The AI world is moving at breakneck speed, with groundbreaking technologies and platforms on the horizon. Since its debut in November 2022, ChatGPT has reigned supreme as the ultimate AI conversationalist, beloved by millions across the globe. But now, there’s a new player shaking things up: DeepSeek. This game-changing tool delivers the power of advanced AI models — free of charge.
The buzz around DeepSeek has sent shockwaves through the AI industry, leaving U.S. AI companies scrambling to figure out how its creators pulled off such a feat. In this post, we’ll delve into DeepSeek vs ChatGPT, explore the key features of each platform, test some real-world scenarios, and give you our verdict on who rises to the top.
Can DeepSeek dethrone ChatGPT as the king of AI? Let’s dive in and find out.
Comparing The Two AI Platforms
ChatGPT and DeepSeek are both advanced AI models designed to assist with a wide range of tasks, but they differ in their focus and capabilities. ChatGPT, developed by OpenAI, is a general-purpose language model optimized for conversational interactions, offering robust performance in generating human-like text, answering questions, and assisting with creative or analytical tasks. DeepSeek, on the other hand, is a specialized AI developed by a Chinese corporation called High-Flyer, often tailored for specific applications such as data analysis, enterprise solutions, or industry-specific tasks.
What Is DeepSeek?
DeepSeek is a cutting-edge AI tool designed to provide specialized assistance across a variety of tasks. Unlike more generalized AI models, DeepSeek focuses on delivering highly accurate and tailored responses, making it a powerful choice for users who need precision and depth in specific areas. Whether you’re a marketer looking to conduct in-depth research, a coder seeking optimized solutions, or a writer needing creative inspiration, DeepSeek aims to cater to your unique needs.
One of DeepSeek’s standout features is its ability to integrate seamlessly with other platforms and workflows (open source APIs), enhancing productivity and efficiency. For example, it might offer advanced data analysis tools for researchers or specialized coding assistance for developers. Its focus on delivering targeted, high-quality outputs differentiates it from generalized AI tools.
Developed at a fraction of the cost of other AI models — around $6 million — DeepSeek is not only innovative but also highly cost-effective. It’s free to use, making it accessible to many users. Its affordability and accessibility have contributed to its rapid rise in popularity, earning it the title of the most downloaded app on the App Store as of January 27th, 2025. At its core, DeepSeek uses a self-reinforced learning model that operates without human supervision, significantly reducing development costs compared to models like OpenAI’s ChatGPT. This unique approach allows DeepSeek to deliver high-quality AI assistance while remaining affordable and scalable.
What Is ChatGPT?
ChatGPT is one of the world’s most versatile and widely used AI chatbots. Known for its conversational abilities and broad range of applications, ChatGPT can assist with everything from drafting emails and writing essays to generating code and brainstorming ideas. Its strength lies in its adaptability — it can easily handle various tasks, making it a favorite among writers, students, professionals, and hobbyists alike.
ChatGPT has gained immense popularity since its launch in November 2022 due to its user-friendly interface and accessibility. It’s available to anyone with an internet connection, and its free tier makes it an attractive option for casual users. Its ability to engage in natural, human-like conversations has made it a go-to tool for those seeking quick, reliable assistance.
OpenAI has continued to innovate with its latest models, ChatGPT 01 and ChatGPT 01 Pro, released in late 2024. These models represent significant advancements in AI capabilities, offering improved accuracy, faster response times, and enhanced contextual understanding. Both models include priority access during peak times, early access to new updates, and the ability to handle more complex queries.
Key Features Of ChatGPT And DeepSeek
Both ChatGPT and DeepSeek are powerful AI systems, but they’re built for different purposes. DeepSeek is designed for specific industries and businesses, offering solutions focusing on accuracy, data analysis, and solving specialized problems. On the other hand, ChatGPT is a flexible, all-around AI that’s great at understanding and generating human-like text, making it useful for everything from answering questions to creative writing and everyday tasks.
In the context of DeepSeek vs ChatGPT, both platforms are capable of an enormous amount of tasks, but for this post, we’ll concentrate on a few key areas, including content creation, coding, and market research, since most of our readers will benefit most from this comparison.
Let’s explore each platform further so you can understand who uses it best and what it is best used for.
DeepSeek
DeepSeek functions as a hybrid search engine and knowledge base. It can retrieve up-to-date information from websites, leverage structured data, provide expert insights, and use semantic understanding to provide deeper information that rival AI models don’t.
Some of its key features include:
- Self-Reinforced Learning: DeepSeek uses a self-reinforced learning model that doesn’t require human supervision. For this reason, DeepSeek can achieve more with less revenue than other AI models.
