DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 vs Muse Spark Open
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 leads Muse Spark Open on coding, 70.3 to 47.4 on the Vibe Coding Index, and DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 costs 7.1x less per output token ($0.60 vs $4.25 per million). Updated October 22, 2026; 25 benchmarks have a result for both.
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 or Muse Spark Open: which to pick
Pick DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 for coding: it scores 70.3 on the Vibe Coding Index against 47.4 for Muse Spark Open.
Pick Muse Spark Open for work measured by SciCode or LiveBench research, where it leads.
- Shared results
- 25
- DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 only
- 14
- Muse Spark Open only
- 3
- Like-for-like categories
- 5 of 9
Only benchmarks that tested both models count toward a pick; a result only one model has is shown but not compared.
Which one for your work
Each card is decided by one number both models carry. Where only one has it, the card says so and makes no call.
Coding
Vibe Coding Index, six public coding benchmarks
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 scores 70.3 against 47.4.
4 benchmarks behind each score
Intelligence
AA Intelligence Index
No call
Only DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 has a AA Intelligence Index result, 39.5.
Directional only
Web design
Design Arena: websites
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 leads, 1311 against 1310.
Same board, both measured
General
Vals Index
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 leads, 61.3% against 48.6%.
Same board, both measured
Long documents
Listed context window
No call
Both take 1.05M tokens.
Listed by OpenRouter
Everyday cost
1K input + 500 output tokens
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 $0.0004, Muse Spark Open $0.0034 per turn.
List prices
At a glance
- Coding index
- DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 70.3 from 4 benchmarks, Muse Spark Open 47.4 from 4 benchmarks.
- Widest category
- Coding, 15.9 points apart on average over 9 shared benchmarks.
- Widest single gap
- LiveBench browser: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 76.0% against Muse Spark Open 36.0%, 40.0 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
- Output price
- DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 $0.60 against Muse Spark Open $4.25 per million output tokens, 7.1x apart.
- Context window
- Both take 1.05M tokens.
Benchmark by benchmark
First the score: boards each model leads, per category, where both have a result. Then every board, a category to a fold; bars are each result on a 0 to 100 scale, so compare the two in a row, not one row with another.
| Category | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 | Bars | Muse Spark Open | Ties |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coding | 8 | 1 | ||
| Agentic work | 5 | 3 | ||
| Reasoning | 1 | 1 | ||
| Web design | 3 | 0 | ||
| General | 3 | 0 | ||
| All shared boards | 20 | 5 |
CodingLike-for-likeSix of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index81
| Benchmark | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 | Muse Spark Open | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| LiveBench coding | 96.0% | 73.6% | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 |
| LMArena WebDev | 1664 | 1528 | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 |
| Terminal-Bench 4 (Vals AI) | 31.8% | 6.6% | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 |
| Vibe Code Bench (Vals AI) | 87.7% | 76.2% | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 |
| Code migration (Vals AI) | 44.2% | 21.2% | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 |
| SciCode | 55.9% | 58.4% | Muse Spark Open |
| ALE-Bench | 1622.0 | 1590.1 | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 |
| LMArena WebDev: React | 1667 | 1529 | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 |
| LMArena WebDev: HTML | 1687 | 1495 | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 |
| Neither model has a result on the other 30 boards here | |||
IntelligenceDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index2 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 | Muse Spark Open | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Intelligence Index | 39.5 | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 measured |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | Not measured | 155.1 | Only Muse Spark Open measured |
Agentic workLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index53
| Benchmark | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 | Muse Spark Open | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Design Arena: spreadsheets | 1245 | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 measured |
| LiveBench research | 79.5% | 80.3% | Muse Spark Open |
| LiveBench browser | 76.0% | 36.0% | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 |
| LiveBench long agentic | 50.9% | 18.9% | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 |
| Finance Agent (Vals AI) | 57.0% | 61.3% | Muse Spark Open |
| Tax Agent Bench (Vals AI) | 44.4% | 26.3% | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 |
| Legal Research Bench (Vals AI) | 45.2% | 38.5% | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 |
| Harvey's Legal Agent Benchmark (Vals AI) | 14.2% | 25.0% | Muse Spark Open |
| Excel Modeling Benchmark (Vals AI) | 61.8% | 53.7% | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 |
| APEX-Agents | Not measured | 33.4% | Only Muse Spark Open measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 31 boards here | |||
ReasoningLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index11
