ChatGPT vs DeepSeek

Both are AI chat assistants, but with a very different core business. ChatGPT is a broad, subscription-based multimodal assistant; DeepSeek is primarily a Chinese model provider with free chat and a token-billed API.

When to pick which

Choose ChatGPT if you want text, images, files, voice, and research combined in one subscription with fixed plan limits; Go costs $8 per month and raises messages, uploads, and images over Free. Choose DeepSeek if you want to build your own application directly against a token-billed language model: web and app chat are free, and the deepseek-flash API charges input tokens from $0.003 per 1 million on a cache hit and from $0.15 per 1 million on a cache miss, with lower off-peak than peak rates.

Differences at a glance

ChatGPT bundles chat, image generation, voice mode, and research under plan-based limits; Go is the cheapest paid tier above Free at $8/month.
DeepSeek's web and app chat is free; the real billing happens through the deepseek-flash and deepseek-v4-pro model APIs, charged per token.
DeepSeek's API pricing varies by time of day: the vendor states off-peak rates at half of peak rates, with peak hours at 01:00-04:00 and 06:00-10:00 UTC on weekdays.
ChatGPT is a finished end-user assistant with its own interface; DeepSeek's 1 million token context length and 384,000 token max output target custom integrations via the API.

ChatGPT vs DeepSeek
Criterion	ChatGPT	DeepSeek
Free access	Free plan	Free plan
Paid from	Go · 8 USDmonth	API deepseek-flash · $0.15 (off-peak) / $0.30 (peak)1 million Entry tokens (cache miss, off time / peak time)

Published plans by vendor

Each vendor separately. The same row does not mean the same plan. Prices follow the selected price region.

ChatGPT

Free · freefree
Go · 8 USDmonth
Plus · 20 USDmonth
Pro 100 · 100 USDmonth
Pro 200 · 200 USDmonth
Pro 500 · 500 USDmonth
Business (annual billing) · 20 USDmonth, billed annually
Business (monthly billing) · 25 USDmonth
Business Premium (annual) · Not verified for this marketmonth, billed annually
Business Premium (monthly) · Not verified for this marketmonth
Enterprise · contact salescustom

DeepSeek

DeepSeek Web / App (Chat) · contact salesFree

ChatGPT

ChatGPT is the finished, broad assistant for end users with plan-based limits.

Details Visit site (opens in a new tab)

DeepSeek

DeepSeek is the low-cost model and API provider for custom, token-billed integrations.

Details Visit site (opens in a new tab)

Official sources

ChatGPT

ChatGPT pricing (openai.com)
ChatGPT (chatgpt.com)

DeepSeek

DeepSeek (deepseek.com)
DeepSeek pricing (api-docs.deepseek.com)

FAQ

Can ChatGPT and DeepSeek be tried for free?

ChatGPT: Free plan. DeepSeek: Free plan.

Where are the vendors of ChatGPT and DeepSeek based?

ChatGPT: OpenAI OpCo, LLC, USA. DeepSeek: Hangzhou DeepSeek Artificial Intelligence Co., Ltd., China.

Are ChatGPT and DeepSeek listed in the same category?

ChatGPT is listed under the “Productivity” category, DeepSeek under “Productivity.”

How many pricing tiers do ChatGPT and DeepSeek offer?

ChatGPT documents 11 plans, DeepSeek documents 3 plans, each with price, billing period, and included features.

Where do the price and product details for ChatGPT and DeepSeek come from?

For ChatGPT and DeepSeek, prices, limits, and product details are each based on the current official vendor page. Missing values stay marked as not published rather than being estimated.