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DeepSeek now charges double during peak hours

2026/09/02

Since 16 August 2026 DeepSeek prices depend on the time of day⁠[2]. Per million tokens off-peak, deepseek-flash, which is V4.1 Flash, is $0.003 for input that hits the cache, $0.15 for input that misses it and $0.60 for output⁠[1].

deepseek-v4-pro is $0.022, $0.66 and $1.98⁠[1]. Peak is exactly double in every column⁠[1].

Peak hours are 01:00 to 04:00 and 06:00 to 10:00 UTC, Monday through Friday⁠[1]. In Japan that is 10:00 to 13:00 and 15:00 to 19:00, which is most of the working day. Everything else, including all weekend, is off-peak⁠[1].

The older names deepseek-v4-flash and deepseek-v4-flash-vision-exp still work⁠[1]. The models behind them have been retired, and those requests are served by V4.1 Flash at the Flash price⁠[1].

One model has two prices, and which one you pay is decided by when the request lands⁠[1]. That makes DeepSeek awkward to put in a price table next to the others. Work that can wait costs half as much outside those windows⁠[1].