- No Limitations On The Number Of Prompts: DeepSeek’s R1 model is similar to ChatGPT’s 01 model but doesn’t have the 50 prompt limitations that restrict Plus ChatGPT 01 users.
- DeepSeek Can Self-Correct: Regarding hallucinations (AI errors), DeepThink can self-correct when challenged and research sources across the internet (and its training data).
- It Can Be Run on a Local Machine: Unlike rival AI models, users can download and successfully run DeepSeek on their local machines, thanks to its small footprint.
- It Is More Human-Like: DeepSeek has an advantage over other AI models because it can respond to queries in a more human-like tone.
- It’s FREE And Open Source: DeepSeek is free and open source, making it easier for budget users and those seeking to integrate it into their platforms more accessible.
See our favorite ChatGPT alternatives
ChatGPT
ChatGPT offers various features to suit different needs. You can create custom AI models tailored to specific tasks, like writing different kinds of creative content or summarizing research papers. There’s also a library of pre-built models, including some from OpenAI and others contributed by the community. Best of all, free users enjoy unlimited usage. For more advanced users and complex queries, consider exploring the paid ChatGPT 01 plans, which offer even greater customization options.
Some of ChatGPT’s features are:
- Access to GPT-4o Mini: With the release of DeepSeek R1, Open AI’s newest model, 4o Mini, is available for limited usage for free users. This includes voice chats, file uploads, advanced data analysis, and custom GPTs.
- The Ability To Create Custom GPT Models: OpenAI allows free users to create customization through prompts to guide ChatGPT’s behavior, defining a specific purpose and tone to create desired outputs.
- GPT Library: ChatGPT provides custom versions of its AI model for a variety of uses, including writing, video and image generation, research, and more.
- Paid Plans: ChatGPT offers two paid plans, Plus and Pro, that provide extended or unlimited prompt access, opportunities to test new features before free users, and complex queries.
- Advanced Queries (Pro Only): ChatGPT’s paid plans offer advanced reasoning in math, code, and PhD-level science problems, making it a good all-around AI model for advanced scientific tasks.
- Vision Capabilities (Pro Only): Pro users can upload images for ChatGPT to provide insights and reasoning and answer questions quickly.
Deep Seek vs ChatGPT: Head-To-Head Comparison
For the casual user, DeepSeek and ChatGPT can serve as platforms to improve your productivity in business-related fields. For this post, we’ll compare the two based on a few common scenarios, including content creation (creating a blog outline), coding (writing a WordPress plugin), and market research. By examining their strengths and weaknesses in these practical scenarios, you’ll clearly understand which platform might be better suited to your needs.
1. Content Creation
For this scenario, we’ll ask DeepSeek and ChatGPT 4 mini to provide a blog post outline for an online store specializing in athletic shoes. The title of our article is How to Choose the Right Athletic Shoes For Your Sport. We’ll use the following prompt:
“I’m writing an article for my online store that specializes in athletic shoes. Please provide an outline for the post with opportunities to link to products in my store. The article needs to engaging, informative, and encourage users to shop on our store.”
DeepSeek
DeepSeek answered our query in about 34 seconds, which was impressive considering we were working during peak usage. It did take slightly longer than anticipated based on DeepSeek’s benchmark results, but the outline itself is quite strong. It generated a catchy headline, provided some well-supported points, and suggested additional sections for a FAQ section and a compelling call-to-action (CTA) to round things out.
ChatGPT
ChatGPT 4.0 mini was faster than DeepSeek, generating content in about 30 seconds. That’s on par for this particular AI model. However, the output doesn’t have the same clear structure and flow as the DeepSeek outline. It feels a bit more scattered.
Edge: DeepSeek
Overall, DeepSeek, while slower than ChatGPT, provided us with a well-structured outline that has a more logical and reader-friendly flow. It also guides the reader through the decision-making process, making it easier to find the right shoes. The ChatGPT post focuses more on general information, which might miss the mark for readers looking to purchase shoes. Additionally, the DeepSeek outline naturally incorporates good keywords throughout the structure, making it easier to optimize for search engines.
2. Coding
AI models can typically craft code for various projects, including WordPress plugins. So, for this experiment, we challenged DeepSeek and ChatGPT with a coding task: write a WordPress plugin for a simple calculator. We instructed both models to provide the complete code to install the plugin on a WordPress website utilizing the Twenty Twenty-Five theme. The specific prompt we used was:
“Create a plugin for WordPress and the Twenty Twenty-Five theme for a basic calculator. Include all the necessary Javascript, CSS, and PHP to install the plugin. Also, provide detailed instructions on installing the plugin on our site, including what to name the files and how to zip them for installation. Title the plugin “Basic Calculator.”
