# DeepSeek API

171 Hacker News commenters recommended DeepSeek API and 56 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 11 of 13 months; owners who said how long report a median of 0.1 years (9 owners). It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Recommended for very low per-token prices, unusually cheap and effective caching, and no usage caps, but your data goes to China and is used for training.

## Why people recommend it

- Extremely cheap per token (10 comments): "I have one of my projects on DeepSeek and it blows my mind how I can use tens of millions of tokens for pennies." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49125143)) "the API prices are very low. So much that it is hard to spend over 20 dollars per month as an individual" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50241007)) "Going directly though DeepSeek's API and hitting all day long with light/medium tasks I'm at $5/month." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49155084))
- Best-in-class cache discounts and hits (8 comments): "I'm seeing something like 80% cached tokens, which makes using DeepSeek cheaper than damned near any other model anywhere near its size" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48711955)) "the DeepSeek API seems to be really good at caching and their cached input price is more heavily discounted than most providers" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48441107)) "I still haven't came across any decent model that is <$0.01/MTok cache costs apart from deepseek thru their official API" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49493163))
- No session or weekly limits (4 comments): "Deepseek shines for personal usage because it's possible to use it however you want and whenever you want with no session/weekly limits stress" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48579018)) "they are much cheaper and the limits are much higher, so you get more work out of it for less money" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48441412)) "It's especially great that you don't have to worry about hitting your limit and being stalled." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48151941))
- Reliable and fast inference (3 comments): "I've never had that experience in the last months of quite intensive use of the official deepseek api." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49627937)) "I ran something like 5 billion tokens through them directly recently without any bumps in the road." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48258310)) "DeepSeek API also has far better inference speed and reliability than the cheapest providers." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49629893))

## What people warn about

- Data used for training, no opt-out (4 comments): "The issue for me is the data privacy if you're using their hosted prices, because you cannot opt out of data collection" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49123709)) "platform deepseek com's tos enforces use all your data on training, which is a major set back for me." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49876716)) "the official DeepSeek API makes no guarantees of data privacy even for paying users." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47986757))
- Chinese government data access concerns (2 comments): "sending at least snippets/chunks of code to a server where it is subject to Chinese government data access laws" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49125616)) "Anyone that values their online freedom won't want DeepSeek becoming popular or use it for anything important." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49134431))
- Prices rising, less of a bargain (4 comments): "DeekSeek did a strategic b2c mistake. It is always easier to start with higher prices and give discounts than go opposite way (=raise)." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49296499)) "Currently burning money quickly on official deepseek api. They are also increasing pricing starting today." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49275288)) "No one could predict what will happen tomorrow and how high the price would bump to." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49197793))
- Unexpected model swaps or responses (2 comments): "I feel like API model providers should lean towards not swapping out models on their paying customers" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49630259)) "Those were provably Claude Fable's responses being returned by the DeepSeek API." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50167252))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Mistral](https://hackerapproved.com/p/mistral-large-4.md): 314 recommend
- [OpenAI API](https://hackerapproved.com/p/openai-models.md): 166 recommend
- [Anthropic API](https://hackerapproved.com/p/anthropic-api.md): 58 recommend
- [System One Models by TypeSafe](https://hackerapproved.com/p/system-one-models.md): 37 recommend
- [Claude API](https://hackerapproved.com/p/claude-api.md): 30 recommend

## Where to get it

- [Visit the official site](https://platform.deepseek.com/)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "DeepSeek API", https://hackerapproved.com/p/deepseek-api/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).