DeepSeek API pricing is based on the number of tokens processed, charging per 1 million tokens for both input and output. The models available include deepseek-v4-flash and deepseek-v4-pro, accessible via specified base URLs for OpenAI and Anthropic formats.

DeepSeek has released two preview models in its V4 series: DeepSeek-V4-Pro and DeepSeek-V4-Flash. The Pro model features 1.6 trillion total parameters with 49 billion active, while the Flash model has 284 billion total parameters and 13 billion active, both utilizing a 1 million token context Mixture of Experts architecture under the MIT license.

The DeepSeek API is compatible with OpenAI and Anthropic formats, allowing access through their respective SDKs. Users can apply for an API key and utilize models such as deepseek-v4-flash and deepseek-v4-pro, with deepseek-chat set to be deprecated in 2026.

Three AI laboratories—DeepSeek, Moonshot, and MiniMax—conducted industrial-scale campaigns to illicitly extract Claude's capabilities, generating over 16 million exchanges through approximately 24,000 fraudulent accounts. These labs employed a technique called "distillation" to train less capable models using Claude's outputs, violating terms of service and access restrictions.