Claude Fable 5.2 vs DeepSeek V4.1 Flash: pricing and benchmarks
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash is 96% cheaper on input tokens ($0.30 vs $8.00 per 1M). DeepSeek V4.1 Flash is 97% cheaper on output tokens ($1.20 vs $40.00 per 1M). On our document Q&A workload (50,000 questions a month), DeepSeek V4.1 Flash costs $156.00 a month versus $4,400 for Claude Fable 5.2, 96% less. Epoch AI has not published a capability index score for Claude Fable 5.2 yet.
Which should you choose?
Epoch AI has not published a capability index score for Claude Fable 5.2 yet.
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash costs $0.525 per 1M tokens (3:1 input-to-output mix) vs $16.00 for Claude Fable 5.2, 97% less.
Pricing and specs
| Claude Fable 5.2 | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash | |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Anthropic | DeepSeek |
| API model ID | claude-fable-5-2 | deepseek-flash |
| Input / 1M tokens | $8.00 | $0.30 |
| Cached input / 1M tokens | $0.20 | $0.006 |
| Output / 1M tokens | $40.00 | $1.20 |
| Long-context rates | — | — |
| Context window | 1M tokens | 1M tokens |
| Max output | 128K tokens | 384K tokens |
| Batch discount | 50% off | — |
Benchmarks
| Claude Fable 5.2 | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash | |
|---|---|---|
| Epoch Capabilities Index | — | 155.6 |
| GPQA Diamond· Science reasoning | — | 89.8% |
| FrontierMath (Tiers 1–3)· Advanced math | — | 67.4% |
| SimpleQA Verified· Factual accuracy | — | 42.9% |
| ARC-AGI-2· Abstract reasoning | — | 72.9% |
| DeepSWE· Coding | — | — |
| APEX-Agents· Agentic work | — | 39.5% |
Source: Epoch AI, best recorded result per model (CC BY 4.0). A dash means no published score. See all benchmarks
Monthly cost for real workloads
| Workload | Claude Fable 5.2 | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
Support chatbot 100,000 replies a month, ~1,500 input tokens (system prompt + history) and ~400 output tokens each. | $2,800 | $93.00 | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 97% cheaper |
Document Q&A (RAG) 50,000 questions a month with ~8,000 tokens of retrieved context and ~600 output tokens each. | $4,400 | $156.00 | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 96% cheaper |
Coding agent 10,000 agent steps a month, ~40,000 input tokens each (70% read from the prompt cache) and ~2,000 output tokens. | $1,816 | $61.68 | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 97% cheaper |
Cached chatbot The same 100,000-reply support chatbot, but 60% of each prompt (system prompt + conversation history) is served from the prompt cache. | $2,098 | $66.54 | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 97% cheaper |
Meeting notes 10,000 meetings a month summarized from ~12,000-token transcripts, ~1,000 output tokens each. | $1,360 | $48.00 | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 96% cheaper |
Bulk translation 200,000 short translations a month, ~800 input and ~800 output tokens each. | $7,680 | $240.00 | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 97% cheaper |
Content moderation 1,000,000 classifications a month, ~400 input tokens and ~80 output tokens each. | $6,400 | $216.00 | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 97% cheaper |
Article drafting 300 long-form articles a month written from a ~4,000-token brief and outline, ~5,000 output tokens each. | $69.60 | $2.16 | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 97% cheaper |
Code review bot 30,000 pull-request reviews a month, ~5,000 input tokens each (30% cached repository context) and ~700 output tokens. | $1,689 | $56.97 | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 97% cheaper |
Invoice extraction 100,000 documents a month parsed into structured JSON, ~1,200 input and ~250 output tokens each. | $1,960 | $66.00 | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 97% cheaper |
Estimates use standard list prices and ignore cache-write surcharges. Different tokenizers can count the same text differently, so test with your own prompts.
Claude Fable 5.2 vs DeepSeek V4.1 Flash cost calculator
- $156.00/mo$0.0031 / req
- Claude Fable 5.2Anthropic$4,400/mo$0.09 / req
Standard-tier list prices. Long-context rates apply automatically where the provider publishes a threshold. Excludes cache-write surcharges, taxes, batch and volume discounts.
Claude Fable 5.2 pricing notes
Anthropic’s newest Fable model for demanding reasoning and long-horizon agentic work, priced below Fable 5.1.
- Cache hits cost 2.5% of the base input price ($0.20 per 1M tokens).
- Cache writes cost $10 (5-minute cache) or $16 (1-hour cache) per 1M tokens.
- Fast mode costs $16 input / $80 output per 1M tokens.
- US-only inference (inference_geo: "us") costs 1.1x.
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash pricing notes
DeepSeek’s low-cost model with thinking and non-thinking modes, tool calls and vision input.
- Prices shown are peak rates. Off-peak rates are half: peak hours are 01:00–04:00 and 06:00–10:00 UTC, Monday to Friday.
- Compatible with both OpenAI-format and Anthropic-format APIs.
- Served by model version DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash-1017; the legacy names deepseek-v4-flash and deepseek-v4-flash-vision-exp route to it at the same price.
- Web Search and Fetch cost $0.75 per 1,000 successful requests each; calls made through Claude Code, Codex or DeepSeek Harness are free until November 1, 2026.
Frequently asked questions
- Is Claude Fable 5.2 cheaper than DeepSeek V4.1 Flash?
- DeepSeek V4.1 Flash is 96% cheaper on input tokens ($0.30 vs $8.00 per 1M). DeepSeek V4.1 Flash is 97% cheaper on output tokens ($1.20 vs $40.00 per 1M). On our document Q&A workload (50,000 questions a month), DeepSeek V4.1 Flash costs $156.00 a month versus $4,400 for Claude Fable 5.2, 96% less.
- Which is more capable, Claude Fable 5.2 or DeepSeek V4.1 Flash?
- Epoch AI has not published a capability index score for Claude Fable 5.2 yet.
- How much does Claude Fable 5.2 cost per 1M tokens?
- Claude Fable 5.2 costs $8.00 per 1M input tokens and $40.00 per 1M output tokens, and $0.20 per 1M cached input tokens on Anthropic’s standard tier.
- How much does DeepSeek V4.1 Flash cost per 1M tokens?
- DeepSeek V4.1 Flash costs $0.30 per 1M input tokens and $1.20 per 1M output tokens, and $0.006 per 1M cached input tokens on DeepSeek’s standard tier.
- Which has the larger context window, Claude Fable 5.2 or DeepSeek V4.1 Flash?
- Both offer a 1M-token context window.