DeepSeek
DeepSeek
Serious reasoning and code for pennies, as long as the data is not sensitive.
Where it has an edge
- Reasoning problems where the cost per call matters
- Code review and refactoring on a budget
- Batch jobs that run thousands of times
- Work you can drive from an API without a large bill
How I prompt it
It thinks out loud by default, which earns its keep on a hard problem and wastes time on an easy one. I say plainly when a task is simple so it skips the long reasoning, and I give the exact output shape because it will add commentary around it otherwise. For code I paste the failing test rather than describing the bug.
Images
It does not make images. The newer versions will read one you send, which is enough for a chart or a screenshot.
Where it slips
It can reason itself in circles on a badly stated problem, and the servers sit outside the US and the EU, which rules it out for some client data. Ask about that before it goes anywhere near sensitive work.