AiCensus.
DeepSeek logo

DeepSeek

Verified

Free AI chat and ultra-low-cost API with DeepSeek V4 models and 1M-token context.

4.5
How we rateFreemiumChatbots & Assistants
Visit DeepSeek Compare

Pricing

Freemium

Company

DeepSeek

Founded

2023

Web/app chat free for individuals (no paid plan). API: V4 Flash $0.14/$0.28 per 1M tokens; V4 Pro $0.435/$0.87; 5M free tokens for new accounts; steep cache and off-peak discounts. Verified July 2026.

Pricing verified Jul 2026

Who It's For
AI developers and researchersStartups on a budgetOpen-source enthusiastsCompanies optimizing AI costs
Details
CompanyDeepSeek
Founded2023
WebsiteVisit

About DeepSeek

DeepSeek offers a completely free consumer chat (web and mobile) running its V4 Flash model with an optional DeepThink reasoning mode, plus a developer API that undercuts every major rival on price. The current V4 generation — V4 Flash for general work and V4 Pro for frontier reasoning — ships with a native 1M-token context window at no extra charge. DeepSeek built its reputation on open-weight models (V3, R1), which remain available through third-party hosts.

Key Features

  • Free consumer chat with DeepThink reasoning toggle
  • V4 Flash and V4 Pro API models with 1M-token context
  • Cheapest frontier-class API on the market
  • Open-weight V3 and R1 models for self-hosting
  • Prompt caching with ~98% cache-hit discount
  • Available via OpenRouter, AWS Bedrock, and Azure

Pros & Cons

Pros

+ Genuinely free chat with no message paywall

+ API costs 35-100x less than GPT-5-class rivals

+ 1M context included at no extra charge

+ Strong reasoning per dollar

Cons

- Fair-use throttling on free chat during peak hours

- No image generation or voice in the consumer app

- Data-residency concerns for some organizations

- Fewer consumer features than ChatGPT or Gemini

Use Cases

Cost-effective AI applicationsRunning AI models locallyBudget-conscious AI developmentResearch and experimentation

More in Chatbots & Assistants