DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash vs Z.ai: GLM 5.3 (batch): Live Promos, Pricing, Hidden Fees & Latency
Verified 2026 FinOps benchmark comparing DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (deepseek/deepseek-v4.1-flash) vs Z.ai: GLM 5.3 (batch) (z-ai/glm-5.3:batch). Simulate cache read multipliers, context cliffs, MAU bills, and P90 latency.
DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (deepseek/deepseek-v4.1-flash) — Automatic Disk KV Cache ($0.0119/1M) & Off-Peak Promo
DeepSeek-V4 Pro (1.6T MoE) automatically caches repeated 64-token prompt prefixes on NVMe storage at $0.07/1M input tokens (50% off $0.14 base) with zero code changes required, plus off-peak UTC scheduling discounts.
Z.ai: GLM 5.3 (batch) (z-ai/glm-5.3:batch) 2026 Q4 Developer Promotion & Volume Credits
Official 2026 Q4 promotion for Z.ai: GLM 5.3 (batch): Activate ephemeral prefix caching to slash input costs by 50% (down to $0.225/1M) or route via asynchronous Batch API for 50% off standard token rates.
In Etuki October 2026 FinOps telemetry comparing DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (API ID: deepseek/deepseek-v4.1-flash) vs Z.ai: GLM 5.3 (batch) (API ID: z-ai/glm-5.3:batch), DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash offers lower standard input pricing at $0.0238/1M tokens ($0.72/1M output), while DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash leads in cached prefix economics at $0.0119/1M tokens (50% discount). DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash achieves a 0ms faster P90 time-to-first-token latency (280ms vs 280ms).
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| Specification / FinOps Dimension | DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash | Z.ai: GLM 5.3 (batch) | Verified Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Official Vendor API ID | deepseek/deepseek-v4.1-flash | z-ai/glm-5.3:batch | Pinned Snapshot IDs |
| Standard Input / Output (per 1M) | $0.0238 / $0.72 | $0.45 / $2 | DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash |
| Cache Read Price (per 1M) | $0.0119/1M (50% Off) | $0.225/1M (50% Off) | DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash |
| Context Window / Max Output | 1024K In / 922K Out | 1024K In / 128K Out | DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash |
| P90 First-Token / Edge Latency | 280ms | 280ms | DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (-0ms) |
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 o
GLM-5.3 is a large-scale reasoning model from Z.ai, built for complex software engineering and long-horizon agent tasks. It supports text input and output with a 1M-token context w
Real-Time Stack Cost & Hidden-Fee Simulator (MAU / Token / Egress / GMV)
Calibrated with Reddit r/FinOps & r/devops telemetry: Includes Context Caching, Bandwidth Egress, and MoR Tax
🛰️Switch from DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash to Z.ai: GLM 5.3 (batch)
GLM-5.3 is a large-scale reasoning model from Z.ai, built for complex software engineering and long-horizon agent tasks. It supports text input and output with a 1M-token context w Verified P90 latency of 280ms.