Unlike most AI assistants that gate their best features behind a paywall, DeepSeek’s answer to “how do I get it for free” is refreshingly simple: the chat and app already are. How to get DeepSeek free for everyday use just means signing up at the official chat interface — there’s no separate “DeepSeek Pro” subscription for individuals. The only place cost comes in is the developer API, and even that gives new accounts a meaningful block of free tokens to start with.
The Chat and Mobile App Are Already Free
DeepSeek’s web chat at chat.deepseek.com and its official mobile apps for iOS and Android are free to use, with no subscription tier standing between you and the full model. That includes both response modes — the faster Instant Mode and the more thorough, step-by-step Expert Mode — plus web search and file uploads. There’s no premium unlock hiding behind a paywall the way there is with most competing chatbots.
How to Get Started
1. Sign Up
Go to chat.deepseek.com, or download the official app, and register with an email address. No credit card is required at any point for the chat experience.
2. Choose Your Mode
Use Instant Mode for everyday writing and quick questions, and switch on Expert Mode (the DeepThink toggle) when a task needs careful multi-step reasoning, like math, logic, or debugging.
3. Explore Web Search and File Uploads
Both are included at no extra cost — attach a document and ask questions about it, or let DeepSeek pull in live web results for anything time-sensitive.
What About the API?
If you’re building something rather than just chatting, the developer API is where cost actually applies. New accounts get around 5 million free tokens on signup, valid for 30 days with no credit card required, after which it switches to pay-as-you-go pricing that remains among the cheapest in the industry. A few other free routes worth knowing:
- OpenRouter’s free tier. Certain DeepSeek models are regularly mirrored on OpenRouter under a “:free” suffix, letting you call them through a standard API format at no cost, within rate limits.
- Hugging Face Inference. DeepSeek checkpoints are often available through Hugging Face’s shared inference endpoints shortly after release, free with a logged-in account, though rate limits are tighter than other free paths.
- Self-hosting the open weights. DeepSeek’s models are released under the permissive MIT license, so technical users can download and run them on their own hardware entirely free of API costs — the only expense is the infrastructure itself.
Worth Knowing Before You Rely on It
Because DeepSeek is a China-based lab, the hosted chat and app route your data through DeepSeek’s own servers. That’s a normal tradeoff for a free hosted product, but if you handle sensitive or regulated information, it’s worth reviewing the privacy policy — or considering self-hosting — before relying on the hosted version for that kind of work.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is there a paid “DeepSeek Pro” plan for individuals?
No. The chat and mobile app are free for individual use with no subscription tier. The only paid product is the developer API, which is billed per token for programmatic use.
Do I need a credit card to use DeepSeek?
No, not for the chat or mobile app. The API’s free token allowance also doesn’t require a card on signup — you only need one once you exceed the free token allowance.
Is DeepSeek’s free tier limited compared to paid competitors?
Not really. You get both response modes, web search, and file uploads at no cost — a meaningfully more complete free experience than most competing chatbots offer.
How does DeepSeek’s free access compare to ChatGPT or Claude?
Both ChatGPT and Claude gate their most capable models behind a paid tier, while DeepSeek’s core chat experience is free for everyone. See our guides on how to get ChatGPT Plus free and how to get Claude Pro free for how those compare.
Final Thoughts
DeepSeek is one of the few major AI tools where “how to get it for free” has a genuinely simple answer: just sign up. The only real decision is whether you need the developer API for a project, in which case the free token allowance and services like OpenRouter give you plenty of room to build before paying anything. For a full walkthrough of the chat experience, see our guide on how to use DeepSeek.
