DeepSeek Makes a Splash with Small, Affordable V4-Flash Model
The model could have a big impact because of its improved performance, affordable pricing and low memory requirements.
Chinese AI developer DeepSeek’s release on Friday of a smaller version of its flagship V4 open-source model is causing a stir.
In early tests, the model, V4-Flash, demonstrated capabilities comparable to much larger open-source and proprietary models, and it’s also less expensive than those rivals. People can buy access to it through DeepSeek’s cloud-based application programming interface or download the model and use it on their own servers.
The new V4-Flash model isn’t as powerful as Moonshot AI’s Kimi K3 on benchmarks, but could tap into a growing market for affordable, smaller models that can power autonomous agents without breaking the bank.
V4-Flash appears to rival OpenAI’s GPT-5.6 Luna and Chinese firm Zhipu AI’s popular GLM-5.2 open-source model, according to Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, a comprehensive benchmark for AI models’ capabilities across math, science, coding and reasoning. V4-Flash’s cost per task can be 60% lower than that of GPT-5.6 Luna, according to Artificial Analysis.
DeepSeek is expected to release the official version of V4-Pro, a larger version of V4 with six times as many parameters, or settings in the model, soon.