Cost-sensitive AI applications
Run high-volume text, reasoning, and coding workloads through a low-cost token-based API.
Independent tool overview
DeepSeek at a glance
DeepSeek is an AI assistant and developer platform built around the open-weight DeepSeek-V4 family, with long-context reasoning, coding, tool use, hosted APIs, and self-hosting options.
Visit the official DeepSeek site ↗
- Developer
- DeepSeek
- Current family
- DeepSeek-V4-Pro and V4-Flash
- Context
- 1 million tokens
- Modes
- Thinking and non-thinking
- Weights
- Published under the MIT License
Overview
What DeepSeek is
DeepSeek offers a consumer chat experience and a developer API built around its current V4 model family. DeepSeek-V4-Pro is the higher-capability option for complex reasoning and agent work, while DeepSeek-V4-Flash is the faster, lower-cost model. Both support thinking and non-thinking modes, tool calls, and a 1-million-token context window.
Developers can use OpenAI-compatible Chat Completions and Responses APIs or an Anthropic-compatible interface. DeepSeek also publishes V4 model weights under the MIT License, which creates self-hosting and customization options that most fully managed assistants do not provide.
The low API price is a major advantage, but model cost is only one part of adoption. Teams should test output quality, latency, tool-call reliability, infrastructure requirements, and data handling on their own workloads before using DeepSeek for production or sensitive work.
Use cases
Who DeepSeek is best for
The strongest fit depends on the job you need the product to complete, not the size of its feature list.
Agentic coding
Use long context, tool calls, configurable reasoning effort, and OpenAI- or Anthropic-compatible interfaces in coding agents.
Long-document work
Analyze large codebases, reports, and document collections within the 1-million-token context window.
Open-weight deployment
Download the MIT-licensed V4 weights when control over hosting, customization, or data boundaries justifies the infrastructure.
Capabilities
Core DeepSeek features
DeepSeek-V4-Pro
The higher-capability hosted and open-weight model is designed for complex reasoning, coding, and production agent workflows.
DeepSeek-V4-Flash
The smaller V4 model prioritizes speed and lower cost while retaining thinking, tool use, and long-context capabilities.
One-million-token context
Current official V4 services support up to 1 million tokens of context and as much as 384K output.
Adjustable reasoning
Thinking can be enabled or disabled, with low, high, and max reasoning-effort settings for supported V4 models.
Developer compatibility
The hosted API supports OpenAI Chat Completions, OpenAI Responses, and an Anthropic-compatible interface.
Open weights
DeepSeek publishes V4-Pro and V4-Flash weights under the MIT License for local or private deployment.
Process
How the DeepSeek workflow works
Step 1
Choose Pro or Flash
Start with Flash for routine, latency-sensitive, or high-volume work and benchmark Pro on the hardest reasoning and agent tasks.
Step 2
Select the interface
Use DeepSeek chat for individual work or connect the API through the OpenAI, Responses, or Anthropic-compatible format your application needs.
Step 3
Control reasoning
Disable thinking for straightforward requests and raise reasoning effort only when added deliberation improves the result enough to justify extra output tokens and latency.
Step 4
Constrain agents
Limit tool permissions, isolate code execution, set budgets, and require approval before external or irreversible actions.
Step 5
Evaluate before production
Test factuality, coding, tool calls, latency, privacy requirements, and total operating cost with representative inputs.
Cost
DeepSeek pricing and free plan
DeepSeek charges the hosted V4 API per million tokens. Off-peak rates are half the peak rates; peak hours are 01:00–04:00 and 06:00–10:00 UTC, Monday through Friday.
V4-Flash cache-hit input
$0.007 off-peak / $0.014 peak per 1M
Discounted input pricing when DeepSeek's context cache matches the prompt.
- 1M-token context
- Usage based
- Peak and off-peak rates
V4-Flash cache-miss input
$0.22 off-peak / $0.44 peak per 1M
Standard input pricing for uncached V4-Flash requests.
