Model Comparison
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash vs GPT-6.1 Terra
Overlapping ranges: the best configurations, DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (max) and GPT-6.1 Terra (max), are 78 Elo apart, and their 95% ranges overlap. Among 84 models, each ranked by its best configuration, DeepSeek V4.1 Flash is #16 and GPT-6.1 Terra is #23. Cost per script: $0.017 for DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (max) and $0.079 for GPT-6.1 Terra (max).
Last updated , from board data generated at 20:15 UTC.
Picks and Verdict
PickDeepSeek V4.1 Flash
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (max)
Pick DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (max) as the everyday writer with its thinking on, since its individual Elo range overlaps Terra and it costs $0.017 a script.
PickGPT-6.1 Terra
GPT-6.1 Terra (low)
Pick GPT-6.1 Terra (low) when you need the draft back in about half a minute, at $0.027 a script with less slop than any DeepSeek setting.
These two have overlapping individual Elo ranges, and I'd choose on price against speed. DeepSeek V4.1 Flash is the #16 model of 84 and GPT-6.1 Terra the #23 model, each ranked by its best setting. DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (max) sits 78 Elo above GPT-6.1 Terra (max) with overlapping 95% ranges. It also overlaps Terra at low and costs $0.017 a script against $0.027, but Terra answers in about half a minute where DeepSeek at max takes 2.4 minutes. Thinking matters a lot for DeepSeek. It climbs 397 Elo from no thinking to max, and without thinking it falls 316 Elo behind Terra at low, with separate ranges. DeepSeek at high, $0.012 and 1.1 minutes, still overlaps every Terra row. Terra is the opposite: its five levels sit within 25 Elo of each other with overlapping ranges, so I would use low. The writing differs in a few places. Terra at low leads DeepSeek at max by 2.6 points on substance and 4.8 on slop, while DeepSeek is 7.9 points better on Length Adherence. I'd run DeepSeek at max for everyday scripts and switch to Terra at low when I need it fast or the facts carry the video.
Disclosure: GPT-6.1 Terra comes from the same lab as one of the four judges, GPT-6.1 Sol. The other three sit outside its lab, so it is never scored by its own lab alone (how the panel works). The judge analysis measures how much each judge favors its own lab.
How to Read the Writing Score, Writing Elo and 95% Ranges
Writing Score and Writing Elo. The Writing Score (0 to 100) is the weighted average of the nine metric scores: seven from the judges, Length Adherence from code and the Slop Score half from each. The Writing Elo is a rating from pairwise comparisons: on each script, each configuration's average across its drafts is compared with every other configuration's, and gaps within the draft-to-draft variation count as draws. Elo rewards winning often, so the two can put configurations in a different order.
Elo ranges. Each 95% range shows how far a configuration's Elo could move if the drafts had come out slightly differently. It comes from resampling every configuration's recorded draft scores on each reference script and ranking again. Comparing two separate ranges does not test the Elo gap between them: ranges far apart are strong evidence for the order, and overlapping ranges do not mean a tie. The reference scripts stay fixed, so the ranges say nothing about new scripts. The methodology page has the full description.
All Thinking Levels of Both Models
Every ranked configuration of DeepSeek V4.1 Flash and GPT-6.1 Terra, scored on the same 10 scripts by the same four judges.
- Each row is one configuration: the model at one thinking level. The dot is its Writing Elo, a rating from pairwise comparisons of the scores on each script, and the bar is its 95% range: how far that Elo could move if the drafts had come out slightly differently.
- Each bar describes one configuration. Overlap alone does not establish a tie or decide their order. Comparing these ranges does not directly test the difference between a pair.
- The table under the chart lists the same configurations in the same order and adds the Writing Score (the 0 to 100 consensus of the judges and code), cost, time and configuration rank (the place among all configurations on the board).
Shaded rows are the configurations chosen for the metric comparison below.
| Configuration | Writing Elo | 95% Range | Writing Score | Cost / Script | Time / Script | Reasoning Tokens | Configuration Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (max) | 2001 | 1957 to 2040 | 81.0 | $0.017 | 2.4 min | 22,010 | #31 |
| DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (high) | 1937 | 1898 to 1976 | 80.3 | $0.012 | 1.1 min | 13,809 | #41 |
| GPT-6.1 Terra (max) | 1923 | 1884 to 1959 | 80.3 | $0.079 | 1.8 min | N/A | #43 |
| GPT-6.1 Terra (high) | 1922 | 1881 to 1958 | 80.3 | $0.027 | 0.5 min | N/A | #44 |
| GPT-6.1 Terra (low) | 1920 | 1879 to 1961 | 80.2 | $0.027 | 0.5 min | N/A | #46 |
| GPT-6.1 Terra (xhigh) | 1906 | 1869 to 1944 | 80.1 | $0.028 | 0.5 min | N/A | #48 |
| GPT-6.1 Terra (medium) | 1898 | 1852 to 1942 | 79.9 | $0.027 | 0.5 min | N/A | #49 |
| DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (low) | 1832 | 1782 to 1880 | 79.3 | $0.0077 | 0.7 min | 6,740 | #53 |
| DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (no thinking) | 1604 | 1561 to 1647 | 76.8 | $0.0037 | 0.3 min | 0 | #72 |
Cost is one script at the API list price of the route used, uncached and without judging. Time is the average for one accepted script, retries included. N/A under Reasoning Tokens means the board has no separate reasoning count for that route.
