DeepSeek vs OpenAI Pricing 2026

Published September 15, 2026

DeepSeek and OpenAI are two of the most popular LLM API providers. This side-by-side comparison covers pricing, capabilities, and which one makes sense for your use case.

Pricing Comparison Table

Provider	Model	Input/M	Output/M	Best For
DeepSeek	V4.1 Flash (off-peak)	$0.15	$0.60	Budget tasks
DeepSeek	V4 Pro (off-peak)	$0.66	$1.98	Reasoning
OpenAI	GPT-4o-mini	$0.15	$0.60	Simple tasks
OpenAI	GPT-4o	$2.50	$10.00	General
OpenAI	GPT-5	$5.00	$20.00	Advanced
OpenAI	GPT-6 Luna	$1.20	$4.80	Fast & capable
OpenAI	GPT-6 Terra	$12.00	$48.00	Complex reasoning
AI24X	Flash (managed)	—	$0.35	Everyday use
AI24X	Pro (managed)	—	$1.05	High-value

AI24X managed-tier prices ($0.35 Flash, $1.05 Pro) are per million output tokens; the official rates above are list prices and can change, so check the current figures on the pricing page before budgeting.

Key Differences

Peak pricing: DeepSeek charges 2x during its peak window (01:00–04:00 and 06:00–10:00 UTC, Monday to Friday). OpenAI has flat pricing.
Cache hits: DeepSeek offers deep discounts on cache hits ($0.003/M vs $0.15/M off-peak). OpenAI does not discount cache.
Model range: OpenAI offers more model variants (GPT-4o-mini through GPT-6 Terra). DeepSeek has two core models.
Vision: Both support image understanding.
Tool calling: Both support function calling.

Which Should You Choose?

Choose DeepSeek if: You can batch requests during off-peak hours, your prompts have high cache hit potential, and you need strong reasoning at a lower price point.

Choose OpenAI if: You need flat predictable pricing, access to the full GPT-6 model range, or prefer US-based infrastructure.

Choose AI24X if: You want both — access DeepSeek and OpenAI models through one API key with managed pricing, with published discounts of 71%, 91% and 96% on GPT-6 Luna, Terra and Sol respectively.

How to Read the Peak/Off-Peak Split

DeepSeek's peak window (01:00–04:00 and 06:00–10:00 UTC, Monday to Friday) leaves most of the day — and all weekend — at off-peak rates. If your batch jobs can be scheduled outside the peak window, the effective discount compounds; interactive traffic that must run during peak simply pays the 2x rate. Cache hits are a second lever: repeated system prompts and long shared contexts hit the cache discount regardless of the clock.

Migrating Between Providers

Moving from OpenAI-style code to DeepSeek — or to AI24X managed tiers — keeps the request shape: change the base URL and the model id, keep the SDK. What changes in practice is the metering: token pricing, rate limits, and the peak schedule. Run your eval set on both before switching; the migration guide covers the steps and the pitfalls in detail.

FAQ

Is DeepSeek always cheaper than OpenAI?

Not always at the bottom tier — DeepSeek Flash off-peak is priced close to GPT-4o-mini in the table above. The gap opens against the larger OpenAI models, where DeepSeek delivers reasoning-class output at a fraction of the rate.

What counts as a cache hit?

When your prompt shares a long prefix with a recent request — common with fixed system prompts or repeated document context — the repeated portion can be served from cache at a deep discount. Structuring prompts so the shared part comes first raises hit rates.

Can I use both providers with one API key?

Yes. Through AI24X, DeepSeek and OpenAI models are served by the same OpenAI-compatible endpoint — switching is a model-id change, not a new integration.

One API for DeepSeek, OpenAI, and more — 26 models in total.

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Model pages: DeepSeek API on AI24X · VIP named models