Two Simple Ways to Access DeepSeek API for Free

DeepSeek's official API platform temporarily stopped and has resumed without a recharge option, prompting the need for free alternatives.

GitHub Models platform

GitHub Models, a free large‑model API service provided by GitHub and Azure, lists DeepSeek‑R1 in its marketplace. Clicking the model opens a Playground where you can chat with it.

The three required parameters to call the API are:

API base URL : https://models.inference.ai.azure.com (no trailing /v1)

API Key : your GitHub token

Model name : DeepSeek-R1 Using the simple web chat tool at https://simple-chat.cmcm.app and entering these three elements allows you to interact with DeepSeek.

SiliconFlow platform

SiliconFlow offers a “full‑blood” DeepSeek series on Huawei Ascend chips. Register via the invitation link with a phone number to receive 20 million free tokens.

After registration, the DeepSeek models appear in the “Model Square”. Creating an API key yields a token beginning with sk-.

The API three elements for SiliconFlow are:

API base URL : https://api.siliconflow.cn/v1 API Key : the copied sk-… token

Model name : deepseek-ai/DeepSeek-R1 or deepseek-ai/DeepSeek-V3 Entering these into the same simple chat tool also enables free interaction.

Choosing between R1 and V3

If you need complex logical reasoning and highest answer quality and can tolerate slower responses, choose R1.

If you need fast responses for simple queries, AI tool integration, or batch script calls, choose V3.

Limitations

GitHub Models imposes rate limits and a 4 k token output cap. SiliconFlow has higher rate limits and a 64 k context window, which can be further relaxed after real‑name verification.

Both free options are suitable for personal testing; production use should consider SiliconFlow’s paid plans.

Other options

ByteDance’s VolcEngine and Tencent Cloud also provide DeepSeek APIs with limited free quotas, though their setup is more complex.

Non‑programmers

Non‑technical users can follow the same steps using the provided web chat tool, as described in the author’s earlier “Kimi API quick‑start” guide.