Model comparison
Claude Opus 4.8 vs DeepSeek V4 Flash
Compare Claude Opus 4.8 vs DeepSeek V4 Flash API pricing: input/output token costs, cache pricing, context windows, workload estimates, and routing fit.
Claude Opus 4.8
anthropic · claude-opus-4-8
- Input
- $5
- Output
- $25
- Context
- 1M
DeepSeek V4 Flash
deepseek · deepseek-v4-flash
- Input
- $0.14
- Output
- $0.28
- Context
- 1M
Quick take
DeepSeek V4 Flash has the lower input price at $0.14 per 1M input tokens. DeepSeek V4 Flash is cheaper for the example blended workload below. Claude Opus 4.8 has the larger context window at 1M tokens.
Choose Claude Opus 4.8 if...
- Claude Opus 4.8 is required if images, screenshots, or visual documents are part of the workflow.
Choose DeepSeek V4 Flash if...
- DeepSeek V4 Flash is the better default for cost-sensitive traffic and repeated high-volume calls.
- DeepSeek V4 Flash gives more room for long generated answers, reports, or code output.
Example workload cost
Estimates use input tokens plus 20% output tokens. They exclude provider discounts, cache hits, and tool/search surcharges.
| Workload | Claude Opus 4.8 | DeepSeek V4 Flash | Cheaper |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1M input + 200K output | $10.00 | $0.20 | DeepSeek V4 Flash |
| 10M input + 2M output | $100.00 | $1.96 | DeepSeek V4 Flash |
| 100M input + 20M output | $1,000.00 | $19.60 | DeepSeek V4 Flash |
Context, output, and capability fit
Claude Opus 4.8 provides the larger context window. Check max output separately when the task needs long reports, code generation, or full-document rewrites.
- Claude Opus 4.8 max output
- 128K
- DeepSeek V4 Flash max output
- 384K
- Claude Opus 4.8 features
- prompt caching, function calling, vision
- DeepSeek V4 Flash features
- prompt caching, function calling
Risk notes for Claude Opus 4.8
- High output price: cap max tokens for verbose generation workloads.
Risk notes for DeepSeek V4 Flash
- No major capability risk is flagged in this snapshot, but provider pages should still be verified before production routing.
Routing tags
frontierpremiumreasoningcodingagentslong-contextmultimodalcache-friendlyragbudgethigh-volumeopen-weightlocal-open