DeepSeek launches V4-Pro with peak/off-peak API pricing
Original: DeepSeek peak/off-peak pricing update
Why This Matters
Tiered API pricing and expanded agent capabilities signal DeepSeek's push for broader enterprise and developer adoption.
DeepSeek released DeepSeek-V4-Pro on August 13, 2026, featuring major agent upgrades, flexible reasoning effort levels, and native OpenAI Responses API support. New peak and off-peak API pricing takes effect at 16:00 UTC on August 16, 2026, with off-peak rates 50% lower than peak.
DeepSeek officially launched DeepSeek-V4-Pro on August 13, 2026. The release highlights three main capabilities: major upgrades to agent functionality with strong production performance gains; flexible reasoning effort settings (low, high, and max) for both V4-Pro and V4-Flash to suit different task complexities; and native support for the OpenAI Responses API, optimized for Codex with a one-click setup. V4-Pro is available on the DeepSeek app and web via 'Expert Mode,' and is also accessible through the API using unchanged model names. Alongside the model release, DeepSeek announced an API pricing update introducing peak and off-peak rate tiers. Off-peak rates are set at 50% lower than peak rates, allowing users to schedule workloads more flexibly. The new pricing structure takes effect at 16:00 UTC on August 16, 2026.