What is it?
DeepSeek is a Chinese startup with open-source LLMs that approach GPT-4 quality but are freely available for local installation.
Pricing Model: Free
Ideal for:
- Hobbyists and developers
- Local AI experiments
- Privacy-conscious users (with caveat)
- Budget-constrained projects
Pros
- Completely free and open-source
- Can run locally
- Good coding performance
- No data to cloud
Cons
- Privacy concerns (Chinese origin)
- Less polish than commercial tools
- Technical knowledge required