DeepSeek raising API prices by up to 1,100% starting Aug. 16

DeepSeek is raising the prices it charges developers to access its V4-Flash and V4-Pro models, with increases ranging from 50% to more than 1,100% depending on the model, token type, and time of use. DeepSeek said the updated pricing goes live at 16:00 UTC on August 16.

The price hike comes alongside a new peak and off-peak billing structure. Peak hours are defined as 01:00–04:00 and 06:00–10:00 UTC, with off-peak rates set at half the peak rates, according to DeepSeek's pricing page.

For V4-Flash, output tokens will cost $1.32 per million during peak hours and $0.66 per million during off-peak hours, up from the current flat rate of $0.28 per million, the company said. V4-Pro output tokens will rise to $3.96 per million at peak and $1.98 per million off-peak, compared with the current $0.87 per million.

Input token prices are also climbing. V4-Flash cache-miss input tokens will rise to $0.44 per million at peak hours, up from $0.14, while V4-Pro cache-miss input tokens will increase to $1.32 per million at peak, up from $0.435, DeepSeek said. The company said it is adjusting pricing "to allocate resources more reasonably," and that the tiered structure is intended to shift developer workloads toward less congested periods, according to Fortune.

Even at the new peak rates, DeepSeek's prices remain below those of some competitors. Anthropic's Fable 5 charges $50 per million output tokens, according to Fortune.

DeepSeek released V4-Flash earlier this month, with research firm Artificial Analysis finding it was the least expensive well-known AI model to run globally at the time — costing roughly 3 cents per benchmark test. The Hangzhou-based startup had previously offered a 75% promotional discount on V4-Pro through May 5, underscoring how dramatically its pricing strategy has shifted in recent months.

DeepSeek gave advance warning last week that a price increase was coming, without specifying the exact amounts. The company has also begun laying groundwork for an IPO and closed its first outside funding round, which topped $7 billion.