AI Models · Open-Source vs Paid

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash Open vs AMNova Micro 1.0 Paid

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash vs Nova Micro 1.0 compared — price per token, context window, multimodality, openness and which to choose. Can the open-source model replace the paid one? Full 2026 breakdown.

Prices & specs refreshed from live data · olud.ai

Open-model prices = cheapest provider via OpenRouter; official maker rates may be higher.

DeepSeek V4.1 FlashOpenDeepSeek
$0.15 /M input
$0.6 /M outputNo per-token fees if you self-host
TypeOpen-weight
Context window1M tokens
MultimodalYes
Self-hostYes
AMNova Micro 1.0PaidAmazon
$0.04 /M input
$0.14 /M outputManaged API (no infra to run)
TypeProprietary
Context window128K tokens
MultimodalNo
Self-hostNo
Choose DeepSeek V4.1 Flash if you want to self-host, keep your data private and skip per-token fees — it's open-weight and runs on your own hardware. Choose Nova Micro 1.0 if you want frontier capability through a managed API with zero infrastructure to run.

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash vs Nova Micro 1.0 specs

SpecDeepSeek V4.1 FlashNova Micro 1.0Winner
MakerDeepSeekAmazon
TypeOpen-weightProprietaryDeepSeek V4.1 Flash
Context window1M tokens128K tokensDeepSeek V4.1 Flash
Input price$0.15/M · free self-host$0.04/MAMNova Micro 1.0
Output price$0.6/M · free self-host$0.14/MAMNova Micro 1.0
Vision / multimodalYesNoDeepSeek V4.1 Flash
Tool / function callingYesYes= Tie
Self-hostableYesNo (API only)DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
LicenseMITProprietaryDeepSeek V4.1 Flash

Price gap & when to choose each

4.3×cheaper per output token

Nova Micro 1.0 is ~4.3× cheaper than DeepSeek V4.1 Flash on output tokens ($0.14 vs $0.6 per M tokens).

Choose DeepSeek V4.1 Flash if…
  • You want to self-host or run on your cloud
  • You need the longer 1M context window
  • You prioritize data privacy & control
  • You are building open or reproducible AI
AMChoose Nova Micro 1.0 if…
  • You want frontier performance through a managed API
  • You want the lower output price
  • You value reliability & ecosystem
  • You don't want to manage infrastructure

Feature comparison

CapabilityDeepSeek V4.1 FlashNova Micro 1.0
Open weights (downloadable)
Self-hostable
Runs fully offline
Vision / multimodal
Tool / function calling
1M+ context window

Benchmarks: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash vs Nova Micro 1.0

Independent benchmark scores measured by Artificial Analysis. Higher is better (except latency).

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
Nova Micro 1.0
Intelligence index
39.5
Humanity's Last Exam
39.2%
Long Context Reasoning
84%
SciCode
51.9%
Speed
260.5 tok/s
Latency
0.92s
Intelligence per $
75.2

Benchmark data by Artificial Analysis.

How DeepSeek V4.1 Flash and Nova Micro 1.0 score

🏆 Best value & openness: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (5.0 vs 2.9 / 5)
CriterionDeepSeek V4.1 FlashNova Micro 1.0
Cost-efficiency5.05.0
Context window5.03.5
Openness5.01.5
Self-hosting5.01.0
Multimodality5.03.5

Scores come from live data — output price (cost), context length, open vs closed weights (openness & self-hosting) and vision/tool support (multimodality). Raw task quality isn't scored here; it depends on your benchmark — see the verdict.

What each model is

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash Open

DeepSeek · Open-weight

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash is a sparse mixture-of-experts model from DeepSeek, and the first built on the company's Causal Encoder-Decoder (CED) architecture. It activates 8B parameters on input and 16B on...

Nova Micro 1.0 Paid

Amazon · Proprietary

Amazon Nova Micro 1.0 is a text-only model that delivers the lowest latency responses in the Amazon Nova family of models at a very low cost. With a context length...

Other models in these families

These variants are tracked but not compared here — one page per family keeps the comparison readable.

Other variants tracked
DeepSeek V4 Pro 0423DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813 (batch)DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731 (batch)DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731DeepSeek V3.2 ExpDeepSeek V3.2DeepSeek V3.1 TerminusDeepSeek V3.1R1 0528R1DeepSeek V3 0324DeepSeek V3DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision ExpDeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp (batch)

Frequently asked questions

Is DeepSeek V4.1 Flash as good as Nova Micro 1.0?

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash is open-weight and competitive on many tasks, but Nova Micro 1.0 may still lead on the hardest reasoning and agentic work. The gap keeps narrowing — benchmark both on your actual use case before deciding.

Can I run DeepSeek V4.1 Flash locally?

Yes. DeepSeek V4.1 Flash has open weights, so you can self-host it on your own GPUs or run it via a low-cost API. Nova Micro 1.0 is API-only and cannot be self-hosted.

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash vs Nova Micro 1.0 — which should I pick in 2026?

Choose DeepSeek V4.1 Flash if you want to self-host, keep your data private and skip per-token fees — it's open-weight and runs on your own hardware. Choose Nova Micro 1.0 if you want frontier capability through a managed API with zero infrastructure to run.

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