Tool review · Writing
DeepSeek
A free chat tab — the paid product is the API, not a Plus costume.
Gregory Greenstein, Aiacent
- Published
- Updated
- Pricing verified
- How we rank
The Aiacent take
DeepSeek is two products that share a logo. The consumer chat on deepseek.com / chat.deepseek.com is free. The official homepage we opened still sells 'free conversation' — we did not find a consumer Plus or Pro checkout on DeepSeek's own pages. The paid product is the API: prepaid tokens on api-docs.deepseek.com. Mixing those up is how you buy a third-party 'DeepSeek Pro' wrapper, or skip a working free tab because a 2025 recap said the cheap model needed a card.
We score it 7.5 as the free generalist that is not a $20 habit. ChatGPT still wins the default writing seat (8.3). Claude still wins the careful pile (8.2). Cursor still wins the repo (8.6). The API is a developer meter — not this chat seat.
API list prices come from DeepSeek's Models & Pricing docs (api-docs.deepseek.com/quick_start/pricing), checked 19 September 2026, per 1M tokens. deepseek-flash (DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash): cache-hit $0.003 off-peak / $0.006 peak; cache-miss $0.15 / $0.30; output $0.60 / $1.20. deepseek-v4-pro (DeepSeek-V4-Pro-0813): cache-hit $0.022 / $0.044; cache-miss $0.66 / $1.32; output $1.98 / $3.96. Off-peak is half of peak. Peak hours on that page: 01:00–04:00 and 06:00–10:00 UTC, Monday–Friday, excluding Chinese public holidays; weekends and those holidays are off-peak in full. DeepSeek said it would keep serving V4 Pro after 14 September 2026 with billing unchanged. Charges pull from a topped-up or granted balance. Confirm the live table — they reserve the right to change it. We will not invent a DeepSeek Plus sticker, a lab trophy, or an Impact URL.
Product look
DeepSeek
Figure slot. No vendor screenshot until we have a rights-cleared file.
Pros
- The chat is actually free — not a teaser that dies mid-brief the way Free Plus-class tabs do
- API rates on the official docs are a real cheap meter if you meant tokens, not a subscription
- A usable generalist when the objection really is the card
Cons
- There is no DeepSeek Plus to buy. Wrappers that sell one invented a SKU
- Free chat is not ChatGPT Plus, Claude Pro, or a cited research engine
- Peak-hour API and busy chat are not a reliability contract
Who it's for
- People whose first objection is the card and who will actually live in a free chat
- Developers who said DeepSeek and meant api.deepseek.com, not a subscription
- Operators tasting whether a second $20 tab is even a habit
Who should skip it
- Anyone whose week is a mixed draft they already start in ChatGPT (Plus)
- Anyone whose week is a long pile that should push back (Claude Pro)
- Anyone who needed citations they will click (Perplexity) or a repo agent (Cursor)
What matters in the product
Free consumer chat
The product most people search. Web and app. Not a Plus gate. Busy hours still happen. It is not a reliability SLA.
API is a different invoice
Prepaid tokens. Flash vs V4 Pro, peak vs off-peak, cache hit vs miss. Do not budget $20 a month as if it were this meter.
No official Plus
If a landing page sold you DeepSeek Pro for $10, it is not DeepSeek's checkout. Stay on chat.deepseek.com or the API docs.
Verdict
Use the free chat when the card is the objection and a generalist is enough. Pay the API when you meant tokens. Do not buy a wrapper Plus, and do not skip ChatGPT Plus because DeepSeek was free once.
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