Grok vs DeepSeek

Closed and premium vs open and cheap

Grok and DeepSeek sit at opposite ends of a big divide in AI. xAI, now part of SpaceX and operating as SpaceXAI, keeps its current Grok models closed: you use them through xAI's apps or pay for API access. DeepSeek, a Chinese AI lab, publishes the weights of its main models under the permissive MIT license, so anyone with enough hardware can download and run them, and its API prices are among the lowest of any major lab. This page looks at what that means in practice.

Grok.Online is an independent site that runs Grok models only. DeepSeek is not part of our chat.

The key numbers

OpenRouter list price, Oct 2026. Prices for DeepSeek vary by provider and snapshot.

What "open weights" changes

When a model's weights are public, three things become possible. You can run it on your own servers, so your data never leaves your control. You can fine-tune it on your own material. And many hosting companies compete to serve it, which pushes prices down. DeepSeek V4 Pro is a mixture-of-experts model with 1.6 trillion parameters in total, of which 49 billion are active for each token, so self-hosting it takes a rack of data-centre GPUs, not a laptop. Most people still use it through DeepSeek's own app or an API provider.

With Grok you depend on xAI or a reseller such as OpenRouter. In return you get a managed service with xAI's tools, safety filters and support. xAI has opened only older models: Grok-1 in 2024 and Grok 2.5 in 2025. It said Grok 3 would follow, but as of October 2026 those weights have not appeared.

Quality and features

Both companies publish strong benchmark results, and we leave those to them. In practical terms, DeepSeek's models are known for solid maths, reasoning and coding at a very low price, while Grok's flagship Grok 4.7 targets the very top end, especially for coding and long agent tasks. Grok 4.7 is also newer, with training data running to May 2026.

Around the models, the official apps differ. Grok's apps add search on the web and on X, voice, file uploads and the Grok Imagine generator for pictures and video. DeepSeek's app is simpler and centred on chat, with an optional web search. In our chat you get Grok's models with image input and none of the app extras, so the comparison here is model against model.

Privacy and where your data goes

If you use DeepSeek's own app or API, your data is handled by DeepSeek under its privacy policy, and some organisations restrict its use, so check your employer's or school's rules. The open weights give you a way around that: a provider in your region or your own servers. With Grok, your data goes to xAI under its terms, or to a provider like OpenRouter. On Grok.Online, chat history is stored in your browser, and requests pass through our gateway to the model provider; see our privacy policy.

Which DeepSeek, which Grok?

Both labs offer more than one model, and matching the right pair makes the comparison fairer.

• DeepSeek V4 Pro is the large text model for reasoning and code. Its newest snapshot on OpenRouter dates from August 13, 2026. The closest Grok counterparts are Grok 4.3 for everyday reasoning and Grok 4.7 for the hardest work.
• DeepSeek V4.1 Flash, released September 10, 2026, is the small, fast model and the first built on what DeepSeek calls a Causal Encoder-Decoder architecture. It also reads images. An October 17 snapshot is listed at half the price, $0.15 / $0.60. Its natural rival is Grok 4.20, the quick model that answers without a reasoning step in our chat.

Whichever pair you test, use the same prompts and check the answers you can verify. Price differences only matter if the cheaper model gives you answers you can use; a reply you have to redo costs more in the end, especially when your own time is part of the bill.

One more practical point: DeepSeek's models are hosted by many providers, and they do not all run the same snapshot, settings or context limit. When you see a surprising result, check which provider and version answered before blaming the model itself. Grok has fewer routes, xAI's API and resellers such as OpenRouter, so its behaviour varies less from one place to another.

Choose Grok if…

• you want one of the newest closed models with recent training data;
• you need image input on a top-tier model, which DeepSeek V4 Pro does not offer;
• you want official extras such as X search, voice or Grok Imagine in one app;
• you would rather not manage hosting at all. Start with our free Grok 4.20 chat.

Choose DeepSeek if…

• price per token is your main concern;
• you need to run the model on your own servers or fine-tune it;
• open weights under the MIT license matter to your project;
• your tasks are mostly text reasoning, maths or code at large volume.

Interested in other open models? Read Grok vs Llama. For the Grok side of the API, see our API guide.

FAQ

Is DeepSeek cheaper than Grok?

Yes, usually by a wide margin. DeepSeek V4.1 Flash costs $0.30 / $1.20 per million tokens on OpenRouter, against $1.25 / $2.50 for Grok 4.20.

Can I download Grok like DeepSeek?

Only old versions. Grok-1 and Grok 2.5 have published weights; Grok 4.20, 4.3 and 4.7 do not.

Does DeepSeek read images?

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash accepts images; V4 Pro takes text only. All three Grok models in our chat read images.

Is DeepSeek available on Grok.Online?

No. Our site is built around xAI's models; DeepSeek's are not on the menu.