DeepSeek Free Plans, Trials, and Subscriptions: Token Grants, Usage Caps, and API Pricing Strategies for Late 2025/2026

Graziano Stefanelli
14 hours ago
4 min read

DeepSeek stands out in the AI landscape for its aggressive “free-first” approach, granting public access to its latest models without mandatory subscriptions, and offering high-value trials for developers and enterprise teams.

This article details every available DeepSeek plan—free chat, multimillion-token API trials, pay-as-you-go billing, volume discounts, and best practices for maximizing no-cost and low-cost AI in late 2025/2026.

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DeepSeek Chat remains completely free for all users, with only soft fair-use caps and no paywall.

Anyone can use DeepSeek Chat on web or mobile to access the latest public model (currently DeepSeek V3.2), sending unlimited messages and uploading files within daily reset quotas.

There are no “Plus” or “Pro” subscription plans for individual users—free access is the norm.

Heavy users may encounter throttling (slower responses) if they hit fair-use caps, but the window resets daily and no hard limit blocks regular activity.

DeepSeek promotes this “always free” chat as a core differentiator for individual researchers, students, and the public.

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DeepSeek Chat Usage and Limits

Access	Limit	Policy
Web & app	Unlimited chats	No paywall, resets daily
File upload	Subject to fair use	Large files may be throttled
API for chat	Must use developer trial or billing	Separate quotas

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Every new DeepSeek API account receives a 5-million-token grant and a time-boxed trial window without requiring a credit card.

When developers register for the API, DeepSeek credits each new account with 5 million free tokens (roughly $8.40 value) valid for 30 days.

Simultaneously, a 7–14 day free trial is activated, removing daily rate limits and unlocking premium tools such as Coder Pro and special model endpoints.

Unused tokens expire after 30 days, so new users can prototype, test, or run small production jobs at zero cost up front.

Once the trial ends, API calls convert to pay-as-you-go billing at extremely low per-token rates.

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API Trial and Token Grant Details

Benefit	Amount	Duration	Triggers
Token grant	5 million tokens	30 days	New API key
Trial window	7–14 days	No daily rate cap	First login
Free chat	Unlimited	Rolling reset	No signup required

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API pricing is among the industry’s lowest, with major off-peak discounts and special short-term promotions.

DeepSeek’s standard API pricing is highly competitive:

$0.28 per million tokens input

$0.42 per million tokens output

for V3.2 (and earlier V3 models).

The R1 model is even cheaper, at $0.12 input / $0.20 output per million tokens.

Off-peak hours (16:30–00:30 GMT) unlock discounts up to 75% for R1 and 50% for V3 models, allowing developers to schedule heavy workloads for lower cost.

Temporary “special” endpoints, such as V3.2-Speciale, occasionally offer further discounts for specific timeframes.

Cache-hit logic (reusing identical prompts) provides additional savings for repeat workflows.

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DeepSeek API Pricing Table (December 2025)

Model	Input Rate	Output Rate	Off-Peak Discount
V3.2 / V3	$0.28 / M	$0.42 / M	–50% 16:30–00:30 GMT
R1	$0.12 / M	$0.20 / M	–75% 16:30–00:30 GMT
V3.2-Speciale	$0.28 / M	$0.42 / M	Promo ends 15 Dec 2025

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Enterprise Pro unlocks massive file uploads, longer retention, and private deployment options.

For organizational needs, DeepSeek offers “Enterprise Pro” agreements that include:

File uploads up to 1 GB (versus 40–50 MB for free/pro users)

Up to 20 files per prompt

File retention windows of up to 1 year

Dedicated support, SLAs, and optional private deployments

Volume token discounts based on contract size and usage

Pricing is negotiable and tailored to business requirements, with direct account management for high-volume or regulated industries.

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Enterprise Pro Feature Matrix

Feature	Standard Users	Enterprise Pro
File size limit	40–50 MB	1 GB
Files per prompt	10	20
Retention window	30–90 days	1 year
Volume discounts	No	Yes
Private deployment	No	Yes

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Temporary pauses, token top-up freezes, and service stability: what to expect under high demand.

DeepSeek occasionally imposes temporary freezes on API top-ups and new account registrations during periods of extremely high traffic or viral surges.

These pauses typically last a few hours to a day, and do not affect existing token balances or chat access.

Developers and business users should monitor DeepSeek’s status pages and plan for fallback options during critical production windows.

The core chat platform and free services remain largely unaffected during these brief suspensions.

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Best strategies to maximize free access, minimize paid usage, and stretch your DeepSeek benefits.

Use free chat for lightweight tasks, research, or small-batch document analysis.

Schedule large inference jobs during off-peak hours to leverage the steepest discounts.

Split large jobs across multiple accounts or token grants when prototyping.

Apply cache-hit and prompt re-use tactics to further cut API bills.

Upgrade to Enterprise Pro for extended file handling, collaboration, or sensitive data management needs.

Track trial expiration dates and transition to the appropriate paid or free workflow to avoid disruption.

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DeepSeek’s “free-first” model continues to disrupt the AI market, offering unmatched no-cost and low-cost access to advanced language and code models.

With its combination of unlimited free chat, multi-million-token API trials, discounted pay-as-you-go rates, and flexible enterprise features, DeepSeek is now an attractive platform for everyone from students to startups to global enterprises.

By staying aware of token caps, trial windows, and discount periods, users can extract immense value—often with zero out-of-pocket cost—while enjoying state-of-the-art generative AI.

As model releases and pricing continue to evolve, DeepSeek’s free and trial routes remain among the most generous in the industry for late 2025/2026.

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DATA STUDIOS

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[datastudios.org]