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DeepSeek

S tiernew this month

Chinese open-weight powerhouse. Crazy cheap, genuinely smart.

Open DeepSeek →Compare with alternatives

Kai's verdict

S-tier for price/performance. A-tier for consumer use. If you build apps, this is the budget pick.

Strengths

  • Open weights you can self-host
  • Strong reasoning + math
  • Near-free API pricing
  • DeepSeek-V3 / R1 are serious models

Weaknesses

  • Data goes to servers in China — privacy concerns for business use
  • Chinese policy filters
  • English polish trails Western models

Best for

Developers + cost-conscious builders. Anyone fine with self-hosting.

Pricing

Free web + ultra-cheap API (~$0.14/M input tokens)

Alternatives worth knowing

Claude
S
Anthropic's flagship — best reasoning + longest useful context.
Qwen
A
Alibaba's open chat model. Multilingual + agentic.
Le Chat (Mistral)
B
French alternative. Fast, European, privacy-focused.