Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6 (batch) vs DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731
Based on weekly OpenRouter usage tracked by AI Tier List, DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731 ranks #1 overall — ahead of Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6 (batch) at #18. DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731 is cheaper on input tokens at $0.14/1M vs $1.50/1M for Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6 (batch). DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731 offers the larger context window at 1M tokens.
Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6 (batch) vs DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731: which should you use?
Choose Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6 (batch) if…
- It accepts image, file input, which DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731 does not.
Choose DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731 if…
- It sees more real traffic — #1 overall on OpenRouter's weekly ranking, against #18 for Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6 (batch).
- Cheaper to read — $0.14 vs $1.50 per 1M input tokens, which is what dominates long-prompt and RAG workloads.
- Cheaper to write — $0.28 vs $7.50 per 1M output tokens, the line item that decides generation-heavy costs.
- Bigger context window — 1M vs 1M tokens.
- Higher Artificial Analysis intelligence index — 51.8 vs 48.4.
- Higher Artificial Analysis coding score — 69.1 vs 63.0.
- Higher Artificial Analysis agentic score — 48.4 vs 42.1.
- It is the newer model — released Jul 2026 against Feb 2026.
Spec Comparison
| Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6 (batch) | DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731 | |
|---|---|---|
| Author | anthropic | deepseek |
| Input price (per 1M tokens) | $1.50 | $0.14 |
| Output price (per 1M tokens) | $7.50 | $0.28 |
| Context window | 1M | 1M |
| Input modalities | text, image, file | text |
| Output modalities | text | text |
| AA Intelligence | 48.4 | 51.8 |
| AA Coding | 63.0 | 69.1 |
| AA Agentic | 42.1 | 48.4 |
| Released | Feb 2026 | Jul 2026 |
What Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6 (batch) and DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731 actually cost to run
On a read-heavy job — 1M tokens in, 100K out — Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6 (batch) costs $2.25 and DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731 costs $0.17.
Flip the shape — 100K in, 1M out — and it becomes $7.65 for Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6 (batch) versus $0.29 for DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731.
Both figures are the published per-token rates multiplied out; caching and batch discounts are not included.
Usage Rank by Task
| Task | Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6 (batch) | DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731 |
|---|---|---|
| Overall | #18 | #1 |
| Memory Extraction | — | #6 |
| Multi-step Planning | — | #2 |
| Tool Dispatch | — | #2 |
| Web Search | — | #4 |
| Agent Workflows | — | #5 |
| Classification & Tagging | — | #9 |
| Debugging | — | #3 |
| DevOps Config | — | #2 |
| File Read/Write | — | #3 |
| Frontend UI | — | #2 |
| Code Implementation | — | #3 |
| Repo Analysis | — | #3 |
| Code Review & Security | — | #3 |
| Shell Execution | — | #6 |
About Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6 (batch) and DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731
Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6 (batch)
Built by anthropic · released Feb 2026 · 1M-token context
Sonnet 4.6 is Anthropic's most capable Sonnet-class model yet, with frontier performance across coding, agents, and professional work. It excels at iterative development, complex codebase navigation, end-to-end project management with...
DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731
Built by deepseek · released Jul 2026 · 1M-token context
DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731 is a sparse mixture-of-experts model from DeepSeek, with 13B active parameters out of 284B total. This re-post-trained revision is suited for coding, reasoning, and agent workflows....
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FAQ
Which is better, Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6 (batch) or DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731?
Based on weekly OpenRouter usage tracked by AI Tier List, DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731 ranks #1 overall — ahead of Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6 (batch) at #18. DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731 is cheaper on input tokens at $0.14/1M vs $1.50/1M for Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6 (batch). DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731 offers the larger context window at 1M tokens.
Which is cheaper, Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6 (batch) or DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731?
DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731 is cheaper at $0.14 per 1M input tokens. Output pricing: Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4.6 (batch) $7.50, DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731 $0.28.
Usage ranks are weekly data aggregated by OpenRouter. Prices are USD per 1M tokens.