- Thinking and non-thinking
- Tool calls
- OpenAI and Anthropic-compatible APIs
V4-Flash output
$0.66 off-peak / $1.32 peak per 1M
Generated-token pricing for V4-Flash.
- Reasoning tokens increase output usage
- Usage based
- 384K maximum output
V4-Pro
$0.022–$0.044 cached / $0.66–$1.32 input / $1.98–$3.96 output per 1M
Off-peak-to-peak API pricing for the higher-capability V4-Pro model.
- 1M-token context
- Low, high, and max reasoning effort
- Higher cost than V4-Flash
Pricing checked . Check current pricing at the source ↗
Assessment
DeepSeek strengths and limitations
Where it stands out
- Very low hosted API prices, especially for cached or off-peak V4-Flash traffic
- One-million-token context across the current V4 family
- Thinking, tool calls, and modern API compatibility support agent workflows
- MIT-licensed model weights offer self-hosting and customization options
- Separate Pro and Flash models let teams trade quality against latency and cost
What to consider
- Self-hosting V4 requires substantial specialist hardware and operational expertise, especially for the much larger Pro model
- DeepSeek's benchmark results are vendor-reported and may not predict quality on a specific production workload
- Thinking mode can increase latency and output-token charges substantially
- The hosted service's privacy policy says prompts and other service data may be used to improve its technology and stored in the People's Republic of China
- DeepSeek says its services are not designed for sensitive personal data, so regulated or confidential workflows need careful review
- AI outputs can be incorrect and require verification before high-stakes use
Compare
DeepSeek alternatives
The right alternative depends on the specific output, workflow, controls and budget your project requires.
Agents
Kimi K2.5
Another low-cost open-weight model family with multimodal agent and coding capabilities.
Explore Kimi K2.5 →Agents
Mistral AI
A broader open-weight platform with enterprise deployment and European hosting options.
Explore Mistral AI →Business Operations
ChatGPT
A more polished managed assistant with a broad consumer and business product ecosystem.
Explore ChatGPT →Project Management
Claude
A strong managed alternative for long-context reasoning, writing, coding, and agent workflows.
Explore Claude →Questions
DeepSeek FAQs
What is the current DeepSeek model?
DeepSeek's current hosted family is DeepSeek-V4. V4-Pro targets the most demanding reasoning and agent work, while V4-Flash is faster and less expensive.
Are deepseek-chat and deepseek-reasoner still available?
No. DeepSeek retired those legacy model IDs on July 24, 2026. New integrations should use deepseek-v4-flash or deepseek-v4-pro.
Is DeepSeek open source?
DeepSeek publishes the V4 model weights and model repositories under the MIT License. The hosted chat and API remain DeepSeek-operated services, so open weights do not make every part of the product stack open source.
How much does the DeepSeek API cost?
V4-Flash ranges from $0.007 to $0.014 per million cache-hit input tokens, $0.22 to $0.44 per million uncached input tokens, and $0.66 to $1.32 per million output tokens. V4-Pro costs more, and DeepSeek applies lower rates outside weekday peak hours.
Can DeepSeek run locally?
Yes. DeepSeek publishes V4 weights and local deployment instructions, but the models are large enough to require substantial GPU infrastructure and experienced operators.
Can a business send sensitive data to DeepSeek?
DeepSeek's privacy policy says its services are not intended for sensitive personal data and that service data may be processed and stored in China. Organizations should complete privacy, security, legal, and procurement review before sending confidential or regulated information.
Bottom line
Our DeepSeek verdict
DeepSeek is compelling for developers who want frontier-style reasoning, coding, long context, and open weights at unusually low API prices. V4-Flash is the practical starting point for most cost-sensitive workloads, while V4-Pro deserves a controlled benchmark on harder agent tasks. Organizations handling confidential or regulated data should resolve hosting and privacy requirements before adopting the hosted service.
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