# DeepSeek

> MIT-licensed open models at some of the lowest first-party prices anywhere.

Canonical: https://www.subconscious.dev/providers/deepseek · By The Subconscious Team · Updated October 11, 2026

- Founded: 2023
- Example models: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
- Website: https://www.deepseek.com

## Overview

DeepSeek is the Chinese lab whose open-weight models reset price expectations for the whole market. Its main model is V4.1 Flash, with 1M context and 384K max output, which shipped September 10, 2026 with built-in image understanding at $0.30 in and $1.20 out at peak. DeepSeek is phasing out V4 Pro: since September 14, deepseek-v4-pro requests route to V4.1 Flash at Flash rates until V4.1 Pro launches. Cache hits cost a few cents per million or less, and the weights ship on Hugging Face under an MIT license.

Since August 16, 2026, DeepSeek bills peak and off-peak rates. Peak runs 01:00 to 04:00 and 06:00 to 10:00 UTC on weekdays, and every other hour costs exactly half, so a US team working normal business hours pays the lower rate. The switch was a real increase, though: V4 Flash output went from a flat $0.28 to $0.66 off-peak. Low, high and max reasoning effort settings give developers a direct lever on output tokens. Because the weights are open, most hosts in this doc also serve DeepSeek, often below DeepSeek's own list.

## Upsides

- Strong open-weight models at some of the lowest first-party prices anywhere.
- Very cheap cache hits, a big win for agents that reread long prefixes.

## Core use cases

- Cost-sensitive agents and batch work scheduled into off-peak windows.
- Self-hosting or fine-tuning a top open model with permissive licensing.

## Downsides

- Data on the hosted API is stored in China, a hard stop for many enterprises.
- Frequent model retirements and repricing force teams to keep re-checking cost models.

## At a glance

| Attribute | Value |
|---|---|
| Model access | Open weights (MIT) |
| Flagship models | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash |
| Speed | ~209 tok/s on V4.1 Flash |
| Price | Off-peak hours at half price |
| Customization | Open weights to fine-tune |
| Deployment | First-party API, Hugging Face weights |
| Long context | 1M, 384K max output |

## FAQ

### What is DeepSeek?

DeepSeek is the Chinese lab whose open-weight models reset price expectations for the whole market. Its main model is V4.1 Flash, with 1M context and 384K max output, which shipped September 10, 2026 with built-in image understanding at $0.30 in and $1.20 out at peak. DeepSeek is phasing out V4 Pro: since September 14, deepseek-v4-pro requests route to V4.1 Flash at Flash rates until V4.1 Pro launches. Cache hits cost a few cents per million or less, and the weights ship on Hugging Face under an MIT license.

### What is DeepSeek best for?

Cost-sensitive agents and batch work scheduled into off-peak windows; Self-hosting or fine-tuning a top open model with permissive licensing.

### How much does DeepSeek cost?

DeepSeek pricing at a glance: Off-peak hours at half price. Rates change often, so check DeepSeek's pricing page before committing.

### How much context does DeepSeek support?

DeepSeek's long-context support: 1M, 384K max output.

### What are the downsides of DeepSeek?

Data on the hosted API is stored in China, a hard stop for many enterprises; Frequent model retirements and repricing force teams to keep re-checking cost models.

### What are the best alternatives to DeepSeek?

Common alternatives include Subconscious, OpenAI, Anthropic, Google Vertex AI, Amazon Bedrock. Each has a head-to-head comparison with DeepSeek on this site.

