C
CGeneral-purpose AI chat assistant for writing, research, coding and everyday tasks
Free, from $8/mo
DeepSeek vs Groq
Pricing, features, platforms and who each one suits — side by side.
D
Choose DeepSeek if…
- you work on iOS, Android
- you're in its core audience: developers, ai app builders
G
Choose Groq if…
- you're in its core audience: ai application developers, startups building llm products
Side by side
Feature DeepSeek Groq
Pricing modelFreemiumFreemium
Starting price——
Free plan
Free trial
API
Open source
Web search—
File upload & analysis—
Runs locally—
PlatformsWeb, iOS, Android, APIWeb, API
CategoryAI ChatbotsLLM APIs & Model Hosting
CompanyDeepSeekGroq
Full feature lists
D DeepSeek
- Web chat at chat.deepseek.com
- Mobile app and DeepSeek Harness desktop client
- OpenAI- and Anthropic-compatible API
- 1M-token context window, 384K max output
- Thinking mode with adjustable reasoning effort
- Web search and page fetch through the API
- Discounted pricing for cache hits and off-peak hours
G Groq
- OpenAI-compatible API endpoint
- Text generation and reasoning models
- Speech-to-text and text-to-speech
- Vision and OCR support
- Tool use with built-in, remote MCP and local tools
- Structured outputs and prompt caching
- Performance, Flex and Batch service tiers
- Dedicated bare-metal LPU capacity for enterprises
Their home pages
What each vendor shows first: the pitch, the plans and the sign-up.
DeepSeek · deepseek.com
Groq · groq.comWhat you'd pay
The cheapest plan that fits, per month, billed yearly where the plan offers it.
DeepSeek
ChatFree
deepseek-flash API$0.15/1M input tokens (cache miss, off-peak), $0.6/1M output tokens off-peak; peak rates are double
deepseek-v4-pro API$0.66/1M input tokens (cache miss, off-peak), $1.98/1M output tokens off-peak; peak rates are double
Search & Fetch$0.75 per 1,000 successful requests
Groq
FreeFree
DeveloperUsage-based
Price changes we've recorded
We re-read each pricing page every month and log what changed.
DeepSeek
- Nov 5, 2026Pricing model: Paid → Freemium; New plan: Chat (Free)
Groq
No changes since we started tracking.
Strengths and limitations
DeepSeek
- Off-peak API prices are 50% of peak prices
- 1M-token context on both API models
- Works with OpenAI and Anthropic API formats
- Available on web, mobile, and desktop
- Peak-hour API rates are twice the off-peak rates
- Web search and fetch through the API cost extra per request
- The site does not state free-tier terms or limits for the chat apps
Groq
- Drop-in OpenAI-compatible API
- Free plan available
- Covers text, speech, vision and tool use in one API
- 13 data centers across four continents
- Free plan has lower rate limits than Developer plan
- Batch and Flex processing require the Developer plan
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G
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xAI's chat assistant for questions, writing and research, with free and paid tiers
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M
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MAI assistant for chat, web search, writing and images at work and home
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Facts from each vendor's public pages, prices checked Oct 26, 2026. Editorial policy