> Not by cost per task, just cost per token. But they're spending way more tokens per task, so it doesn't work in their facor.

They are not most expensive per Task. DeepSeek 4.1 flash is bloody efficient.

I currently did run a test myself: - Use the pay as you go offer on OpenRouter on the same task on two different project: Perf optimisation on C++ codebase both with Anthropic and DeepSeek.

- I exploded my 15$ budget in a half-week with Anthropic.

- I did two weeks and half with DeepSeek.