DeepSeek told users of its developer interface that it plans to raise prices across the board by what it called a relatively large margin, without giving figures or a start date. The company offered no reason for the change, and the widely repeated explanation of rising compute costs came from commentators rather than DeepSeek. Because the model weights are public, customers can move to third-party hosts without leaving DeepSeek's models behind.
What changed
DeepSeek competed on price, undercutting rivals with low API rates and generous free allowances.
What it unlocks
Advance warning to re-budget or test alternative providers before the new rates are set.
Sources