| Benchmark | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 | Muse Spark Open | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| LiveBench reasoning | 89.1% | 73.7% | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 |
| GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run) | Not measured | 89.0% | Only Muse Spark Open measured |
| Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run) | 43.3% | 43.9% | Muse Spark Open |
| GPQA Diamond (Epoch AI run) | 93.2% | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 measured |
| Chess puzzles | 46.0% | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 measured |
| Mystery game puzzles | 49.0% | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 16 boards here | |||
MathDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index3 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 | Muse Spark Open | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| OTIS Mock AIME | 99.4% | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 measured |
| FrontierMath, tiers 1 to 3 | 71.2% | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 measured |
| FrontierMath, tier 4 | 46.3% | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 10 boards here | |||
KnowledgeDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index1 board, none shared
| Benchmark | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 | Muse Spark Open | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| SimpleQA Verified | 42.5% | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 17 boards here | |||
Web designLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index30
| Benchmark | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 | Muse Spark Open | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Design Arena: websites | 1311 | 1310 | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 |
| Design Arena: UI components | 1303 | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 measured |
| Design Arena: game dev | 1357 | 1282 | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 |
| Design Arena: data viz | 1330 | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 measured |
| Design Arena: 3D | 1358 | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 measured |
| Design Arena: all code categories | 1332 | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 measured |
| Design Arena: ASCII art | 1242 | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 measured |
| LiveBench design | 83.4% | 60.3% | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 |
| Neither model has a result on the other 1 board here | |||
GeneralLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index30
| Benchmark | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 | Muse Spark Open | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vals Index | 61.3% | 48.6% | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 |
| LiveBench data analysis | 79.5% | 60.2% | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 |
| Long context reasoning (AA-LCR) | 82.7% | 78.3% | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 |
| Neither model has a result on the other 43 boards here | |||
Image generationNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 | Muse Spark Open | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Neither model has a result on 5 boards here | |||
What each workload costs
Three fixed token mixes at each model's listed price, so per-token rates become a bill.
Chat turn
1K input + 500 output tokens
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 costs less
Repository review
50K input + 3K output tokens
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 costs less
Agent loop
200K input + 10K output tokens
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 costs less
Listed OpenRouter rates, without cache or batch discounts. A workload that does not fit a model's context window would need splitting.
Specification differences
The leading value in a row is marked; a row with a missing value names no leader. Our two rows are marked in red.
| Specification | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 | Meta Muse Spark Open |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | DeepSeek | Meta |
| Weights | Open weights | Open weights |
| Released | October 17, 2026 | October 15, 2026 |
| Context window | 1.05M | 1.05M |
| Input $/Mtok | $0.15 | $1.25 |
| Output $/Mtok | $0.60 | $4.25 |
| Coding index | 70.3 | 47.4 |
| Independent measurements behind it | 4 | 4 |
| Cost per solved task | Not computable | Not computable |
| Source | OpenRouter listing | OpenRouter listing |
Questions
Is DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 better than Muse Spark Open for coding?
Pick DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 for coding: it scores 70.3 on the Vibe Coding Index against 47.4 for Muse Spark Open. Pick Muse Spark Open for work measured by SciCode or LiveBench research, where it leads.
Which is cheaper, DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 or Muse Spark Open?
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 costs $0.15 per million input tokens and $0.60 per million output tokens; Muse Spark Open costs $1.25 and $4.25. Cost per solved task is known for neither of them.
Which has the bigger context window, DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 or Muse Spark Open?
Neither: both take 1.05M tokens.
How many benchmarks is the DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 vs Muse Spark Open comparison based on?
25 benchmarks have a result for both models as of October 22, 2026. DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017's coding index rests on 4 independent benchmarks and Muse Spark Open's on 4. Where only one model has a result, the page says so instead of naming a winner.