DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 vs Poolside: Laguna S 2.1 (free)
Based on weekly OpenRouter usage tracked by AI Tier List, DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 ranks #4 overall — ahead of Poolside: Laguna S 2.1 (free) at #10. Poolside: Laguna S 2.1 (free) is cheaper on input tokens at Free/1M vs $0.14/1M for DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423. DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 offers the larger context window at 1M tokens.
DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 vs Poolside: Laguna S 2.1 (free): which should you use?
Choose DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 if…
- It sees more real traffic — #4 overall on OpenRouter's weekly ranking, against #10 for Poolside: Laguna S 2.1 (free).
- Bigger context window — 1M vs 262K tokens.
Choose Poolside: Laguna S 2.1 (free) if…
- Cheaper to read — Free vs $0.14 per 1M input tokens, which is what dominates long-prompt and RAG workloads.
- Cheaper to write — Free vs $0.28 per 1M output tokens, the line item that decides generation-heavy costs.
- It is the newer model — released Jul 2026 against Apr 2026.
Spec Comparison
| Spec | DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 | Poolside: Laguna S 2.1 (free) |
|---|---|---|
| Author | deepseek | poolside |
| Input price (per 1M tokens) | $0.14 | Free |
| Output price (per 1M tokens) | $0.28 | Free |
| Context window | 1M | 262K |
| Input modalities | text | text |
| Output modalities | text | text |
| AA Intelligence | — | — |
| AA Coding | — | — |
| AA Agentic | 31.1 | — |
| Released | Apr 2026 | Jul 2026 |
What DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 and Poolside: Laguna S 2.1 (free) actually cost to run
On a read-heavy job — 1M tokens in, 100K out — DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 costs $0.17 and Poolside: Laguna S 2.1 (free) costs $0.00.
Flip the shape — 100K in, 1M out — and it becomes $0.29 for DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 versus $0.00 for Poolside: Laguna S 2.1 (free).
Both figures are the published per-token rates multiplied out; caching and batch discounts are not included.
Usage Rank by Task
| Task | DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 | Poolside: Laguna S 2.1 (free) |
|---|---|---|
| Overall | #4 | #10 |
| Memory Extraction | #2 | — |
| Multi-step Planning | #1 | — |
| Tool Dispatch | #1 | — |
| Web Search | #1 | — |
| Agent Workflows | #3 | — |
| Classification & Tagging | #1 | — |
| Debugging | #4 | — |
| DevOps Config | #5 | — |
| File Read/Write | #4 | — |
| Frontend UI | #4 | — |
| Code Implementation | #6 | — |
| Repo Analysis | #4 | — |
| Code Review & Security | #4 | — |
| Shell Execution | #7 | — |
About DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 and Poolside: Laguna S 2.1 (free)
DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423
Built by deepseek · released Apr 2026 · 1M-token context
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...
Poolside: Laguna S 2.1 (free)
Built by poolside · released Jul 2026 · 262K-token context
Laguna S 2.1 is the latest coding agent model from Poolside. Laguna S 2.1 is a 118B total parameter model with 8B active parameters, scoring 70.2% on Terminal-Bench 2.1 and...
Related comparisons
- DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 vs DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731
- DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 vs Tencent: Hy3
- DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 vs OpenAI: GPT-5.6 Luna (batch)
- Poolside: Laguna S 2.1 (free) vs DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731
- Poolside: Laguna S 2.1 (free) vs Tencent: Hy3
- Poolside: Laguna S 2.1 (free) vs OpenAI: GPT-5.6 Luna (batch)
Get notified when DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 or Poolside: Laguna S 2.1 (free) moves
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FAQ
Which is better, DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 or Poolside: Laguna S 2.1 (free)?
Based on weekly OpenRouter usage tracked by AI Tier List, DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 ranks #4 overall — ahead of Poolside: Laguna S 2.1 (free) at #10. Poolside: Laguna S 2.1 (free) is cheaper on input tokens at Free/1M vs $0.14/1M for DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423. DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 offers the larger context window at 1M tokens.
Which is cheaper, DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 or Poolside: Laguna S 2.1 (free)?
Poolside: Laguna S 2.1 (free) is cheaper at Free per 1M input tokens. Output pricing: DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 $0.28, Poolside: Laguna S 2.1 (free) Free.
Is DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 still ahead of Poolside: Laguna S 2.1 (free) right now?
Yes. For the week of 2026-08-10, DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 ranks #4 overall on OpenRouter usage against #10 for Poolside: Laguna S 2.1 (free). Ranks refresh weekly, and the verdict on this page flips if they cross.
Usage ranks are weekly data aggregated by OpenRouter. Prices are USD per 1M tokens.