## Comparisons

- [Subconscious vs DeepSeek](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/subconscious-vs-deepseek.md)
- [OpenAI vs DeepSeek](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/openai-vs-deepseek.md)
- [Anthropic vs DeepSeek](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/anthropic-vs-deepseek.md)
- [Google Vertex AI vs DeepSeek](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/google-vertex-vs-deepseek.md)
- [Amazon Bedrock vs DeepSeek](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/aws-bedrock-vs-deepseek.md)
- [Together AI vs DeepSeek](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/together-ai-vs-deepseek.md)
- [Fireworks AI vs DeepSeek](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/fireworks-vs-deepseek.md)
- [Baseten vs DeepSeek](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/baseten-vs-deepseek.md)
- [Groq vs DeepSeek](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/groq-vs-deepseek.md)
- [Cerebras vs DeepSeek](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/cerebras-vs-deepseek.md)
- [DeepInfra vs DeepSeek](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/deepinfra-vs-deepseek.md)
- [Hugging Face Inference Providers vs DeepSeek](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/hugging-face-vs-deepseek.md)
- [Modal vs DeepSeek](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/modal-vs-deepseek.md)
- [Cloudflare Workers AI vs DeepSeek](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/cloudflare-workers-ai-vs-deepseek.md)
- [xAI vs DeepSeek](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/xai-vs-deepseek.md)
- [Mistral AI vs DeepSeek](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/mistral-ai-vs-deepseek.md)
- [DeepSeek vs Moonshot AI](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/deepseek-vs-moonshot-ai.md)
- [DeepSeek vs Z.ai](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/deepseek-vs-z-ai.md)
- [DeepSeek vs Alibaba Cloud](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/deepseek-vs-alibaba-cloud.md)
- [DeepSeek vs Meta](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/deepseek-vs-meta.md)
- [DeepSeek vs Cohere](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/deepseek-vs-cohere.md)
- [DeepSeek vs SambaNova](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/deepseek-vs-sambanova.md)
- [DeepSeek vs Nebius](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/deepseek-vs-nebius.md)
- [DeepSeek vs Crusoe](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/deepseek-vs-crusoe.md)
- [DeepSeek vs fal](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/deepseek-vs-fal.md)
- [DeepSeek vs Novita AI](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/deepseek-vs-novita-ai.md)
- [DeepSeek vs Venice](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/deepseek-vs-venice.md)
- [DeepSeek vs Parasail](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/deepseek-vs-parasail.md)
- [DeepSeek vs Inference.net](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/deepseek-vs-inference-net.md)
- [DeepSeek vs GMI Cloud](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/deepseek-vs-gmi-cloud.md)
- [DeepSeek vs Thinking Machines](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/deepseek-vs-thinking-machines.md)
- [DeepSeek vs Sail Research](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/deepseek-vs-sail-research.md)
- [DeepSeek vs Morph](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/deepseek-vs-morph.md)
- [DeepSeek vs Relace](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/deepseek-vs-relace.md)
- [DeepSeek vs TypeSafe AI](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/deepseek-vs-typesafe-ai.md)
- [DeepSeek vs StepFun](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/deepseek-vs-stepfun.md)
- [DeepSeek vs Runware](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/deepseek-vs-runware.md)
- [DeepSeek vs StreamLake](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/deepseek-vs-streamlake.md)
- [DeepSeek vs Wafer](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/deepseek-vs-wafer.md)
- [DeepSeek vs RunInfra](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/deepseek-vs-runinfra.md)
- [DeepSeek vs Particle.AI](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/deepseek-vs-particle-ai.md)
- [DeepSeek vs Luminal](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/deepseek-vs-luminal.md)
- [DeepSeek vs Infron](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/deepseek-vs-infron.md)
- [DeepSeek vs Inception](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/deepseek-vs-inception.md)
- [DeepSeek vs Dolphin](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/deepseek-vs-dolphin.md)

## Sources

- [DeepSeek pricing Sept 2026](https://justinmckelvey.com/blog/deepseek-pricing)
- [DeepSeek repricing, tokenkarma](https://tokenkarma.app/blog/deepseek-v4-pro-ga-peak-off-peak-pricing-live-2026/)
- [V4 Flash review, Vorp Labs](https://vorplabs.com/models/releases/deepseek-v4-flash)
- [DeepSeek V4.1 Flash announcement](https://www.deepseek.com/en/news/deepseek-v4-1-flash/)
- [V4.1 Flash, Artificial Analysis](https://artificialanalysis.ai/models/deepseek-v4-1-flash)

Pricing and model lineups change often; figures are a snapshot.