AI tool
DeepSeek
Free chat and reasoning for writing, learning and coding questions
A starting point for Chinese-language questions, reasoning and code explanations. Separate official chat, paid API usage and self-hosted models: the same brand does not imply the same cost, privacy or hardware requirements.
Free plan and limits
The official assistant offers free chat, but this does not establish free API access or unlimited use of every model. The API has a separate price table. Chat capacity, features and regional eligibility depend on current account access.
Important limitations
Answers and code can be wrong; deterministic tasks need tests. Cloud chat and local deployment have different data flows. Downloadable models do not make the official chat service local.
When to choose an alternative
Compare NotebookLM for source-based questions. For your own hardware, inspect Ollama or LM Studio and separately check model licensing and capacity.
Alternative suggestions are editorial, task-based judgments, not standardized performance tests.
Verification sources
Last verified: 2026-10-18