How to use DeepSeek? A practical guide to get started with Chinese AI

How to use DeepSeek? DeepSeek is a free Chinese artificial intelligence, capable of writing, coding, solving logic problems, and analyzing documents. Since its notable launch in early 2025, the tool has established itself as a serious alternative to ChatGPT, notably for its excellent performance-to-price ratio.

But DeepSeek isn't a chatbot like the others. Its Chinese origin, data policy, and open source positioning raise different questions than those posed by ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini. In this guide, you'll discover how to get started with DeepSeek, how it works, whether it's really free, what sets it apart from ChatGPT, and the precautions to know before using it.

What Is DeepSeek and How Does This AI Work?

DeepSeek is a conversational assistant developed by the Chinese startup DeepSeek, founded in 2023 in Hangzhou. Like ChatGPT or Claude, it works from large language models: you write a request, the AI interprets your intent, then generates a text response.

What sets DeepSeek apart is its Mixture-of-Experts (MoE) architecture, which only activates part of the model's parameters for each request. In practice, this delivers performance close to the best closed models while significantly reducing computing cost. This efficiency is what allowed DeepSeek to offer free, unlimited access, where most competitors reserve their most powerful models for a subscription.

DeepSeek also publishes a large part of its models as open source under the MIT license, which lets anyone download them and run them on their own infrastructure.

How to Use DeepSeek Well?

To use DeepSeek well, you need to give it a precise instruction: goal, context, tone, and expected format. As with ChatGPT or Claude, a vague request gives a vague answer.

Simple 4-step method:

1. Open DeepSeek via the official website, the mobile app, or a platform like Ai-chatpro that centralizes several AIs in a single interface.
2. Choose the model suited to your task (quick conversation or complex reasoning).
3. Write your request in English, with a clear goal.
4. Review and adjust the answer before using it.

To go further in phrasing your requests, our guide on prompt engineering remains valid, whatever AI model you use.

Is DeepSeek Free?

Yes, DeepSeek is accessible for free and without request limits via its official website and mobile app, making it one of the rare AIs to offer unlimited access without a subscription.

You still need to distinguish two uses:

• The consumer chat interface: completely free, no credit card required, with conversation history.
• The DeepSeek API, intended for developers: billed by usage, but at rates significantly lower than OpenAI's or Anthropic's.

On Ai-chatpro, access to DeepSeek follows the same logic as the other models offered on the platform:

What Is the Difference Between ChatGPT and DeepSeek?

The main difference between ChatGPT and DeepSeek comes down to price, origin, and philosophy: DeepSeek is free and largely open source, while ChatGPT relies on a more versatile proprietary offer better integrated into a tool ecosystem.

In summary: ChatGPT often remains more comfortable for general-purpose and writing use, while DeepSeek stands out on code, math, and reasoning tasks, at an unbeatable cost.

To better understand what ChatGPT offers before comparing, our dedicated article can help you:

What Is ChatGPT? Definition, Uses and Limitations

Publication date: June 11, 2026 I Reading time: 11 minutes 40s

Also check out our guide on alternatives to ChatGPT or learn more with our article explaining how to use ChatGPT. Our article "Which AI to Choose?" presents the best-known models and helps you select the one that suits you best.

Is DeepSeek Reliable? Why Do Some Countries Restrict It?

DeepSeek raises privacy concerns because user data is stored on servers located in China, under a legal framework different from that of American or European AIs.

This reason, more than the tool's technical quality, is what pushed several countries to restrict its use. Since 2025, Italy has blocked the app on its stores, while Australia, South Korea, Taiwan, and India have banned its use on government devices. In the United States, several federal agencies and certain states have taken similar measures on official equipment.

On the technical side, DeepSeek has also been flagged by several cybersecurity researchers for the robustness of its safeguards against bypass attempts. As with any AI, it's recommended to verify sensitive answers and avoid sharing confidential information.

To learn more about how DeepSeek officially works, you can check the official DeepSeek website.

What Makes DeepSeek So Special?

DeepSeek stands out for its ability to match very costly closed models, for a fraction of the training and operating cost. The R1 model, released in January 2025, surprised the industry by claiming performance close to OpenAI's o1, for an announced development cost of about 6 million dollars.

Three elements explain this positioning:

• A highly optimized Mixture-of-Experts architecture, which reduces computing cost per request.
• A committed open source strategy, with model weights downloadable on Hugging Face under the MIT license.
• API rates among the lowest in the market, dozens of times lower than premium American models.

With its latest v4 generation (April 2026), DeepSeek now offers a context window that can reach one million tokens, which allows processing particularly long documents or code projects.

What Is the Best Version of DeepSeek to Choose?

The best version of DeepSeek depends on your need: speed and simplicity, or in-depth reasoning.

On Ai-chatpro, you can switch between the two depending on the task, without having to change interface or account.

What to Remember

• DeepSeek is a free, open source Chinese AI, particularly strong at code and reasoning.
• The consumer interface is free and unlimited; the API is paid but at very low cost.
• On Ai-chatpro, DeepSeek v4 Flash (free) and DeepSeek v4 Pro (PRO) are available from the same interface as ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini.
• Since data is stored in China, several countries restrict its use on professional or government devices.
• Against ChatGPT, DeepSeek wins on price and code, but remains behind on versatility and data transparency.