The impressive release of the China-based AI model, DeepSeek, has stunned the entire US tech industry. Just within one week of launch, it has become the most downloaded free app in the United States. Not only this, but it has also sent shockwaves through the financial markets by prompting investors to question the massive capital expenditure market’s established players’ demand to develop AI models.
This is happening since DeepSeek claims to have built an LLM at a fraction of the cost incurred by US competitors like OpenAI. It’s almost like a fledging player is defeating the big U.S. players in their own-invested game. This development gives rise to major questions. Will this Chinese contender stand unbending in front of major competition like ChatGPT?
Since we have hands-on experience with both of these platforms, we are going to compare both of these based on our personal insights. Let’s get started!
DeepSeek vs. ChatGPT
Context Preservation
The most common problem with AI LLMs is you start to lose context when the conversation extends. Initially, when ChatGPT was launched, everyone thought it would be quite easy to talk to it and fetch multiple answers by asking subsequent questions to the previous commands. But, with time, we all realized it could miss out on the key details from previous discussions, which can lead to inaccuracies and inconsistencies. However, when we used DeepSeek, it flawlessly kept track of complex conversations. So, you can say it’s more reliable than ChatGPT if you are seeking deep discussions.
Verdict: DeepSeek is better at retaining the context
Privacy
ChatGPT
ChatGPT collects the following types of personal data:
Account Information
They will collect information related to the user account that you log in like contact information, account credentials, DOB, name, payment info and transaction history.
User Content
Your input data including prompts, files that you upload (images, files or audio, etc.)
Device data
What device are you operating on, and what operating system do you use?
Usage Data
Your location, time and version you use.
Are there risks associated?
When you come to know your data is being stored, the first concern that arises is there are data leaks taking place. Though unintentionally, there is a chance ChatGPT might expose your business to data security risks. This can happen in the following situations:
- If you are sharing confidential company data, intellectual property customer information, etc.
- If you ask ChatGPT to debug your code, but it contains vulnerabilities like sensitive information about your project.
- If you are using your marketing copy or sensitive details in your ChatGPT inputs.
Did You Know?
You can use ChatGPT to level up your SEO game? Clueless how? Get the experts in our recent blogpost on: ChatGPT & What it Means for the Future of SEO
DeepSeek
DeepSeek collects the following form of data:
Information that users provide
They collect the information that you put in when you set up your account like username, DOB, number, email and password.
User Input
Any type of input you put in your prompt, just like in ChatGPT.
Information when a user contacts the company
When users contact them, they collect proof of identity, age, feedback or inquiries about their services and possibly of their Terms of Service or other policies.
Technical Information
They also collect information about devices and network connections when you access their services. This information includes IP address, device model, operating system, system language, etc.
Alongside, they might also collect information like diagnostic or performance logs, etc.
Because they provide your device and user ID so it can be logged in multiple devices, so they also use this information to identify the user’s activity across devices for security purposes.
Cookies Similar to ChatGPT
Payment Information
They collect your payment order and transaction information to provide order placement, customer support, etc.
Verdict: Both collect similar types of data
User Experience
ChatGPT
ChatGPT has a simple and intuitive interface. It also has some prominently showing additional features like voice command feature, web search, other GPT, and attachments. It also has a feature named Canvas that allows you to collaborate with AI on writing and coding projects. Here, organizing and editing ideas is really easy. If you use the free version, the 4o model allows you to use this feature to some extent until the trial is over.
Apart from all this, ChatGPT also allows you to customize the response that you expect from this AI model. Here, you can put the words that you don’t want to appear, shape the writing style, and overall experiment.
DeepSeek
The user interface of DeepSeek is simple just like ChatGPT’s, but there are differences in the user experience part. In ChatGPT, you can directly upload any file, but Deepseek does not allow you to upload files that it cannot extract.
In simple words, it won’t let you upload the file that has not texted in it. It also does not offer a voice command feature. Moreover, you cannot build your own AI agents like those offered in ChatGPT. You can only use the default V3 model or R1 model.
You cannot customize your outputs here in DeepSeek. It is simply a text-to-text model.
Verdict: ChatGPT is feature-rich as compared to DeepSeek
How to Access the DeepSeek Chatbot?
If you are interested in trying out DeepSeek, you can simply access its R1 model via smartphone apps or on the company’s desktop website. Third-party services like Perplexity Pro also allow you to use this model through it. To use DeepSeek’s best AI model (R1) on their app or website, look for the “DeeptThink (R1)” button and click on it.
If you are a programmer and want to use DeepSeek’s AI in your own apps, you can do it using API. You can even download a DeepSeek AI model on your computer and run it there.
So, is DeepSeek R1 Basically a Free GPT?
