// alternatives · October 2026
DeepSeek V3.1 alternatives
Cheaper models that come close, budget substitutes, and the cheapest step up — chosen on published LiveBench scores and live list price, never on our opinion. Every model here supports tool calling, as DeepSeek V3.1 does.
LiveBench hasn't published a run for DeepSeek V3.1. The strongest benchmarked model at a similar or lower price is DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017, scoring 74.0 overall.
DeepSeek V3.1: no published LiveBench run, $0.425 per 1M blended tokens, about $209.00/mo for a RAG assistant.
Benchmarked models at or below its price
DeepSeek V3.1 has no published LiveBench run, so these are the highest-scoring benchmarked models priced no more than 25% above it — a known quantity to test against.
| Model | Overall | vs DeepSeek V3.1 | Blended / 1M | RAG assistant | Context |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017deepseek 24% more expensive. Head to head → | 74.0 | — | $0.525 | $194.40/mo | 1.0M |
| Claude Haiku 5.5anthropic 53% cheaper. Head to head → | 69.8 | — | $0.200−53% | $74.00/mo | 1M |
| MiniMax M3.1 Flashminimax 38% cheaper. Head to head → | 66.9 | — | $0.262−38% | $102.00/mo | 1.0M |
| GPT-6 Lunaopenai 53% cheaper. Head to head → | 64.6 | — | $0.200−53% | $74.00/mo | 1.1M |
| GLM 5.3 Flashz-ai 88% cheaper. Head to head → | 62.1 | — | $0.053−88% | $34.59/mo | 1.0M |
| Qwen3.8 27Bqwen 20% cheaper. Head to head → | 58.4 | — | $0.342−20% | $92.16/mo | 1M |
DeepSeek V3.1 alternatives FAQ
What is the best alternative to DeepSeek V3.1?
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017. 24% more expensive. Every suggestion supports tool calling, like DeepSeek V3.1.
How alternatives are chosen
- Scores — LiveBench release 2026-10-25. Only models with a published run are suggested on quality; a missing model means “not evaluated”, not “worse”.
- Prices — live list prices from OpenRouter, blended 3:1 input:output. Monthly figures price a RAG assistant with the published cached-input rate where there is one.
- Same job — suggestions must support every capability DeepSeek V3.1 has among tool calling and image input. Other listings of the same model (free or batch tiers) are variants, not alternatives, and are left out.
A few points on a public benchmark can hide large differences on your own tasks. Shortlist here, then decide with an eval — how to build one.