LLM APIs · Comparison
Anthropic API (Claude) vs DeepSeek API
2 products compared side by side: what you pay for with each one first, then the five access facts, entry prices, recorded plan limits and the bottom line of each review. The evidence note under the table says how each product was checked.
Side by side
| Metric | Anthropic API (Claude) | DeepSeek API |
|---|---|---|
| What you're paying for | Worth the priceClaude models from Haiku 5.5 at $0.10 / $0.50 per 1M tokens up to Fable 5.1, with no training on API data and a BAA you can sign in the console. | Worth the priceA 1M-token-context model billed per token, with automatic cache hits at 98% off and half-price off-peak hours. |
| Overall score | 7.2Best | 3.2 |
| Free option | Free trial | Paid only |
| Card to start | –Not measured | –Not measured |
| Getting access | Self-serve | Self-serve |
| Starter priceCheapest paid plan | $0.10/1M input tokens | $0.30/1M input tokens |
| Pricing model | Usage-based | Usage-based |
| Pricing page | Public prices | Public prices |
| How you pay | Prepaid credits by card, expire after 1 year; invoicing through sales | Prepaid balance (PayPal, card, Alipay, WeChat Pay); top-ups do not expire |
| Free option | One-time free credits for new users, amount not stated | None stated; a "granted balance" is mentioned with no amount |
| Reference scenario (100M in + 20M out tokens/mo) | $20 on claude-haiku-5-5, computed | $54 on deepseek-flash at peak ($27 off-peak), computed |
| Batch, cache and other discounts | Batch 50% off; cache hits 90% off on Haiku 5.5 | No batch API; cache hits 98% off (automatic); off-peak 50% off |
| Trained on API data | No (Commercial Terms) | May be used, de-identified, unless you opt out |
| Default retention | Deleted within 30 days | No number of days ("as long as you have an account") |
| Zero data retention | By agreement, through sales | Not stated |
| SOC 2 / ISO 27001 | Both, listed for the API | Not stated |
| HIPAA BAA | Standard BAA signed in the Console, if eligible | Not stated |
| Data regions | US-only inference at 1.1x; otherwise global | No choice; processed and stored in the PRC |
| Official SDKs | Python, TypeScript, C#, Go, Java, PHP, Ruby | None of its own; docs use the OpenAI and Anthropic SDKs |
| Console SSO | Through sales | Not stated |
| Bottom line | From its public pages, the Anthropic API has a complete per-token price list, discounts that combine and strong data terms, with a self-serve HIPAA BAA. Region choice is US only, zero data retention and SSO go through sales, and a few pages disagree on billing details. | From its public pages, DeepSeek API has short, clear token prices, automatic 98%-off cache hits and half-price off-peak hours. Data is processed in China, training use is opt-out, and no compliance documents are stated. |
Evidence: Anthropic API (Claude): facts checked 2026-10-15 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run; DeepSeek API: facts checked 2026-10-15 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run. Prices in USD as listed, excluding tax. "–" means not recorded.
Entry price
Baseline: each product's cheapest paid plan, per month. Included usage differs, so read the line under each price.
- Anthropic API (Claude)Claude Haiku 5.5$0.10/1M input tokens$0.50 per 1M output tokens for prompts up to 100,000 tokens; $0.50 / $2.50 for longer prompts; cache hits $0.01
- 1M-token context window, 128K output
- Tool use and structured outputs
- Batch $0.05 / $0.25
- US-only inference at 1.1x
- DeepSeek APIdeepseek-flash$0.30/1M input tokens$1.20 per 1M output tokens at the peak rate; cache hits $0.006; off-peak rates are half
- DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash
- 1M context, up to 384K output
- Tool calls, JSON output, vision
- Concurrency limit 2,500
Prices as listed on each pricing page, in USD per month, excluding tax. Observed: Anthropic API (Claude) 2026-10-15, DeepSeek API 2026-10-15.
Which one fits
- If you need to start today without a sales call
- Anthropic API (Claude)Self-serve sign-up; the highest score of the 2 self-serve products here (7.2/10).
- Highest overall score
- Anthropic API (Claude)7.2/10 (Good). The review shows the score breakdown and the run behind it.
Picked by fixed rules from the table above, not by hand. How we score
Full reviews
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