DeepSeek is routing every V4 Pro request to V4.1 Flash once the new model ships, effectively retiring its flagship
r/LocalLLaMA (corroborated by api-docs.deepseek.com and Odaily)·high signal
r/LocalLLaMA's top post today (474 upvotes, 75 comments) reported DeepSeek has 'soft retired' V4 Pro. DeepSeek's own community notice says that after V4.1 Flash launches around September 10 Beijing time, and until V4.1 Pro exists, all V4 Pro requests will be routed to V4.1 Flash and billed at Flash unit pricing, on the claim that Flash has surpassed Pro on performance, cost, speed and total processing time. V4 Pro only reached GA on August 13, 2026 per DeepSeek's changelog, making this a three-week flagship lifespan.