DeepSeek vs Mistral: Token Pricing, Speed & Intelligence
Full comparison of DeepSeek and Mistral — live token pricing, latency, throughput, context window, strengths, weaknesses, and best use cases. Rates sourced from public APIs — verify before use.
DeepSeek
DeepSeek V4 Pro and V4.1-Flash — 1M context, open-weight, peak/off-peak pricing
DeepSeek's September 2026 API offers two models: DeepSeek V4 Pro (deepseek-v4-pro-0813, frontier) and DeepSeek V4.1-Flash (deepseek-flash, efficient). Peak hours (01:00–10:00 UTC weekdays) are 2× the off-peak rate. Both models support 1M token context, JSON output, tool calls, and the Anthropic API format.
Mistral
Mistral Medium 3.5, Mistral Small 4, Voxtral TTS, Mistral OCR 4 — European sovereign AI
Mistral AI is a Paris-based lab offering both proprietary and open-weight models. The September 2026 lineup includes Mistral Medium 3.5 (frontier, 128K context, vision), Mistral Small 4 (efficient), Voxtral TTS (text-to-speech), and Mistral OCR 4 (document intelligence). Mistral Studio is their platform for building, testing, and deploying AI agents. Vibe is their AI agent product for long-horizon work. Check mistral.ai/technology/#pricing for current rates.
Key metric comparison
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Live token pricing
Strengths and weaknesses
DeepSeek
Mistral
Key differentiators
DeepSeek V4 Pro delivers frontier-class intelligence at competitive off-peak rates — open-weight, 1M context, and compatible with both OpenAI and Anthropic SDKs.
The only frontier lab offering European data sovereignty with open-weight models — plus Mistral OCR 4 for document intelligence, Voxtral TTS for voice, and Mistral Studio for agentic AI.
Frequently asked questions
DeepSeek FAQs
What are the latest DeepSeek models?
DeepSeek's September 2026 API offers DeepSeek V4 Pro (deepseek-v4-pro-0813) and DeepSeek V4.1-Flash (deepseek-flash). Both support 1M token context windows, JSON output, tool calls, and the Anthropic API format.
What is DeepSeek V4 Pro pricing?
DeepSeek V4 Pro uses peak/off-peak pricing — off-peak rates apply on weekends and Chinese public holidays; peak hours (01:00–10:00 UTC weekdays) are 2× the off-peak rate. Cache hits are billed at a reduced rate. Check api-docs.deepseek.com/quick_start/pricing for current rates.
What is DeepSeek V4.1-Flash pricing?
DeepSeek V4.1-Flash uses the same peak/off-peak structure as V4 Pro, with off-peak rates significantly cheaper than peak. It also supports vision inputs. Check api-docs.deepseek.com/quick_start/pricing for current rates.
Mistral FAQs
What are the latest Mistral models?
Mistral's September 2026 lineup includes Mistral Medium 3.5 (frontier, vision, 128K context), Mistral Small 4 (efficient), Voxtral TTS (text-to-speech), and Mistral OCR 4 (document intelligence). Mistral Small 4 is one of the cheapest capable models available.
Are Mistral models open-weight?
Some are. Mistral 7B, Mixtral 8x7B, and Mixtral 8x22B are open-weight and available on Hugging Face. Mistral Medium 3.5 and Mistral Small 4 are proprietary and available via the API.
What is Mistral OCR 4?
Mistral OCR 4 is a document intelligence model specialised for extracting text and structure from PDFs, scanned documents, and images. It is part of Mistral's Document Intelligence domain offering.
Provider resources
DeepSeek — DeepSeek V4 Pro and V4.1-Flash — 1M context, open-weight, peak/off-peak pricing
DeepSeek's September 2026 API offers two models: DeepSeek V4 Pro (deepseek-v4-pro-0813, frontier) and DeepSeek V4.1-Flash (deepseek-flash, efficient). Peak hours (01:00–10:00 UTC weekdays) are 2× the off-peak rate. Both models support 1M token context, JSON output, tool calls, and the Anthropic API format.
DeepSeek V4 Pro delivers frontier-class intelligence at competitive off-peak rates — open-weight, 1M context, and compatible with both OpenAI and Anthropic SDKs.
Mistral — Mistral Medium 3.5, Mistral Small 4, Voxtral TTS, Mistral OCR 4 — European sovereign AI
Mistral AI is a Paris-based lab offering both proprietary and open-weight models. The September 2026 lineup includes Mistral Medium 3.5 (frontier, 128K context, vision), Mistral Small 4 (efficient), Voxtral TTS (text-to-speech), and Mistral OCR 4 (document intelligence). Mistral Studio is their platform for building, testing, and deploying AI agents. Vibe is their AI agent product for long-horizon work. Check mistral.ai/technology/#pricing for current rates.
The only frontier lab offering European data sovereignty with open-weight models — plus Mistral OCR 4 for document intelligence, Voxtral TTS for voice, and Mistral Studio for agentic AI.
Key strengths compared
DeepSeek
- V4 Pro off-peak: competitive per-1M pricing — frontier intelligence at a fraction of Western provider cost
- V4.1-Flash off-peak: fast and cost-efficient — cheapest DeepSeek model tier
- Both models open-weight — can be self-hosted
- Data residency in China — may not meet GDPR/compliance requirements
- API reliability can lag Western providers during peak demand
Mistral
- Mistral Medium 3.5 with vision — competitive frontier pricing
- Mistral OCR 4 for document intelligence and PDF processing
- Voxtral TTS for voice applications
- Intelligence scores trail OpenAI and Anthropic at frontier tier
- Smaller ecosystem than OpenAI
Key weaknesses compared
DeepSeek
- Data residency in China — may not meet GDPR/compliance requirements
- API reliability can lag Western providers during peak demand
- V4.1-Flash does not support vision inputs
Mistral
- Intelligence scores trail OpenAI and Anthropic at frontier tier
- Smaller ecosystem than OpenAI
- Vibe and Studio products are newer and less battle-tested
Provider category context
DeepSeek is a frontier lab, founded in 2023. Mistral is a frontier lab, founded in 2023. Both are frontier lab providers — the comparison is primarily about pricing, model selection, and feature differentiation within the same tier.
How to choose between them
Both DeepSeek and Mistral are frontier labs with proprietary models. Choose based on benchmark performance for your specific task: DeepSeek leads on v4 pro off-peak: competitive per-1m pricing — frontier intelligence at a fraction of western provider cost, while Mistral leads on mistral medium 3.5 with vision — competitive frontier pricing. For cost-sensitive workloads, compare the cheapest model tier from each provider in the pricing table above — the gap between efficient-tier models is often larger than between flagship models.