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DeepSeek pricing & plans

by DeepSeek AI · Hangzhou, China

The free outlier. Strong reasoning, no paywall, no ads, no limits.

Founded Jul 2023
Lowest plan Free
Top plan —
API range $0.15–$3.96 / 1M
Visit DeepSeek ↗ Updated October 21, 2026
§ Price at a glance

How much does DeepSeek cost in 2026?

DeepSeek is completely free in 2026 — there is no paid plan.

Plan Price / month What you get
Free $0 DeepSeek V4.1-Flash + V4-Pro · Unlimited usage · Chain-of-thought · No ads or paywalls

Monthly prices in US dollars before tax, from each vendor's official pricing (US list price; weekly-billed plans converted to a monthly figure). Updated October 21, 2026

§ Quick answer

Is DeepSeek free?

Yes — DeepSeek is entirely free. There is no paid consumer plan.

§ Pricing

All plans, in full.

Free
Free
Free
  • DeepSeek V4.1-Flash + V4-Pro
  • Unlimited usage
  • Chain-of-thought
  • No ads or paywalls
  • Web, iOS, Android
Sign up →
—
—
No paid plan
  • Currently free only
No paid tier
—
—
API available
  • Pennies per million tokens
No paid tier

The honest take

The free outlier. Strong reasoning, no paywall, no ads, no limits.

Best for: Math, logic, coding for users on a budget — or curious experimenters

Where it falls short: Hosted in China; data residency may matter; less polished UX

What you actually get

  • Free
  • Reasoning
  • Coding
  • Math
  • Open weights
  • Chain-of-thought

Pricing history

Late 2024
Free chat launched
Jan 2025
R1 reasoning model open-sourced
2026
V4-Flash & V4-Pro launched, still free in chat
Aug 13, 2026
V4-Pro reaches general availability (build V4-Pro-0813); adds selectable thinking-effort levels
Aug 16, 2026
API repriced with peak/off-peak billing (peak 01:00-04:00 & 06:00-10:00 UTC weekdays, 2x off-peak rate); chat stays free
Sep 10, 2026
V4.1-Flash released, retiring V4-Flash & V4-Flash-Vision-Exp (both aliases now route to it); off-peak API cut to $0.15/$0.60, cache $0.003
Sep 10, 2026
A planned Sep 14 reroute of the deepseek-v4-pro alias to V4.1-Flash rates was reversed in response to user demand; V4-Pro continues as its own model, billing unchanged ($0.66/$1.98 per 1M off-peak)

Should you pay for it?

There is no paid plan, so the question doesn't apply. The free version is genuinely usable for serious work — that's the entire pitch.

§ FAQ

Common questions, answered.

Is DeepSeek free?

Yes — DeepSeek is entirely free. There is no paid consumer plan.

How much does DeepSeek cost in 2026?

DeepSeek pricing in 2026: Free — $0. Full plan-by-plan details are in the table above.

What does the free version of DeepSeek include?

The free tier includes: DeepSeek V4.1-Flash + V4-Pro, Unlimited usage, Chain-of-thought, No ads or paywalls, Web, iOS, Android.

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