Using DeepSeek

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DeepSeek AI has gained considerable attention recently. Today, I learned about it and considered migrating some of my current OpenAI services to DeepSeek.

https://static.1991421.cn/2025/2025-01-21-172626.jpeg

Platform

Similar to OpenAI, DeepSeek provides an API, web version, and App. Unfortunately, it hasn’t launched a WeChat mini-program version yet.

Web Version

API

Official documentation: https://api-docs.deepseek.com/

Notably, DeepSeek’s API is fully compatible with OpenAI’s API, so you can use the official OpenAI SDK directly; just set the baseUrl to https://api.deepseek.com.

For example, in NodeJS:

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// Please install OpenAI SDK first: `npm install openai`

import OpenAI from "openai";

const openai = new OpenAI({
 baseURL: 'https://api.deepseek.com',
 apiKey: '<DeepSeek API Key>'
});

async function main() {
 const completion = await openai.chat.completions.create({
 messages: [{ role: "system", content: "You are a helpful assistant." }],
 model: "deepseek-chat",
 });

 console.log(completion.choices[0].message.content);
}

main();

Free Credits

  1. After registration and logging into the API platform, you get 10CNY credits valid for 1 month. There is no expiration date for recharged amounts.

Actual Experience

  1. The web version is high-speed, and it seems comparable to GPT4o quality-wise.
  2. API speed is breakneck; after using it for half a day, the quality seems good.

Disadvantages

  1. The web version doesn’t support image generation or image recognition
  2. API doesn’t support Embedding yet

Pricing

  1. API pricing is benchmarked against OpenAI, which is cheaper than 4o and similar to 4o mini.
  2. The web version appears free with no quota limits, though paid tiers might be introduced later.

My Current Use Cases

  1. Configured DeepSeek for translation in EuDic; experience is good.
  2. Installed AI Commits in JB IDE and configured DeepSeek to generate commit messages for code submissions.

Conclusion

DeepSeek currently appears to be a promising Chinese AI. To better serve users, I hope they can launch more product forms, such as a WeChat mini-program version.