DeepSeek
DeepSeek generated a functional calculator within 46 seconds. However, the model placed the plugin in the site’s footer rather than implementing a more versatile shortcode-based solution. Nonetheless, following the AI model’s instructions resulted in the calculator functioning as expected.
The model provided all the necessary code for seamless integration within the Twenty Twenty-Five theme, resulting in an aesthetically pleasing appearance. However, the placement of the calculator within the footer proved less than ideal. Those with coding experience would likely be able to solve this independently, but beginners and casual users would likely need to revise the original prompt to specify a shortcode-based solution.
ChatGPT
Utilizing the same prompt, ChatGPT generated the necessary code within approximately 85 seconds, roughly double the time it took for DeepSeek to create a plugin for us. As requested, it provided code segments in PHP, JavaScript, and CSS, accompanied by installation instructions.
We followed ChatGPT’s instructions perfectly and used a shortcode to embed the calculator on our website. While the aesthetics could be better, the calculator performed as expected.
Edge: ChatGPT
DeepSeek and ChatGPT provided excellent instructions on creating a basic calculator plugin for WordPress. DeepSeek delivers a clear, step-by-step guide to the process, making it easy to follow for beginners. On the other hand, ChatGPT makes the code easier to manage and implement thanks to its ability to be used anywhere on our website with a shortcode.
Both outputs work great, but ChatGPT’s well-structured code and customization tips make it take the lead in the coding department.
3. Market Research
AI platforms like DeepSeek and ChatGPT can be powerful tools for market research, helping you brainstorm ideas, create buyer personas, and more. However, it’s crucial to understand that these large language models (LLMs) generally don’t have real-time internet access. For instance, DeepSeek, when queried, confirmed it doesn’t have direct internet access, and its information is current as of July 2024. Similarly, ChatGPT’s knowledge is limited to September 2021, even for premium users.
Therefore, relying on LLMs for keyword research, current events, or the latest market trends might not provide the most up-to-date insights.
Despite this limitation, LLMs can significantly speed up your market research process. To begin, let’s use the following prompt:
“Imagine you’re a highly-talented copywriter conducting market research to better understand your audience. I want you to create a buyer persona profile for organic dog food. The typical buyer is usually young, health conscious, and treats their dogs as a family member. Be sure to include demographics, main challenges, values, and motivations of the buyer persona.”
DeepSeek
DeepSeek’s response time was around 32 seconds, and the output, while comprehensive, felt limited in depth. While it did what we asked, the insight provided was less informative than a similar query in ChatGPT.
However, DeepSeek did offer some valuable and unique perspectives on the challenges faced by our ideal buyer, such as time management and information overload. With further refinement of our prompts, we believe DeepSeek can deliver the desired depth and insight.
ChatGPT
ChatGPT was quicker, giving us a picture of our ideal customer in just 26 seconds. It told us they’re likely women between 28 and 40, from the middle class, and interested in health and wellness. It also gave us a good idea of their personality and lifestyle and suggested the best ways to reach them with our messages.
It’s A Draw
Both ChatGPT and DeepSeek effectively created buyer personas based on our initial request. However, ChatGPT excelled in delving deeper into the customer’s mindset. It helped us understand the eco-conscious pet parent’s lifestyle, personality, and what truly matters to them. ChatGPT also provided a more detailed analysis of their challenges, such as concerns about their dog’s health, finding reliable products, and the cost of organic options.
DeepSeek’s persona also has its strengths. It highlighted key challenges like information overload, the importance of trust in brands, and budget limitations. The output from DeepSeek was also more concise and action-oriented, making it easier to translate into practical marketing strategies.
When conducting simple market research, either platform can be a valuable timesaver for marketers seeking help researching their ideal buyer.
DeepSeek vs ChatGPT: What’s The Final Verdict?
Choosing between DeepSeek vs ChatGPT depends on what you want in an AI tool. DeepSeek is a good option if you’re on a budget and appreciate open-source technology. It also has a more human-like conversationalist style and explains why it generated an answer, which we love. It also has access to more up-to-date information than ChatGPT, which many will find useful.
ChatGPT, on the other hand, is a well-established player with a wider range of capabilities. It can assist with coding, generate more detailed content, and even generate images.
A word of caution: DeepSeek is still very new. We don’t yet know much about how it was trained or what is included in its dataset. If you’re already a ChatGPT pro user, wait and see how DeepSeek develops before making the switch.
However, if you’re new to AI, both platforms are excellent starting points. Try them both and see which works best for you.
