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DeepSeek

chatbot

by deepseek

Frontier AI models that are completely free to chat with, the cheapest to build on, and fully open source under the MIT license.

Key features

Conversations
Coding
Math & Reasoning
Writing
DeepThink (R1 Reasoning)
Deep Research
Pricing

Free tier available

Best For

Anyone who wants a capable AI chatbot without paying anything; the consumer app is completely free with no paid tiers

Verdict

Frontier level model quality at 10 to 50x lower cost than Western competitors

What it does

Conversations

General purpose AI chat for questions, brainstorming, explanations, and everyday tasks, powered by DeepSeek V3.2.

Coding

Code generation, debugging, review, and explanation across all major programming languages. Particularly strong at competitive programming and algorithm problems.

Math & Reasoning

One of the strongest models available for mathematical problem solving, logic, and structured reasoning across standard benchmarks.

Writing

Long form content creation, summarization, editing, and translation with strong multilingual support.

DeepThink (R1 Reasoning)

Toggle on extended chain of thought reasoning in the chat app for complex problems that benefit from step by step thinking. Free to use.

Learn more

Deep Research

Autonomous research mode that searches the web extensively and produces comprehensive, cited reports. Available for free.

Learn more

Web Search

Up to date information retrieval with source citations, togglable directly in the chat interface.

API & Self Hosting

Build applications with the cheapest frontier API available, or download the full model weights and run on your own hardware under the MIT license.

Learn more

Pricing

Free

Free

Complete access to DeepSeek V3.2, DeepThink (R1 reasoning), Deep Research, web search, and file uploads. No credit card required. No paid consumer tiers exist.

  • DeepSeek V3.2 (flagship model)
  • DeepThink / R1 reasoning mode
  • Deep Research
  • Web search with citations
  • File and image uploads
  • Generous daily usage limits
  • No credit card required

Pros & Cons

Pros

  • Frontier level model quality at 10 to 50x lower cost than Western competitors
  • Consumer chat app is completely free with generous limits, including reasoning and Deep Research
  • Fully open source under the MIT license with published weights, training code, and methodology
  • Exceptional performance on math, coding, and reasoning benchmarks, competitive with GPT-4o and Claude Sonnet
  • DeepThink (R1 reasoning) available for free, while competitors charge $20+/month for equivalent features
  • API pricing is the lowest of any frontier model ($0.28/$0.42 per million tokens), viable for high volume applications
  • Extensive ecosystem of distilled models (1.5B to 70B parameters) for running on various hardware configurations
  • Available on many third party platforms (OpenRouter, Together AI, Fireworks) for US hosted infrastructure

Cons

  • Chat interface is basic compared to ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini with fewer features, less polish, and no projects or workspaces
  • Data privacy concerns: servers are in China and Chinese data laws apply. Self hosting is recommended for sensitive business use
  • Smaller context window (128K tokens) compared to Claude (200K) or Gemini (1M)
  • No image generation, video generation, or voice mode capabilities
  • No native integrations, plugins, or app ecosystem (no MCP, no connectors)
  • Writing quality for creative and nuanced long form content is generally behind Claude
  • Occasional censorship on politically sensitive topics related to China
  • Less reliable uptime compared to established Western providers; the API has experienced capacity issues during peak demand

How to get started

1

Create your free account

Go to chat.deepseek.com and create a free account. There is no paid tier for the consumer app. Everything is free, including DeepThink (R1 reasoning) and Deep Research. No credit card required.

DeepSeek Chat
2

Send your first message and try DeepThink

Type any question in the chat box. Toggle DeepThink on before sending to activate R1 reasoning mode, which shows step by step chain of thought before the final answer. This is the equivalent of features that cost $20+/month on ChatGPT and Claude, available here for free.

3

Explore Deep Research and web search

Activate Deep Research for comprehensive, multi source reports on complex topics. Enable web search for questions that need current information with source citations. Upload PDFs, images, and documents for analysis.

4

Go further with the API or self hosting

For developers, sign up at platform.deepseek.com for API access. The API is OpenAI compatible, so existing client libraries work by changing the base URL. For full privacy control, download model weights from Hugging Face and run locally with Ollama, vLLM, or llama.cpp.

API PlatformAPI DocumentationHugging Face Models

Deep dive

Detailed guides with comparisons, tips, and visuals for each feature.

Model Versions

DeepSeek V3.2, R1 reasoning, distilled variants from 1.5B to 70B, and the full release history.

1 min read

DeepSeek Chat (Consumer Web App)

Free chat interface with DeepThink reasoning, Deep Research, web search, and file uploads. No paid tiers.

Free (no paid tiers)·1 min read

API & Developer Access

The cheapest frontier API available, OpenAI compatible, with aggressive caching discounts and broad third party platform support.

Pay per use, no minimum spend·2 min read

Open Source & Self Hosting

Full model weights under MIT license with no restrictions. Run on your own hardware from a single laptop to a multi GPU cluster.

MIT license, no restrictions·2 min read

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Last updated: 2026-02-20