VerdictBloomIndependent AI tool verdicts
NewsCalculatorChatbotsImage genVideoCodeWritingAI searchSEO and GEOAudioProductivityDesign

Tool profile

DeepSeek

DeepSeek builds and releases large language models that can be used via a chat interface, a developer API, or self-hosted since the weights are open. The models are trained at unusually low cost and compete with top Western models on coding, math, and reasoning benchmarks. DeepSeek made headlines in early 2025 when its R1 reasoning model matched or beat OpenAI's best models at a fraction of the price.

Made byDeepSeek (Hangzhou DeepSeek Artificial Intelligence Co., Ltd., backed by High-Flyer hedge fund)
Launched2023
CategoryLarge Language Model / AI API
Best forDevelopers and researchers who need strong coding or math reasoning at very low API cost, teams exploring open-weight models they can run on their own infrastructure, and cost-conscious businesses that want GPT-4-class output without GPT-4-class bills.
PricingFree chat interface at chat.deepseek.com; API is pay-per-token with no monthly seat fee, and prices are among the cheapest of any frontier model as of mid-2025.

Models and pricing

DeepSeek-V3Approximately $0.27 per 1M input tokens and $1.10 per 1M output tokens via the API (cache hits are even cheaper). Roughly $0.06 per 1,000 words of output at typical length.

General-purpose text generation, coding, summarisation, and instruction-following

Pick this for everyday tasks where you want fast, cheap, high-quality output without needing step-by-step reasoning traces. It is the workhorse model.

DeepSeek-R1Approximately $0.55 per 1M input tokens and $2.19 per 1M output tokens via the API. Roughly $0.12 per 1,000 words of output.

Complex reasoning, multi-step math, competitive programming, and logic problems

Pick this when accuracy on hard problems matters more than speed or cost. It thinks step by step like OpenAI o1 and is dramatically cheaper than o1. Note it is slower due to chain-of-thought processing.

DeepSeek-R1 Distill variants (Qwen and Llama based, 1.5B to 70B)Free to download and run locally; API pricing varies by provider if using a third-party host. DeepSeek does not always directly serve all distill sizes via its own API.

Self-hosting or edge deployment where you want R1-style reasoning in a smaller, runnable model

Pick a distill variant if you want to run reasoning locally on your own GPU or avoid sending data to DeepSeek's servers. The 7B and 14B sizes run on a single consumer GPU; the 70B needs significant hardware.

DeepSeek Chat (free web interface)Free, no account required for basic use as of mid-2025 (account needed for history and some features).

Casual use, quick questions, trying the models without an API key

Use this if you just want to test the model or use it occasionally. Not suitable for building apps or processing large volumes of text.

Which model should you use?

For most developers, start with DeepSeek-V3 via the API for general tasks since it is fast and extremely cheap; switch to DeepSeek-R1 only when you need rigorous step-by-step reasoning on hard math, science, or coding problems.

Visit official site

How we evaluate

VerdictBloom profiles are based on publicly available documentation, pricing pages, and real user reports. We accept zero payment from any company listed here. Our revenue comes from display advertising only. Pricing and features verified as of publication — always check the official site before purchasing.