DeepSeek has recently become a social media sensation, sparking debate and curiosity to learn more about it and try using it. DeepSeek can answer all of your questions, whether it’s a simple quiz or a rigorous mathematical problem, it will give you a satisfactory answer.
Would you like to use DeepSeek to improve your workflow and productivity? But is DeepSeek free? What is DeepSeek’s pricing compared to its competitor ChatGPT? In this post, you’ll find out if DeepSeek is free and what it is for.
What Is DeepSeek AI?
This post will start by introducing you to what DeepSeek AI is. It is a generative AI chatbot that you can ask questions and it will generate ideas and solutions for you. It works similarly to OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini.
DeepSeek is an AI development company based in Hangzhou, China, and a subsidiary of Chinese hedge fund High Flyer. The company offers a variety of services for its models, including web interfaces, mobile apps, and API access.
DeepSeek has emerged as a strong challenger to other AI platforms, bringing a fresh perspective to AI language modeling. DeepSeek-R1 and V3 are highly regarded for their excellent functionality and cost-effective approach to technical and mathematical excellence.
DeepSeek was also highly discussed after it was released, and even topped the App Store and Google Play charts at one point, hotter than well-known AIs like ChatGPT.
Is DeepSeek Free to Use?
The Price of DeepSeek
According to the current information given on the DeepSeek website, you can download and use it for free.
If you are a regular user, you can get the DeepSeek APP through the official DeepSeek website directly or get it from third-party apps. Android users can search and download it through the Google Play Store or mobile app market. Apple users can just search and download it in the App Store.
However, the browser version of DeepSeek R1 allows up to 50 messages to be sent. If you want to access DeepSeek’s APIs for the various models, this content is available for a fee.
There is no message limit for the API version. You can use it by purchasing as many tokens as you need. The fee is the price plus the number of tokens. Here are the DeepSeek pricing models:
| Model | DeepSeek-chat | DeepSeek-reasoner |
| 1M Tokens Input Price (Cache Hit) | $0.07 | $0.14 |
| 1M Tokens Input Price (Cache Miss) | $0.27 | $0.55 |
| 1M Tokens Output Price | $1.1 | $2.19 |
DeepSeek vs. ChatGPT: Which One Is Cheaper?
ChatGPT is the current leader in the AI industry, and the emergence of DeepSeek has brought it some shocks as well. In terms of price, ChatGPT is not a fully open-source AI tool.
ChatGPT offers a free version too. However, DeepSeek does not currently support image generation or photo analysis. The ChatGPT free version does not include access to the latest GPT-4 models and has limited inter-session memory.
The token price of ChatGPT o1 is different from DeepSeek R1. We will compare the two for you in terms of price:
| Model | DeepSeek R1 | ChatGPT o1 |
| Cost of per 1M Tokens | $0.14 | $7.5 |
| Words of per 1M Tokens | 750,000 | 750,000 |
Per token of DeepSeek R1 is almost 50 times cheaper than ChatGPT o1.
| Model | DeepSeek-V3 | ChatGPT-4o |
| Input Cost per 1M Tokens | $0.14 | $2.5 |
| Output Cost per 1M Tokens | $0.28 | $10 |
When comparing the prices between the higher-level models, DeepSeek-V3 is much cheaper than GPT-4o.
Who Is DeepSeek Suitable For?
DeepSeek’s cost models are affordable and powerful. The benefits for some groups are numerous.
Startups and Small Businesses: For cash-strapped small businesses, DeepSeek’s low price can give them more access to AI for content creation.
Students and Researchers: DeepSeek can help students with coding, math problems, or research ideas.
API Users: DeepSeek comes in handy for companies or developers who need to process millions of queries per day for large customer service operations.
Educational Institutions: DeepSeek helps these organizations create virtual learning assistants, automate donor communications, or manage educational resources. They can utilize cutting-edge AI tools to improve learning outcomes or streamline operations.
What Are the Concerns of DeepSeek Right Now?
Although the price of DeepSeek is cheap and it’s free for basic feature use, there are also some concerns related to data privacy, security, and censorship:
Data Privacy and Security: Several countries and organizations put out warnings of DeepSeek’s handling practices. The DeepSeek’s center is located in China, these countries or organizations have raised fears of unauthorized access by the Chinese government.
Using a VPN can release the issue. LightningX VPN provides advanced encryption protocols and algorithms including Vless, Shadowsocks, WireGuard, and AES-256 to protect your online security. Once you connect, LightningX VPN hides your real IP address.
It offers more than 2,000 servers in 50+ countries or regions, no matter where you are, it can help you access DeepSeek. Moreover, it addresses a strict no-log policy. It supports all popular AI tools such as ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude.
Government censorship: DeepSeek restricts responses on politically sensitive topics. Different countries or regions have different attitudes towards political issues. Differences in regional censorship have also led some regions to view DeepSeek as politically biased and to be reluctant to use it.
Cyberattack: After DeepSeek became popular, some cyber attackers maliciously attacked DeepSeek servers causing the company to temporarily restrict new user registrations. DeepSeek still needs to increase the resilience of its servers when it comes to defending against cyberattacks.
Bottom Line
This post introduces you to DeepSeek, whether it’s free, what it is, who it’s for, and what concerns it faces now. DeepSeek is on a hot streak right now. If you’re interested in it but worried about the high price, you’ll be put off. Hopefully, this post will help you get a new understanding of DeepSeek.