Today, there are a number of chatbots that offer free features, but DeepSeek’s free version is considered very powerful. It’s regarded as good as OpenAI’s newest model, which usually costs you money.
Aspects where DeepSeek is at the back foot
Even though DeepSeek is a big leap in efficiency, there are still some common issues that you find in other AI LLMs like ChatGPT, Gemini, etc. For example, it can very confidently put up the wrong information.
ChatGPT vs DeepSeek: Recap
| Metrics | DeepSeek | ChatGPT |
|---|---|---|
| Math | 90% accuracy with a better response than ChatGPT’s 4o version | 83% accuracy |
| Multimodal Tasks | Text to text Modal | Rich features |
| Fine-tuning & AI | Available for developers | Limited fine-tuning |
| Source code | Open-weight | The underlying code, architecture, training data, and algorithms are not publicly available. |
| Accuracy | Better in technical and factual tasks | Broader contextual understanding. |
Will DeepSeek destroy ChatGPT?
It’s too early to assume how much DeepSeek can do in today’s AI landscape. However, its robust efficiency and open-weight approach have made headlines in the U.S., unsettling its competition. In response, U.S. President Donald Trump has announced the Stargate Project, a joint venture with tech giants like SoftBank Group, Oracle and Open AI to build AI infrastructure worth $500 billion.
Overall, DeepSeek’s success will depend on its ability to maintain its technologies edge and address its current limitations that we discussed in this blog post.
If you want to keep yourself updated with marketing, SEO and AI-related knowledge, keep up with SEO Toronto Experts. We regularly discuss such hot topics and share valuable expert insights.
FAQs
1. Is Deepseek free?
As a chatbot, it is free to use, but there are some limitations. Let’s understand both its features and limitations:
| Features | Limitations |
|---|---|
| AI chatbot app available for interactive conversations | Trained to avoid politically sensitive questions. |
| DeepSeek-R (reasoning model) is free to use in “Deep Think” mode. Free on Google Play Store and Apple App Store. |
DeepSeek-R1 has a daily cap of 50 messages in “Deep Think” mode. |
2. Is Deepseek r1 free?
Yes, you can use DeepSeek R1 for free. It is an open-source AI model and allows anyone to access and use it without any cost.
Here are some key points regarding the DeepSeek R1 model:
- The model can be downloaded for free and modified.
- You can access it without having to pay any subsription fee.
- As of late January 2025, DeepSeek R1 is available on platforms like Azure AI Foundry, GitHub Models, Amazon Bedrock Marketplace, and Amazon SageMaker JumpStart, meaning you can access and utilize the model through these services.
3. Is Deepseek open-source?
Yes, DeepSeek can be considered an open-source AI model, particularly their R1 model. The reason why we wrote considered an open source is due to its open-weight nature.
4. Is Deepseek open source or open-weight?
DeepSeek is rather open-weight than open source, which means the company allows anyone to access and use the pre-trained DeepSeek model however, they don’t provide full access to the source code. In simple words, you can use the model for free for different applications but cannot change its core functionality.
5. What is Deepseek r1?
There are five models of DeepSeek:
Deep Seek R1: The first generation of DeekSeek’s reasoning model. It comes in different versions, including a “Zero” version trained purely with reinforcement learning.
DeepSeek Coder: For code-related tasks.
DeepSeek LLM: For general purpose, can handle a wide range of tasks like translation, question answering and text generation.
DeepSeek Math: Can tackle complex math problems.
DeepSeek V2: This model represents an advancement in DeepSeek tech.
6. What is Deepseek v3?
DeepSeek V3 is a general-purpose language model, while R1 is specialized for reasoning and problem-solving.
7. Can Deepseek work offline?
Yes, it can work offline if you install it locally on your device using a tool called Ollama. This tool allows you to download and run the DeepSeek model without an internet connection.
8. How to use Deepseek offline?
- Download and install the Ollama software on your computer.
- Within Ollama, search for and download the DeepSeek model that you want.
- Once downloaded, use Ollama commands to launch the DeepSeek model and start interacting.
Key things to note:
- Make sure you have enough storage space because the DeepSeek model can be quite large.
- While you can use DeepSeek offline, the performance might be slower than online.
- Depending on your setup, you can use a dedicated interface like a web browser extension or a simple command line.
9. How to use Deepseek r1 in vs code?
- To use DeepSeek R1 in VS Code, install the extension either “Cline” or “RooCode.”
- Install Ollama, once it is installed, you can download the DeepSeek R1 model. This often involves using the Ollama pull command followed by the model name.
- Configure it to access the DeepSeek R1 model hosted on platforms like Ollama.
- Once the configuration is complete, you should be able to use DeepSeek R1 within VS Code.
