One of AI vendor DeepSeek’s biggest selling points has been its ultra-low price point, but that party’s about to end.
The Chinese model provider is raising API pricing for its V4 model family by notable margins, in some cases by more than 1,100%. The increases may not be that dramatic for all, though; the company is encouraging “more flexible workload scheduling,” with peak rates and half-price off-peak rates.
The news was tucked into the announcement of the general availability (GA) of DeepSeek V4-Pro and upgrades to VR-Flash. The new pricing takes effect for most parts of the world on August 16.
“On paper, at peak, against the right comparator, DeepSeek’s price advantage does disappear, and in places inverts,” said Sanchit Vir Gogia, chief analyst at Greyhound Research. But in practice, “the schedule’s own clock and cache hand most of it back to any buyer paying attention.”
How Flash and Pro compare now
