DeepSeek
Open-weight frontier models at a fraction of closed-model pricing
Best for:cost sensitiveself hostingdevelopershigh volume
DeepSeek pairs a free consumer chat app with the cheapest capable API in the category. DeepSeek V4 ships a 1M-token context window under an MIT license, so the same model can be called through the API or self-hosted with no licensing negotiation — the main reason it shows up on cost-sensitive and data-sensitive shortlists.
Workflow Fit
This page is optimized for platform selection: who this tool is best for, the practical workflows it supports, and the models available under the hood.
Best use cases
cost sensitiveself hostingdevelopershigh volume
Provider & model access
Pros
- V4 Flash at $0.14 / 1M input is roughly 35x cheaper than the closed flagships
- MIT-licensed open weights allow self-hosting with no commercial restrictions
- 1M-token context at open-weight pricing
- Cache-hit input bills far below the quoted cache-miss rate
Cons
- No vision input on the V4 line
- China-based hosting raises data-residency questions for regulated buyers
- Thinner enterprise support and SLA story than US vendors
Specifications
- Free Tier
- Yes
- API Access
- Yes
Features
Context Window1M tokens
Vision Input
Reasoning Mode
Open Weights
API Access
Pricing
| Plan | Price | Limits | Key Features |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free (chat) | Free | — | Web and mobile chat • V4 access |
| API (pay-as-you-go) | Custom | — | $0.14-$0.44 / 1M input • $0.28-$0.87 / 1M output • 1M context |
| Self-host | Custom | — | MIT-licensed weights • No usage fees • Full data control |
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Company
- Company
- DeepSeek
- Founded
- 2023
- Headquarters
- Hangzhou, China