DeepSeek
Open-weight reasoning models from China with free chat access.
Reviewed by Faisal Saleem · Filed under Chat & Assistants
DeepSeek is Open-weight reasoning models from China with free chat access. Free to use.
About this tool
DeepSeek is a Chinese AI lab that has become known for releasing high-performing open-weight large language models at a fraction of the cost of Western frontier labs. Its flagship line includes the DeepSeek V series for general chat and the DeepSeek R reasoning models, with DeepSeek V3 and R1 widely benchmarked against GPT-4 class systems and DeepSeek V4 introducing improved agent abilities. The hosted chat product at chat.deepseek.com is free and offers web search and a 'DeepThink' reasoning toggle, while developers can call the same models through a low-priced API or download weights from GitHub and Hugging Face for self-hosting. DeepSeek also publishes specialized variants for coding, math and vision-language. The combination of permissive licensing, transparent technical reports and aggressive pricing has made it a default option for researchers, indie developers and cost-sensitive enterprises.
- Math
- Coding
- Reasoning
- Research
- DeepSeek-R1 reasoning
- V3 chat model
- Open weights
- Web search
- Free unlimited use
DeepSeek pros and cons
Hand-derived from the catalog data — strengths and trade-offs to weigh before signing up.
Pros of DeepSeek
- Completely free to use — no paid tier required
- DeepSeek-R1 reasoning
- V3 chat model
- Open weights
Cons of DeepSeek
- No autonomous agent — handles single prompts, not multi-step workflows
- Competition is strong in this space — see Qwen Chat and Kimi for comparison
2 plans from DeepSeek
Pulled from DeepSeek’s public pricing page. Prices may change — verify on the vendor’s site before purchasing.
Free Chat
Free access via chat
- Unlimited chat access
- DeepSeek V3 and R1 models
- Web search
API (pay-as-you-go)
Pay-per-use API access
- DeepSeek V3 input: $0.27/M
- DeepSeek R1 reasoning model
- Cache discounts available
- Off-peak pricing discount
DeepSeek vs Chat & Assistants
Side-by-side with the top 3 other chat & assistants in this category.
| TOOL | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PRICING MODEL | Free | Free | Freemium | Freemium |
| STARTING PRICE | Free | Free | Free chat; API from $3 / 1M tokens | $20/mo |
| CATEGORY | Chat & Assistants | Chat & Assistants | Chat & Assistants | Chat & Assistants |
| AI AGENT | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| EDITOR'S PICK | No | No | No | Yes |
| KEY FEATURES |
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| USE CASES |
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| TAGS | #chatbot#reasoning#open-source | #chatbot#open-source#multilingual | #chat#open-source#reasoning#long-context#multimodal | #chatbot#reasoning#assistant |
| WEBSITE | chat.deepseek.com | chat.qwen.ai | www.kimi.com | chatgpt.com |
DeepSeek — frequently asked questions
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Related tools
Alibaba's open-source Qwen models in a free chat interface.
Moonshot AI's assistant, powered by the 2.8T open-weight Kimi K3 model.
OpenAI's flagship conversational AI for writing, reasoning, and analysis.
Google's multimodal AI integrated with Workspace and real-time search.