DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 Max vs Muse Spark 1.3 Max compared

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 (Max) (DeepSeek) and Muse Spark 1.3 (Max) (Meta) meet here on their recorded benchmark, price and speed data. Everything below is read from the benchmark, price and speed data in Franklin AI's catalogue; nothing here comes from a hands-on test. The widest gap is the wait for the first token: 1.2 seconds for DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 Max against 36 seconds for Muse Spark 1.3 Max.

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 Max is the faster writer

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 Max generates about 162 tokens per second and Muse Spark 1.3 Max about 140 tokens per second. On long outputs, that is a real advantage for DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 Max. The wait for the first token averages 1.2 seconds on DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 Max against 36 seconds on Muse Spark 1.3 Max. In an interactive app, DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 Max will feel noticeably more responsive. Waits that long are felt on every chat-style request, though they matter less for batch jobs.

For a 400-token response, first token plus generation comes to roughly 3.7 seconds on DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 Max and 39 seconds on Muse Spark 1.3 Max.

Reasoning and overall scores

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 Max records 32.6 on the intelligence index and Muse Spark 1.3 Max records 36.6. That is a clear margin for an index that averages many evaluations.

Among 109 active scored models, DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 Max sits 45th and Muse Spark 1.3 Max 36th.

Specialist coding and math indexes are missing for both, so treat the overall score as the only capability signal here.

Price per token

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 Max lists $0.30 per million input tokens and $1.20 per million output tokens; Muse Spark 1.3 Max lists $1.25 and $4.25. Muse Spark 1.3 Max costs 3.5 times as much per output token.

A reference job of 1 million input tokens and 200,000 output tokens costs $0.54 with DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 Max and $2.10 with Muse Spark 1.3 Max, so DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 Max saves $1.56. A bigger example, a month of coding-assistant traffic at 30 million input and 3 million output tokens, costs $12.60 on DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 Max and $50.25 on Muse Spark 1.3 Max: a gap of $37.65. Blended at three input tokens per output token, the effective rates are $0.525 for DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 Max and $2.00 for Muse Spark 1.3 Max.

Score per dollar

A blunt value measure, blended price over intelligence score, puts DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 Max at $0.016 and Muse Spark 1.3 Max at $0.055 per point. So Muse Spark 1.3 Max buys its higher score at a premium, while DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 Max is the value pick, paying 71% less per point.

Release timing

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 Max arrived on October 17, 2026, about a month after Muse Spark 1.3 Max (September 2, 2026). They are effectively contemporaries.