Step 3.5 Flash vs DeepSeek LLM 2.0

Side-by-side benchmark comparison across agentic, coding, multimodal, knowledge, reasoning, and math workflows.

Step 3.5 Flash is clearly ahead on the aggregate, 66 to 62. The gap is large enough that you do not need to squint at the spreadsheet to see the difference.

Step 3.5 Flash's sharpest advantage is in reasoning, where it averages 78.3 against 73.6. The single biggest benchmark swing on the page is MuSR, 82 to 75.

Step 3.5 Flash gives you the larger context window at 256K, compared with 128K for DeepSeek LLM 2.0.

Quick Verdict

Pick Step 3.5 Flash if you want the stronger benchmark profile. DeepSeek LLM 2.0 only becomes the better choice if its workflow or ecosystem matters more than the raw scoreboard.

Agentic

Step 3.5 Flash

Step 3.5 Flash

60.2

DeepSeek LLM 2.0

57.9

62
Terminal-Bench 2.0
57
66
BrowseComp
62
54
OSWorld-Verified
56

Coding

Step 3.5 Flash

Step 3.5 Flash

47.1

DeepSeek LLM 2.0

42.9

77
HumanEval
73
48
SWE-bench Verified
46
45
LiveCodeBench
39
49
SWE-bench Pro
46

Multimodal & Grounded

Step 3.5 Flash

Step 3.5 Flash

66.7

DeepSeek LLM 2.0

64.5

64
MMMU-Pro
60
70
OfficeQA Pro
70

Reasoning

Step 3.5 Flash

Step 3.5 Flash

78.3

DeepSeek LLM 2.0

73.6

82
SimpleQA
77
82
MuSR
75
83
BBH
81
74
LongBench v2
70
73
MRCRv2
69

Knowledge

Step 3.5 Flash

Step 3.5 Flash

60.8

DeepSeek LLM 2.0

57.5

84
MMLU
79
83
GPQA
78
81
SuperGPQA
76
79
OpenBookQA
74
76
MMLU-Pro
72
12
HLE
12
71
FrontierScience
67

Instruction Following

Step 3.5 Flash

Step 3.5 Flash

87

DeepSeek LLM 2.0

85

87
IFEval
85

Multilingual

Step 3.5 Flash

Step 3.5 Flash

82.8

DeepSeek LLM 2.0

78.8

86
MGSM
82
81
MMLU-ProX
77

Mathematics

Step 3.5 Flash

Step 3.5 Flash

84.5

DeepSeek LLM 2.0

80.8

85
AIME 2023
80
87
AIME 2024
82
86
AIME 2025
81
81
HMMT Feb 2023
76
83
HMMT Feb 2024
78
82
HMMT Feb 2025
77
84
BRUMO 2025
79
85
MATH-500
83

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is better, Step 3.5 Flash or DeepSeek LLM 2.0?

Step 3.5 Flash is ahead overall, 66 to 62. The biggest single separator in this matchup is MuSR, where the scores are 82 and 75.

Which is better for knowledge tasks, Step 3.5 Flash or DeepSeek LLM 2.0?

Step 3.5 Flash has the edge for knowledge tasks in this comparison, averaging 60.8 versus 57.5. Inside this category, MMLU is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for coding, Step 3.5 Flash or DeepSeek LLM 2.0?

Step 3.5 Flash has the edge for coding in this comparison, averaging 47.1 versus 42.9. Inside this category, LiveCodeBench is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for math, Step 3.5 Flash or DeepSeek LLM 2.0?

Step 3.5 Flash has the edge for math in this comparison, averaging 84.5 versus 80.8. Inside this category, AIME 2023 is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for reasoning, Step 3.5 Flash or DeepSeek LLM 2.0?

Step 3.5 Flash has the edge for reasoning in this comparison, averaging 78.3 versus 73.6. Inside this category, MuSR is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for agentic tasks, Step 3.5 Flash or DeepSeek LLM 2.0?

Step 3.5 Flash has the edge for agentic tasks in this comparison, averaging 60.2 versus 57.9. Inside this category, Terminal-Bench 2.0 is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for multimodal and grounded tasks, Step 3.5 Flash or DeepSeek LLM 2.0?

Step 3.5 Flash has the edge for multimodal and grounded tasks in this comparison, averaging 66.7 versus 64.5. Inside this category, MMMU-Pro is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for instruction following, Step 3.5 Flash or DeepSeek LLM 2.0?

Step 3.5 Flash has the edge for instruction following in this comparison, averaging 87 versus 85. Inside this category, IFEval is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for multilingual tasks, Step 3.5 Flash or DeepSeek LLM 2.0?

Step 3.5 Flash has the edge for multilingual tasks in this comparison, averaging 82.8 versus 78.8. Inside this category, MGSM is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Last updated: March 12, 2026

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