# Google Gemini API vs DeepSeek

Canonical: https://inetgeek.com/compare/google-gemini-vs-deepseek/

Every value below is read from Google Gemini API's and DeepSeek's own documentation. See https://inetgeek.com/methodology/ for how.

## At a glance

| Criterion | Google Gemini API | DeepSeek |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Pricing model | Per million tokens, with dated price changes published in advance — the current Gemini 3.x rates are explicitly promotional through 31 December 2026 and roughly double on 1 January 2027. A free tier exists, and its content is used to improve Google's products where the paid tier's is not. | Per million tokens, with every rate doubling at peak: off-peak is half price, and peak is 01:00–04:00 and 06:00–10:00 UTC on weekdays. Cache hits are priced roughly 30x below cache misses. |
| Input price, top model | $0.75 per million input tokens for Gemini 3.8 Flash through 31 December 2026, then $1.50. Gemini 3.1 Pro, still preview, is $2.00 for prompts up to 200k tokens and $4.00 above. | $1.32 per million input tokens for deepseek-v4-pro at peak on a cache miss, halving to $0.66 off-peak. A cache hit is $0.044 peak. |
| Output price, top model | $3.75 per million output tokens for Gemini 3.8 Flash through 31 December 2026, then $7.50. Thinking tokens are billed as output. | $3.96 per million output tokens for deepseek-v4-pro at peak, $1.98 off-peak. |
| Input price, cheapest model | $0.30 per million input tokens for Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite, with output at $2.50. | $0.44 per million input tokens for deepseek-v4-flash at peak on a cache miss, $0.22 off-peak, with output at $1.32 peak. |
| Context window | 1,048,576 tokens for Gemini 3.8 Flash. Read from the Vertex AI model card: the Gemini API docs build their model cards client-side and publish no figure a fetch can read. | 1M tokens on every model in the current line. |
| Max output tokens | 65,536 tokens for Gemini 3.8 Flash, and Google counts thinking tokens as output. | 384K tokens maximum. |
| Prompt caching | Supported | Supported |
| Rate limits | Tied to a usage tier — Free, then Tier 1/2/3 unlocked by cumulative spend — and enforced as requests per minute, input tokens per minute and requests per day. Google publishes no numbers in the docs: limits are viewed in AI Studio and are stated not to be guaranteed. | Concurrency rather than requests per minute: 500 concurrent requests on deepseek-v4-pro and 2,500 on deepseek-v4-flash, per account rather than per key. Exceeding it returns HTTP 429, and expansion is free on request. |

## Where they differ

### Pricing model

- Google Gemini API: Per million tokens, with dated price changes published in advance — the current Gemini 3.x rates are explicitly promotional through 31 December 2026 and roughly double on 1 January 2027. A free tier exists, and its content is used to improve Google's products where the paid tier's is not. ([source](https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/pricing))
- DeepSeek: Per million tokens, with every rate doubling at peak: off-peak is half price, and peak is 01:00–04:00 and 06:00–10:00 UTC on weekdays. Cache hits are priced roughly 30x below cache misses. ([source](https://api-docs.deepseek.com/quick_start/pricing))

### Input price, top model

- Google Gemini API: $0.75 per million input tokens for Gemini 3.8 Flash through 31 December 2026, then $1.50. Gemini 3.1 Pro, still preview, is $2.00 for prompts up to 200k tokens and $4.00 above. ([source](https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/pricing))
- DeepSeek: $1.32 per million input tokens for deepseek-v4-pro at peak on a cache miss, halving to $0.66 off-peak. A cache hit is $0.044 peak. ([source](https://api-docs.deepseek.com/quick_start/pricing))

### Output price, top model

- Google Gemini API: $3.75 per million output tokens for Gemini 3.8 Flash through 31 December 2026, then $7.50. Thinking tokens are billed as output. ([source](https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/pricing))
- DeepSeek: $3.96 per million output tokens for deepseek-v4-pro at peak, $1.98 off-peak. ([source](https://api-docs.deepseek.com/quick_start/pricing))

### Input price, cheapest model

- Google Gemini API: $0.30 per million input tokens for Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite, with output at $2.50. ([source](https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/pricing))
- DeepSeek: $0.44 per million input tokens for deepseek-v4-flash at peak on a cache miss, $0.22 off-peak, with output at $1.32 peak. ([source](https://api-docs.deepseek.com/quick_start/pricing))

### Context window

- Google Gemini API: 1,048,576 tokens for Gemini 3.8 Flash. Read from the Vertex AI model card: the Gemini API docs build their model cards client-side and publish no figure a fetch can read. ([source](https://cloud.google.com/vertex-ai/generative-ai/docs/models/gemini/3-8-flash))
- DeepSeek: 1M tokens on every model in the current line. ([source](https://api-docs.deepseek.com/quick_start/pricing))

### Max output tokens

- Google Gemini API: 65,536 tokens for Gemini 3.8 Flash, and Google counts thinking tokens as output. ([source](https://cloud.google.com/vertex-ai/generative-ai/docs/models/gemini/3-8-flash))
- DeepSeek: 384K tokens maximum. ([source](https://api-docs.deepseek.com/quick_start/pricing))

### Rate limits

- Google Gemini API: Tied to a usage tier — Free, then Tier 1/2/3 unlocked by cumulative spend — and enforced as requests per minute, input tokens per minute and requests per day. Google publishes no numbers in the docs: limits are viewed in AI Studio and are stated not to be guaranteed. ([source](https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/rate-limits))
- DeepSeek: Concurrency rather than requests per minute: 500 concurrent requests on deepseek-v4-pro and 2,500 on deepseek-v4-flash, per account rather than per key. Exceeding it returns HTTP 429, and expansion is free on request. ([source](https://api-docs.deepseek.com/quick_start/rate_limit))

## Which should you choose?

Pick Google Gemini API if Getting to a working prototype without a card, then staying on the cheapest frontier-adjacent rates in this set — $0.75 per million input tokens is well under half what Anthropic and OpenAI charge for their top models.

Pick DeepSeek if Batch-shaped work that can run outside weekday mornings UTC, where off-peak halves an already low rate and a cache hit costs about 3% of a cache miss.

Consider something else: Google Gemini API — The rates are dated: they roughly double on 1 January 2027, free-tier content is used to improve Google's products, and rate limits are not published anywhere you can read before signing up.

Consider something else: DeepSeek — Capacity is expressed as concurrent requests rather than tokens per minute, which is a different thing to plan against, and the peak window lands on European working hours.

## Documented by only one

- Free tier: Google Gemini API: Yes
- Batch discount: Google Gemini API: 50% off through the Batch API, which is a paid-tier feature.

## Questions this comparison answers

**Should I choose Google Gemini API or DeepSeek?**

Pick Google Gemini API if Getting to a working prototype without a card, then staying on the cheapest frontier-adjacent rates in this set — $0.75 per million input tokens is well under half what Anthropic and OpenAI charge for their top models.
Pick DeepSeek if Batch-shaped work that can run outside weekday mornings UTC, where off-peak halves an already low rate and a cache hit costs about 3% of a cache miss.