DeepSeek is a free AI chat assistant from the Chinese lab DeepSeek, built on its open-weight V4 model family. It pairs a no-subscription assistant with very low per-token API prices, and DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash arrived in September 2026. Budget-minded users, developers and researchers who self-host models use it most.
Chat, upload files and search the web at chat.deepseek.com or in the iOS and Android apps without a subscription.
Since the V4 release in April 2026, a 1M-token context window is the default across DeepSeek's official services.
DeepSeek-V4-Pro, generally available since August 13, 2026, is offered in the app and on the web through Expert Mode.
Weights and technical reports for V4-Pro, V4-Flash and V4.1-Flash are published on Hugging Face for research and self-hosting.
Per-token billing with context caching, and off-peak rates that cost half the price of weekday peak windows.
The API accepts both OpenAI and Anthropic request formats, so tools like Claude Code and OpenCode can run on DeepSeek models.
DeepSeek is both a Hangzhou-based AI lab and the free assistant it runs in the browser and in mobile apps. Developers reach the same models through a low-cost API or download the open weights to run themselves.
DeepSeek stores personal data in China, which may rule it out for regulated or confidential work. In the API, vision input works only with deepseek-flash, and prices double during weekday peak windows. Model names and routing have changed several times in 2026, so API users should check the pricing page before deploying.
Alibaba's AI assistant built on the open-weight Qwen models.
Moonshot AI's assistant for long documents, deep research and agentic tasks.
Mistral AI's assistant, renamed Vibe in 2026, for chat, work tasks and coding.
OpenAI's general-purpose AI assistant for chat, search, images, voice and agents.
Anthropic's AI assistant for writing, analysis and coding, plus Claude Code and Cowork.
As of October 2026, the best free AI tools are ChatGPT, Gemini and DeepSeek for chat, GitHub Copilot for coding, Canva and Freepik for images, Kling and CapCut for video, ElevenLabs and Suno for audio, and NotebookLM for research. Every free plan has a cap, usually credits that reset daily or monthly.
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ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini all have free plans, and their main paid tiers cost $20, $20 and $19.99 a month. Pick ChatGPT for an all-rounder with Codex on every plan, Claude for long documents and Claude Code, and Gemini for Google apps, video and 5 TB of storage. US students can get ChatGPT Plus or Google AI Pro free for months.
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