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Tool review · Writing

DeepSeek

A free chat tab — the paid product is the API, not a Plus costume.

7.5/10Best free generalist that is not a $20 habit

Gregory Greenstein, Aiacent

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  • 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 · figure pending

DeepSeek

Best for. Operators who will live in a free generalist chat — and developers who meant the token meter.

Skip if. You needed a $20 mixed draft (ChatGPT Plus), a careful pile (Claude Pro), or a cited web brief (Perplexity).

No vendor screenshot until a rights-cleared file exists at public/figures/deepseek.png. We do not hotlink app UIs.

DeepSeek — Best free generalist that is not a $20 habit. Best for: Operators who will live in a free generalist chat — and developers who meant the token meter. Skip if: You needed a $20 mixed draft (ChatGPT Plus), a careful pile (Claude Pro), or a cited web brief (Perplexity). Rights-cleared capture goes at public/figures/deepseek.png. We do not hotlink vendor UIs.

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.

Open DeepSeek

FAQ

Consumer chat is free on deepseek.com / chat.deepseek.com; API is prepaid tokens — api-docs.deepseek.com Public list we last checked: Chat (web / app): $0 (Official homepage: free conversation — no consumer Plus card we could open); API · deepseek-flash: Per 1M tokens (Peak cache-miss $0.30 in / $1.20 out; off-peak half — official docs); API · deepseek-v4-pro: Per 1M tokens (Peak cache-miss $1.32 in / $3.96 out; off-peak half — official docs). Confirm on the vendor site. We do not set their prices, and we do not invent promotional codes.

Refund and cancel terms are not listed here because we do not republish unpublished vendor policies. Check the vendor checkout and help center before you buy.