DEEPSEEK VS MOONSHOT AI
DeepSeek V4 Flash vs Kimi K2 Thinking
DeepSeek V4 Flash is about 6.1x cheaper than Kimi K2 Thinking on a blended 3:1 input:output rate — the same 10K-in/2K-out request costs $0.002 vs $0.011. DeepSeek V4 Flash has the larger context window (1,000,000 vs 262,144 tokens).
Pricing verified
API pricing per 1M tokens
| Model | Input / 1M tokens | Output / 1M tokens | Blended (3:1 mix) |
|---|---|---|---|
| DeepSeek V4 Flash | $0.14 | $0.28 | $0.175 |
| Kimi K2 Thinking | $0.60 | $2.50 | $1.075 |
Rates from official DeepSeek pricing and official Moonshot AI pricing, checked 2026-08-11.
What a real workload costs
Example: one request with 10,000 input tokens and 2,000 output tokens, then that request at 100,000 runs per month.
| Model | Per request (10K in / 2K out) | Per month (100K requests) | Monthly delta |
|---|---|---|---|
| DeepSeek V4 Flash | $0.002 | $196 | — |
| Kimi K2 Thinking | $0.011 | $1,100 | +$904 |
Model your own prompt sizes and volumes in the token cost analyzer, or check caching savings with the prompt caching calculator.
Specs side by side
| Spec | DeepSeek V4 Flash | Kimi K2 Thinking |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | DeepSeek | Moonshot AI |
| Context window | 1,000,000 tokens | 262,144 tokens |
| Model class | General text | Reasoning |
| Tokenizer | Proprietary (counts estimated) | Proprietary (counts estimated) |
Count tokens for each model on its own page: DeepSeek V4 Flash token counter and Kimi K2 Thinking token counter. All DeepSeek models are on the DeepSeek Token Counter. All Moonshot AI models are on the Kimi Token Counter.
FAQ
DeepSeek V4 Flash vs Kimi K2 Thinking FAQ
Which is cheaper, DeepSeek V4 Flash or Kimi K2 Thinking?
DeepSeek V4 Flash is cheaper. At rates checked 2026-08-11, DeepSeek V4 Flash costs $0.14 input / $0.28 output per 1M tokens, while Kimi K2 Thinking costs $0.60 input / $2.50 output — about a 6.1x difference on a typical 3:1 input-heavy workload.
How much does a real request cost on DeepSeek V4 Flash vs Kimi K2 Thinking?
A request with 10,000 input tokens and 2,000 output tokens costs about $0.002 on DeepSeek V4 Flash and $0.011 on Kimi K2 Thinking. At 100,000 such requests per month that is $196 vs $1,100 — a difference of $904 per month.
Which has the bigger context window, DeepSeek V4 Flash or Kimi K2 Thinking?
DeepSeek V4 Flash. It supports 1,000,000 tokens of context versus 262,144 tokens — roughly 750,000 English words in one request.
Do DeepSeek V4 Flash and Kimi K2 Thinking count tokens the same way?
Not exactly. DeepSeek V4 Flash uses a proprietary tokenizer (counts are estimates) and Kimi K2 Thinking uses a proprietary tokenizer (counts are estimates). The same prompt will tokenize differently, which shifts effective cost per word.