wins and losses are there across the 9 published metrics?](https://note.com/maboy_lab/n/n7e7f6fd487d0?hl=en) (note.com, 2026-10-24)

Part of the developing story: [DeepSeek Unveils Flash Model And Open Source Tools](https://digestai.news/thread/deepseek-open-sources-deepinfer-stack-potentially-lowering-inference-costs) (3 stories)

## Cite

Digest AI, "DeepSeek’s V4.1-Flash-1017 beats Claude Opus 5 in 4 of 9 benchmarks, costs less than $0.20 per task", 24 October 2026, https://digestai.news/story/deepseeks-v4-1-flash-1017-beats-claude-opus-5-in-4-of-9-benchmarks-cos

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