# DeepSeek

> Free AI chat assistant built on DeepSeek's openly released models

DeepSeek is a free AI chat assistant from the Hangzhou-based company of the same name, offered on the web and in iOS and Android apps with DeepThink and Search modes. The company releases its models openly and sells API access to them per token. DeepSeek Harness, an open-source desktop agent app for macOS and Windows, is in public preview.

- **Category:** AI Assistants
- **Made by:** DeepSeek (since 2023)
- **Website:** https://www.deepseek.com
- **Runs on:** Web, iOS, Android, macOS, Windows
- **Facts last checked:** Oct 5, 2026

## Pricing

DeepSeek is free to use.

- **Pricing model:** Free
- **Free plan:** The web chat and the iOS and Android apps are free, and the US App Store listing shows no in-app purchases. API usage is billed separately per token.
- **Free trial:** None listed.

| Plan | Price | What you get |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Free | $0 | The chat assistant on the web, iOS and Android, running DeepSeek's latest flagship model. |

Read from https://apps.apple.com/us/app/deepseek-ai-assistant/id6737597349 on Oct 5, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with DeepSeek before buying.

## Key features

- **DeepThink and Search modes:** Two modes sit beside the chat box on DeepSeek's site: DeepThink, for reasoning through a question, and Search, for answers that draw on the web.
- **Visual understanding:** DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash, released in September 2026, adds native visual understanding alongside text.
- **Free mobile apps:** Official iOS and Android apps give free access to the assistant. The App Store listing covers iPhone and iPad.
- **DeepSeek Harness:** A desktop agent app in public preview for organizing files, analyzing data, coding and research. It is MIT-licensed and extended through plugins such as scheduled tasks.
- **Openly released models:** Wikipedia describes DeepSeek's models as open-weight and, since January 2025, released under free and open-source licenses. The web and mobile apps are proprietary.
- **API platform:** The same models are available to developers through an API billed per token, with off-peak rates set at half the peak rates.

## Good for

- Free chat with no subscription tier to outgrow
- Developers who want low per-token API prices
- People who want models whose weights are openly released

## Worth knowing

- There is no paid consumer plan. API access is billed separately, from $0.15 per 1M input tokens off-peak for the deepseek-flash model.
- The desktop download is DeepSeek Harness, a preview agent app for Apple-silicon Macs on macOS 13 or later and 64-bit Windows, not the chat app.
- According to Wikipedia, DeepSeek's compliance with Chinese government censorship policies and its data collection have drawn regulatory scrutiny in several countries.

## What people say

- **App Store rating of the iPhone and iPad app:** 3.9 out of 5 from 12,124 ratings in the United States, read Oct 5, 2026. This is the store's rating of the app, not a score from ToolGPA. Source: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/id6737597349

**Tags:** Chat assistant, AI search, AI agents, Open source, Public API, AI features

## Alternatives

- [ChatGPT](https://toolgpa.com/tools/chatgpt): OpenAI's general-purpose AI assistant for chat, images and voice. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/chatgpt-vs-deepseek)
- [Qwen Studio](https://toolgpa.com/tools/qwen): Alibaba Cloud's chat app for the Qwen family of AI models. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/deepseek-vs-qwen)
- [Kimi](https://toolgpa.com/tools/kimi): AI assistant and agent for research, slides, documents and code. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/deepseek-vs-kimi)
- [Z.ai](https://toolgpa.com/tools/z-ai): Chat assistant and agent built on Z.ai's GLM models. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/deepseek-vs-z-ai)
- [Gemini](https://toolgpa.com/tools/gemini): Google's AI assistant, tied into Gmail, Docs and other Google apps. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/deepseek-vs-gemini)

## Sources

The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Oct 5, 2026:

- https://apps.apple.com/us/app/deepseek-ai-assistant/id6737597349
- https://www.deepseek.com/en/
- https://www.deepseek.com/en/download/
- https://www.deepseek.com/en/harness/
- https://www.deepseek.com/en/news/deepseek-v4-1-flash/
- https://api-docs.deepseek.com/quick_start/pricing
- https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.deepseek.chat
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DeepSeek
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DeepSeek_(AI)

Page: https://toolgpa.com/tools/deepseek
Listed by ToolGPA (toolgpa.com).