DeepSeek AI
DeepSeek AI
DeepSeek V3.2 delivers frontier-class reasoning and coding at 20-50x lower cost than competitors. Automatic context caching cuts input costs by 90%, making it the go-to choice for cost-sensitive production workloads.
chat.deepseek.comLast updated: April 20, 2026
$0.28/M
Input Price
128K
Context Window
8K
Max Output
60 t/s
Speed (3x V2)
Available Models
| Model | Input $/1M | Output $/1M | Context | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DeepSeek-V3.2 (flagship) | $0.28 | $0.42 | 128K | All-purpose reasoning and coding |
| V3.2 (cache hit) | $0.028 | $0.42 | 128K | Repeated/similar prompts — 90% off |
| DeepSeek-R1 (reasoner) | $0.55 | $2.19 | 128K | Step-by-step deep reasoning |
| DeepSeek Coder V2 | $0.28 | $0.42 | 128K | Code generation and review |
Note: DeepSeek offers free web and app access for consumer use. API is pay-as-you-go with no subscription required.
Strengths & Weaknesses
Strengths
- Extremely low cost: 20-50x cheaper than competitors (DeepSeek Pricing)
- Strong reasoning and coding performance at its price point
- Automatic context caching saves 90% on repeated inputs
- OpenAI-compatible API for easy migration
- Free consumer access via web and mobile apps
Weaknesses
- Separate API vs web/app model behavior
- Data privacy concerns (China-based company) (AbstractAPI)
- Smaller context window (128K vs 1M+ competitors)
- Less mature ecosystem compared to US providers
Best For
- High-volume reasoning agents at minimal cost
- Coding assistants and code review pipelines
- Cost-sensitive production workloads
- Document processing and data extraction
- Startups and developers on tight budgets
Latest Release NEW
DeepSeek-V3.2 — September 2025
- Unifies chat and reasoning in a single model — no separate reasoning variant
- 128K context window with native tool use support
- 90% cache hit discount makes repeated queries extremely cheap
- 3x faster than V2 at 60 tokens/sec output speed
- Open-weight model available for self-hosting
Previous Releases
DeepSeek-R1 — January 2025
- Dedicated reasoning model rivaling OpenAI o1 at a fraction of the cost
- Open-source release that demonstrated competitive reasoning capabilities
- Sparked global attention for Chinese AI competitiveness
DeepSeek-V3 — December 2024
- MoE architecture trained for ~$5.5M — fraction of competitor costs
- Matched or exceeded GPT-4 level performance on key benchmarks
- Established DeepSeek as a top-tier model provider