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DeepSeek VL2 Small vs Gemini 4 Carbon

Gemini 4 Carbon leads the LLM Stats Score 59.0 to 0.8.

DeepSeek · Google · Updated for 2026

Which is better?

Gemini 4 Carbon leads the overall LLM Stats Score 59.0 to 0.8, ranking #2 overall.

Based on current LLM Stats indexes, shared benchmarks, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.

Choose DeepSeek VL2 Small

  • you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune

Choose Gemini 4 Carbon

  • overall performance matters — it scores 59.0 and ranks #2 on LLM Stats
  • your work emphasizes reasoning — it leads those capability indexes
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Oct 2026

At a glance

The differences that matter most.

DeepSeek VL2 Small
DeepSeek
Gemini 4 Carbon
Google
Core performance indexes
LLM Stats Score
0.8
#357
59.0
#2
Reasoning
-4.4
#376
54.9
#5
Cost, coverage & limits
Benchmark wins
—
—
Input price
— / M
— / M
Output price
— / M
— / M
Context window
—
—

Capability indexes

Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks

2 shared
Index
DeepSeek VL2 Small
Gemini 4 Carbon
Vision
0.4#207
36.0#12
Multimodal
2.9#164
38.0#6
Conservative TrueSkill rating · higher is betterHow scores work

Individual benchmarks

14 reported for DeepSeek VL2 Small · 16 for Gemini 4 Carbon

No common benchmarks found

DeepSeek VL2 Small and Gemini 4 Carbondon't have any common benchmark datasets to compare. They may have been evaluated on different testing suites.

Human preference

Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores

Input capabilities

Documented input modalities across available providers

Both DeepSeek VL2 Small and Gemini 4 Carbon support multimodal inputs.

They are both capable of processing various types of data, offering versatility in application.

DeepSeek VL2 Small

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Gemini 4 Carbon

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

DeepSeek VL2 Small is licensed under deepseek, while Gemini 4 Carbon uses a proprietary license.

License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.

DeepSeek VL2 Small

deepseek

Open weights

Gemini 4 Carbon

Proprietary

Closed source

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

DeepSeek VL2 Small was released on 2024-12-13, while Gemini 4 Carbon was released on 2026-10-28.

Gemini 4 Carbon is 23 months newer than DeepSeek VL2 Small.

DeepSeek VL2 Small

Dec 13, 2024

1.9 years ago

Gemini 4 Carbon

Oct 28, 2026

3 days ago

1.9yr newer

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Neither model specifies a knowledge cutoff date.

Unable to compare the recency of their training data.

No cutoff dates available

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against DeepSeek VL2 Small and Gemini 4 Carbon side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

DeepSeek VL2 Small
✓ Preferred
Gemini 4 Carbon
Open in Playground

FAQ

Common questions about DeepSeek VL2 Small vs Gemini 4 Carbon.

Which is better, DeepSeek VL2 Small or Gemini 4 Carbon?

Gemini 4 Carbon leads the LLM Stats Score 59.0 to 0.8. DeepSeek VL2 Small is made by DeepSeek and Gemini 4 Carbon is made by Google. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their capability indexes, individual benchmarks, pricing, and limits above.

How does DeepSeek VL2 Small compare to Gemini 4 Carbon in benchmarks?

DeepSeek VL2 Small scores DocVQA: 92.3%, ChartQA: 84.5%, OCRBench: 83.4%, TextVQA: 83.4%, MMBench: 80.3%. Gemini 4 Carbon scores Gray Swan IPI Benchmark: 100.0%, Vending-Bench 2: 100.0%, Graphwalks BFS >128k: 96.2%, WebDev Arena: 88.4%, SEC-bench Pro: 88.2%.

What are the main differences between DeepSeek VL2 Small and Gemini 4 Carbon?

Key differences include LLM Stats Score (0.8 vs 59.0), licensing (deepseek vs Proprietary). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes DeepSeek VL2 Small and Gemini 4 Carbon?

DeepSeek VL2 Small is developed by DeepSeek and Gemini 4 Carbon is developed by Google.

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