Computed Findings Across Thinking Levels
Each finding is computed from the configurations above. The 95% ranges describe individual configurations; overlap alone establishes neither a tie nor an order for a pair.
- Best Configurations Head to Head. DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (max) at Elo 2001 (range 1957 to 2040) and GPT-6.1 Terra (max) at Elo 1923 (range 1884 to 1959) have overlapping 95% ranges.
- Lowest Thinking Levels Head to Head. At their lowest thinking levels, GPT-6.1 Terra (low) at Elo 1920 and $0.027 per script leads DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (no thinking) at Elo 1604 and $0.0037 per script by 316 Elo. Their 95% ranges do not overlap.
- Same Level Name, Side by Side. Across the level names both models use, DeepSeek V4.1 Flash leads at high and max; GPT-6.1 Terra leads at low. The 95% ranges overlap at every one of them. Level names come from each provider, so the same name does not promise the same reasoning budget.
- Cheapest Configuration Overlapping the Top One. DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (high), at $0.012 per script, is the cheapest configuration whose 95% range overlaps that of DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (max), at $0.017 per script: 1898 to 1976 against 1957 to 2040. DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (max) costs about 1.4 times as much per script.
- Cheapest DeepSeek V4.1 Flash Configuration Above GPT-6.1 Terra's Best. The cheapest DeepSeek V4.1 Flash configuration with a higher Writing Elo than GPT-6.1 Terra (max), at Elo 1923 and $0.079 per script, is DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (high), at Elo 1937 and $0.012 per script. Their 95% ranges overlap. It costs less than the configuration it beats.
- Lowest to Highest Thinking Level. DeepSeek V4.1 Flash moves +397 Elo from no thinking to max, at about 4.6 times the cost per script. GPT-6.1 Terra moves +3 Elo from low to max, at about 2.9 times the cost per script.
Writing Elo at Each Shared Level Name
| Level | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash | GPT-6.1 Terra | Gap | 95% Ranges |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| low | 1832 | 1920 | -88 | Overlap |
| high | 1937 | 1922 | +15 | Overlap |
| max | 2001 | 1923 | +78 | Overlap |
Gap is DeepSeek V4.1 Flash minus GPT-6.1 Terra at the same level name, using each model's highest-rated configuration at that level.
Two Chosen Configurations Compared
Pick one configuration of each model to compare their metric scores, consistency across drafts and per-script scores. Each menu starts on the model's best configuration.
Scores by Metric
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (max) scores higher on four of the nine metrics and GPT-6.1 Terra (max) on five. Weighted by each metric's share of the Writing Score, Tone & Voice Match does the most to put DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (max) ahead, with a 4.1-point lead on that metric. The weight beside each metric is its share of the Writing Score.
Consistency Across Drafts
| DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (max) | GPT-6.1 Terra (max) | |
|---|---|---|
| Score spread across drafts (±) | 1.30 | 1.68 |
| Lowest script score | 79.7 Script 10 | 77.9 Script 10 |
| Highest script score | 82.4 Script 7 | 83.2 Script 9 |
| Range across scripts | 2.7 | 5.3 |
Spread is how much the Writing Score moves between a configuration's drafts, and lower is steadier. Green marks the better number in each row.
Scores by Script
Writing Score on each reference script. Gap is DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (max) minus GPT-6.1 Terra (max), and the higher score is in bold.
| Script | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (max) | GPT-6.1 Terra (max) | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| Script 1 opinion / warning explainer | 80.8 | 80.2 | +0.6 |
| Script 2 news-analysis / skeptical explainer | 81.2 | 80.7 | +0.5 |
| Script 3 personal roadmap / opinion | 81.2 | 80.4 | +0.8 |
| Script 4 short explainer | 80.1 | 79.6 | +0.5 |
| Script 5 news-analysis / opinion explainer | 81.1 | 80.1 | +1.0 |
| Script 6 founder announcement / personal origin story | 80.8 | 82.2 | -1.4 |
| Script 7 personal technical walkthrough / agentic workflow case study | 82.4 | 79.9 | +2.5 |
| Script 8 product release announcement / personal observation | 80.7 | 79.1 | +1.6 |
| Script 9 career guide / hiring analysis | 82.2 | 83.2 | -1.0 |
| Script 10 engineering process walkthrough / presentation adaptation | 79.7 | 77.9 | +1.8 |
Scorecards and Thinking Pages
Each configuration name in the table above opens its own scorecard.
Compare With Another Model
Pick a second model. A pair with its own written match-up opens that page, and any other pair opens in the comparison tool.
Nearby Match-Ups by Best Writing Elo
Every configuration wrote five drafts for each of the same 10 briefs, from the same prompt. Generation was closed-book, with the prompt as the only source and no web search or other tools. Each judge scores every draft once: Claude Opus 5.5 at medium effort through the Claude Code subscription, GPT-6.1 Sol at medium reasoning through the Codex CLI, GLM 5.3 Flash through OpenRouter, and Jev 1.13, a typed judge from TypeSafe that answers each metric as a multiple-choice question. The channel's finished script is their reference for the voice, and it gets no score on the board itself.
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