SUN, OCTOBER 25, 2026
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DeepSeek

by DeepSeek  ·  Free

Chinese AI lab behind the DeepSeek open-weight model family, known for aggressively low API pricing.

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About DeepSeek

DeepSeek is a Chinese AI lab known for its open-weight language models, including the reasoning-focused R1 family and the general-purpose V-series. It has offered a free chat assistant on the web and in mobile apps, and an API that has been priced low compared with many rivals.

Many of its models are published with open weights, so teams can download them, run them on their own hardware or use them through third-party hosts. The hosted app processes data on servers in China, so avoid sending confidential information to it. Model names and prices change often, so check DeepSeek for the current lineup.

✅ Key Features

  • Open-weight model families
  • Reasoning-focused models
  • Chat assistant on the web and in mobile apps
  • Low-cost API
  • Distilled smaller models for local use
  • Available through third-party hosts

🧩 Specs

Platforms
WebiOSAndroidAPISelf-hosted
Integrations
Hugging FaceOllamavLLM

🎯 Best For & Tags

Best For
Cost-sensitive API workloadsSelf-hosted private AIMath and coding tasksResearch on open reasoning modelsFine-tuning open models
Tags
DeepSeekopen weightsopen source LLMreasoning modelLLMChinese AIself-hosted AI

❓ Frequently Asked Questions about DeepSeek

What is DeepSeek?

DeepSeek is an AI company based in China that offers a chat assistant on the web and in mobile apps, and an API for developers. It became widely known for releasing capable reasoning models, several of them as open-weight models that others can download and run.

Is DeepSeek free?

The chat assistant has been free to use, and the developer API is pay-as-you-go and has been priced low compared with many rivals. Terms can change, so check DeepSeek's website for current access and pricing.

Is DeepSeek safe to use with private data?

Be cautious. DeepSeek's privacy policy says user data is processed on servers in China, and some governments and organizations have restricted its use on work devices. Do not enter confidential or personal information into the hosted app. If privacy matters, running an open-weight model on your own hardware or through a provider you trust avoids sending data to DeepSeek's servers.

Can I run DeepSeek models locally?

Many DeepSeek models are released as open weights, so they can be downloaded and run on your own hardware or through hosting providers. The largest models need serious GPU resources, while smaller distilled versions can run on a good consumer computer. Check each model's licence before commercial use.

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⚖ Comparisons

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DeepSeek vs OpenAI: $75B Against $1.25 Trillion
DeepSeek is nearing about 100 billion yuan, roughly $15 billion, at a pre-money near $75 billion. OpenAI is nearing up to $30 billion at $1.25 trillion. The capability gap between their models is nothing like sixteen to one.
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DeepSeek vs Mistral (2026): Both FLI F — Cheapest Open Models vs European Alternative
DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731 ($0.14/$0.28/M, MIT, Terminal-Bench 82.7%, FLI F — failing, Chinese lab, US Treasury deprecation deadline Oct 24) vs Mistral (European, various models $0.10-$8/M, Le Chat, FLI F — failing, dead last of 9 labs, GDPR-native). Both fail FLI. Different strengths and risk profiles.
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Qwen3.8-Max vs DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731 (2026): Large Unverified vs Small Verified
Qwen3.8-Max-Preview (2.4T, no benchmark, no price, preview only) vs DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731 ($0.14/$0.28/M, Terminal-Bench 82.7%, MIT open weights, Codex-compatible). V4 Flash wins on every verifiable dimension today. Different use cases: V4 Flash for agentic coding, Qwen3.8 for general multimodal frontier work.
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Cheapest Open-Weight Coding Models (August 2026): DeepSeek, Laguna, Kimi, Grok — Full Comparison
DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731 ($0.14/M), Laguna S 2.1 ($0.10/M), Kimi K3 ($3/M, sanctions risk), Grok 4.5 ($2/M) — ranked by price and Terminal-Bench. V4 Flash 0731 now offers the best cost-performance ratio among models with verified agent benchmarks. Updated August 1 after V4 Flash official release.
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DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731 vs Grok 4.5 (2026): $0.14/M vs $2/M — Same Benchmark Tier, 14× Price Gap
DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731 ($0.14/$0.28/M, 82.7% Terminal-Bench) vs Grok 4.5 ($2/$6/M, 83.3% Terminal-Bench). V4 Flash 0731 is 14× cheaper on input and 21× cheaper on output, and now within 0.6 percentage points on Terminal-Bench. The practical difference: Grok 4.5 has live X data and Cursor integration. V4 Flash is open-weight and costs almost nothing per run.
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