Choose AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini if…
No advantage on the data we track — pick it for provider preference or output quality on your own prompts.
AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini vs DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017
DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 comes out ahead on the data we track: 6 advantages and none for AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini.
Key numbers
| Spec | AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini | DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Aion Labs | DeepSeek |
| Input price (per 1M tokens) | $0.70 | $0.15 |
| Output price (per 1M tokens) | $1.40 | $0.60 |
| Blended price (3:1 input/output) | $0.87 | $0.26 |
| Cheaper than … of all models we track | 42% | 64% |
| Context window | 262K tokens (~393 pages) | 1.0M tokens (~1,573 pages) |
| Larger context than … of all models | 47% | 80% |
| Max output per response | 33K tokens (~24,600 words) | 393K tokens (~294,900 words) |
| Input types | text | text, image |
| Output types | text | text |
| Free variant | No | No |
| Listed since | 2026-09-23 | 2026-10-17 |
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What it costs for real workloads
Monthly cost at list price for five common workloads. Token counts per unit are stated so you can scale them to your own traffic. A workload that does not fit a model's context window is marked rather than priced.
| Workload (per month) | AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini | DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Customer-support chatbot 50,000 conversations — each a 6-turn conversation (1,500 in / 400 out tokens) | $80.50 | $23.25 | DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 saves $57.25 |
| RAG search over documents 20,000 questions — each a question answered from ~8 retrieved passages (6,000 in / 500 out tokens) | $98.00 | $24.00 | DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 saves $74.00 |
| Coding / tool-using agent 2,000 tasks — each a multi-step task with tool calls and file context (60,000 in / 6,000 out tokens) | $101 | $25.20 | DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 saves $75.60 |
| Batch summarisation 10,000 documents — each a 6,000-word report summarised to a page (8,000 in / 600 out tokens) | $64.40 | $15.60 | DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 saves $48.80 |
| Long-document analysis 500 documents — each a 150-page contract or codebase read in one pass (100,000 in / 2,000 out tokens) | $36.40 | $8.10 | DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 saves $28.30 |
Capabilities side by side
| Capability | AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini | DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 | What it lets you do |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tool / function calling | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes | call your APIs and run agent loops |
| Structured output (JSON schema) | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes | return JSON that validates against your schema |
| Reasoning / thinking mode | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes | spend extra tokens thinking before answering hard problems |
| Image input | — | ✓ Yes | read screenshots, charts and scanned pages |
| Audio input | — | — | take speech or audio directly |
| File / PDF input | — | — | accept documents without your own parsing step |
| Image output | — | — | generate images, not just text |
| Built-in web search | — | — | answer from live web results |
| Seed (reproducible sampling) | — | ✓ Yes | repeat a generation for tests and evals |
| Log-probabilities | — | ✓ Yes | read token confidence for classification and scoring |
From each model's published parameters and input/output types. “—” means not advertised, not proven absent.
Price history
- AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini: price unchanged since we started tracking it on 2026-09-24.
- DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017: price unchanged since we started tracking it on 2026-10-18.
Which should you choose?
Choose DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 if…
- cost matters at scale — it is 70% cheaper on a typical 3:1 input/output mix ($23.25 vs $80.50 a month for 50,000 support chats)
- you need to fit long inputs in one request — 1.0M tokens is roughly 1,573 pages, against 393
- you need image input — to read screenshots, charts and scanned pages; AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini does not advertise it
- you need seed (reproducible sampling) — to repeat a generation for tests and evals; AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini does not advertise it
- you need log-probabilities — to read token confidence for classification and scoring; AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini does not advertise it
- you generate long outputs in one go — up to 393K tokens (about 294,900 words) per response
Frequently asked questions
Is AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini better than DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017?
DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 comes out ahead on the data we track: 6 advantages and none for AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini.
Which is cheaper, AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini or DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017?
DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 is cheaper: $0.26 vs $0.87 per 1M tokens at a typical 3:1 input/output mix, 70% less. For 50,000 support conversations a month that is $23.25 against $80.50.
How much do AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini and DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 cost per million tokens?
AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini costs $0.70 per 1M input tokens and $1.40 per 1M output tokens; DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 costs $0.15 input and $0.60 output. Output tokens are billed separately, so long answers shift the gap.
Which has the bigger context window, AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini or DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017?
DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017: 1.0M tokens, about 1,573 pages, against 262K (about 393 pages) for AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini.
Do AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini and DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 support function calling and JSON output?
Tool calling — AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini: yes, DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017: yes. JSON-schema structured output — AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini: yes, DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017: yes.
Can AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini or DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 read images?
Only DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 accepts image input; AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini is text-only for input.
Is AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini or DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 free to use?
No free variant is listed for either; both are pay-per-token.
What is the maximum output length of AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini and DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017?
AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini can write up to 33K tokens (about 24,600 words) per response; DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 up to 393K (about 294,900 words).
When were AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini and DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 released?
AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini was listed on 2026-09-23; DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 on 2026-10-17.
About the two models
AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini
Aion 3.5 Mini is a multi-model roleplaying and storytelling system from AionLabs, built on the GLM family of models. It is the smaller, lower-cost sibling of Aion 3.5 and uses...
Full AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini specs →DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 is the October 17, 2026 snapshot of DeepSeek V4.1 Flash, served by DeepSeek under the `deepseek-flash` API model name. V4.1 Flash is a sparse mixture-of-experts model...
Full DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 specs →