AllocateDeepSeek V4 vs Qwen 3.5
On provider list prices, Qwen 3.5 costs $0.60 per million input tokens against $1.74 for DeepSeek V4: 2.9x apart. Output is $3.60 against $3.48.
DeepSeek V4
Qwen 3.5Specifications and provider list prices from the Allocate catalog, checked 2026-07-21.
What the numbers say
Take 1,000,000 requests a month at 1,200 input and 350 output tokens each. That workload costs $1,980 a month on Qwen 3.5 and $3,306 on DeepSeek V4 at list: a gap of $1,326, or 1.7x.
DeepSeek V4 reads 512K tokens per request against 256K for Qwen 3.5, 2.0x the window. That decides which one can take whole documents without splitting them.
Choose DeepSeek V4 for
- Reasoning-heavy agents
- Long-document analysis
- Cost-sensitive production routes
Choose Qwen 3.5 for
- Multilingual support agents
- Translation-adjacent workflows
- Fine-tuning under Apache 2.0
Common questions
Which is cheaper, DeepSeek V4 or Qwen 3.5?
Qwen 3.5, on this workload shape. At list prices it is $0.60/$3.60 per million tokens in and out against $1.74/$3.48 for DeepSeek V4. Billed on Allocate: $0.64/$3.85 against $1.86/$3.72.
Which has the bigger context window?
DeepSeek V4: 512,000 tokens (512K) against 262,144 (256K) for Qwen 3.5.
Can I fine-tune DeepSeek V4 or Qwen 3.5?
Qwen 3.5 publishes open weights (Apache 2.0) and can be fine-tuned on your own data. DeepSeek V4 is a closed model served over API; its weights are not available.
Related comparisons
Run the numbers on your workload
Or don’t choose. On Allocate a route name is the contract: point yours at one model today, swap to the other tomorrow, and compare them on your live traffic with per-token metering.