DeepSeek DeepSeek R1.0528 vs Google Gemini 3 Flash preview
DeepSeek DeepSeek R1.0528 vs Google Gemini 3 Flash preview: DeepSeek DeepSeek R1.0528 is cheaper by 29% on average. DeepSeek DeepSeek R1.0528 from Novita AI (163,840-token context, reasoning, tool calls) vs. Google Gemini 3 Flash preview from OpenRouter (1,048,576-token context, reasoning, tool calls). Use Agent Command Center to A/B both in shadow mode and pick the winner per workload.
Side-by-side cost
Live workload comparison
Same workload run through both models. The cheaper one is highlighted.
3,000
01,048,576
400
065,535
5,000
01,000,000
At this workload, Google Gemini 3 Flash preview is 13% cheaper than DeepSeek DeepSeek R1.0528 — a savings of $60.88/month ($731/year).
Crossover: Google Gemini 3 Flash preview is cheaper when output/input ≤ 0.40 (input-heavy workloads — RAG, retrieval). DeepSeek DeepSeek R1.0528 wins above (long-form generation).
Current workload ratio: 0.13 (400/3000)
Production recipe — Agent Command Center
strategy: cost-optimized
primary:
model: google-gemini-3-flash-preview
provider: openrouter
fallback:
model: deepseek-deepseek-r1-0528
provider: novita-ai
shadow: { sample_rate: 0.05 } # mirror 5% of traffic to compare quality live| DeepSeek DeepSeek R1.0528 | Google Gemini 3 Flash preview | |
|---|---|---|
| Input price | $0.700/M | $0.500/M |
| Output price | $2.50/M | $3.00/M |
| Context window | 163,840 | 1,048,576 |
| Max output | 32,768 | 65,535 |
| Function calling | ✓ | ✓ |
| Vision | — | ✓ |
| Audio input | — | — |
| Reasoning | ✓ | ✓ |
| Prompt caching | — | ✓ |
| Structured output | ✓ | ✓ |
| Pricing verified | May 12, 2026 | May 12, 2026 |