DeepSeek

Verified

Open-weight reasoning models with frontier-level performance at low cost

AI Assistants

8.5 /10

Freemium

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Released

2023-07

Country

China

API

Available

Self-Host

Yes

Funding

Private

Last Reviewed

2025-06

About DeepSeek

DeepSeek is an AI lab and assistant platform known for its open-weight model family — most notably the DeepSeek-V3 and DeepSeek-R1 reasoning models — which deliver performance competitive with frontier closed models at a fraction of the cost. The DeepSeek chat assistant (chat.deepseek.com) gives free access to these models with a "DeepThink" reasoning mode. Because the weights are open, DeepSeek models are widely self-hosted and have become a default choice for cost-conscious developers.

Our Verdict

The open-weights value champion — DeepSeek delivers frontier-grade reasoning at radical low cost, making it the go-to for cost-sensitive and self-hosted setups.

Features

DeepThink reasoning mode

Web search

File analysis

Open-weight models

Code generation

Low-cost API

Detailed Ratings

Ease of Use

8.0

Value for Money

10.0

Features

8.0

Support

6.0

Performance

9.0

Overall Rating

8.5 /10

Pros & Cons

Pros

Frontier-level reasoning for free
Open weights, self-hostable
Extremely cheap API
Strong coding & math

Cons

Smaller product ecosystem
Capacity constraints during peak demand
Less multimodal than rivals

Use Cases

Complex reasoningCoding & mathCost-sensitive AI appsSelf-hosted deploymentsResearch

Who Is It For?

Developers and cost-conscious users who want frontier-level reasoning and coding performance for free or at extremely low API cost

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Pricing Plans

Free

DeepSeek chat access
DeepThink reasoning mode
Web search
File uploads

API — Cache Hit

$0.07 /per 1M input tok

Cached input pricing
Ultra-low cost
Best for repeated prompts

API — Standard

$0.27 /per 1M input tok

Standard pricing
Non-cached input
Reasoning model access

Frequently Asked Questions

Is DeepSeek really free?

The DeepSeek chat assistant is free to use, and the underlying model weights are openly available. The API is paid but dramatically cheaper than most frontier-model APIs.

Are DeepSeek models open source?

DeepSeek releases model weights openly (DeepSeek-V3, DeepSeek-R1) under a permissive license, allowing self-hosting. This makes them popular for cost-sensitive and private deployments.

How does DeepSeek compare to GPT-4 or Claude?

On many reasoning and coding benchmarks, DeepSeek-R1 is competitive with frontier closed models, while costing far less via API. It is less multimodal and has a smaller surrounding product ecosystem.