A word about name conventions before we get started.  It's still unclear, even after ten years of writing about AI models:

A family of AI models, a chatbot that employs them, and the business that created them are all referred to as DeepSeek. 

 OpenAI created ChatGPT, a chatbot that makes use of models such as GPT-4o and o1-mini.  That's the right capitalization, too. 

 I will attempt to be as explicit as possible, but the two primary items we are comparing today are the chatbots DeepSeek and ChatGPT. 

A quick comparison between DeepSeek and ChatGPT
 Since both ChatGPT and DeepSeek are user-friendly AI chatbots, they are essentially comparable.  I'll go into more detail about some of the most significant distinctions below, but here's a short overview of how they compare. 

DeepSeek and ChatGPT both provide strong models.
 One-to-one comparisons become absurd when AI models rapidly advance.  They are essentially interchangeable unless you're really pushing the boundaries of what AI language models can do, which carries a number of hazards.  These days, any decent large language model (LLM) can do almost anything you can think of, including writing letters, editing blog entries, brainstorming, and suggesting code. 

DeepSeek and ChatGPT both provide strong, contemporary AI models.  As of February 2025, ChatGPT provides the following features:

 GPT-4o

 GPT-4o mini

 O1

 O3-mini

 Although DeepSeek provides:

 DeepSeek V3

 R1 DeepSeek

 Typical LLMs (or LMMs) that are excellent at producing text answers are GPT-4o, GPT-4o small, and DeepSeek V3.  They frequently offer more features and are comparatively quick. 

 The reasoning models are DeepSeek R1, o1, and o3-mini.  They employ chain-of-thought thinking yet take longer to answer.  As a result, they are more adept at solving coding, scientific, and reasoning challenges but less effective at writing emails. 

You can see how the various models compare to one another using the Artificial Analysis charts above.  There are just minor variations in the models' performance.  The reasoning models and the standard language models differ by far the most, so unless you're really testing the limits of these chatbots, you're likely to get excellent results with any model you choose—as long as it's suitable for the job.

It is evident that ChatGPT has emerged as one of the most significant applications of the last several years.  It has a ton of extra features in comparison to DeepSeek.  The following are a few of the major ones:

 image assistance.  Charts, pictures, and other graphics can be understood by ChatGPT.  It may also use DALL·E 3 to create images.

Voice mode.  You can communicate with ChatGPT.  You can also use your camera to assist live vision or interrupt the AI in advanced voice mode.

 personalized memory and instructions.  You can ask ChatGPT to recall personal information or give it specific instructions.  These will subsequently be used to customize its responses. 

 Integrations.  You may use ChatGPT from any app you use because it is integrated into many of the apps you use on a daily basis and even interacts with Zapier.  Try one of these templates or read more about automating ChatGPT.

Canvas.  ChatGPT  Canvas is a workspace for AI-human cooperation on writing and coding tasks that resembles Google Docs.

 personalized GPTs.  You are able to design your own unique ChatGPT.

 Mac and Windows applications.  DeepSeek is exclusively accessible online and through smartphone apps, whereas ChatGPT offers desktop apps.

tasks that are scheduled.  When you set up scheduled tasks, ChatGPT can perform particular actions at specific times.

 Projects and various aspects of the organization.  ChatGPT helps you manage your AI chatbot chats, albeit it's not very reliable.

 team assistance.  You can gain more collaboration tools if your business uses ChatGPT.

 Furthermore, ChatGPT is simply more sophisticated.  As an underdeveloped software that has suddenly become extremely popular, DeepSeek feels precisely like what it is.  Some of these features will probably come later, but it might take some time. 

Three key factors contributed to DeepSeek's rapid rise in popularity: pricing and access 

 Its models are nearly identical to those of OpenAI.

 Anyone can download, run, and even modify its models because they are open source. 

 Its models are far less expensive to operate.

 We're examining the two chatbots today because it made a huge statement to offer the same performance with additional control at a lower pricing point. 

In the long run, the open viewpoint is the most intriguing, but it has less bearing on how the two chatbots compare.  It's not really essential unless you're developing an AI-powered application and attempting to determine whether to purchase the o1 or DeepSeek R1 API, or even operate your own instance of DeepSeek R1. 

 The fact that DeepSeek is currently totally free is more important.  You have unrestricted access to DeepSeek's best models via the web app and mobile apps.  I haven't been able to confirm, but it appears like you might be limited to 50 DeepSeek R1 messages every day. 

A free ChatGPT plan is available, however it has many more restrictions.  Standard speech mode, limited access to GPT-4o and o3-mini, GPT-4o small, and a more constrained feature set are all included.  You must pay $20 a month for ChatGPT Plus in order to access many of the features that make ChatGPT so fantastic. 

However, DeepSeek is more peculiar.
 DeepSeek is a very remarkable achievement.  The Chinese team was forced to construct its models using less powerful graphics cards due to international sanctions.  The degree of technological innovation required is demonstrated by the ability to still match OpenAI's model performance. 

 However, this does not imply that I believe DeepSeek is flawless, even though I truly value it as a technological advancement.  The increase is tremendous.  Sometimes it takes several minutes for the servers to react.  Additionally, it lacks many highly helpful features, such as vision.  Almost more often than not, I utilize ChatGPT to extract information from photos.

The elephant in the room comes next.  Since DeepSeek is situated in China, the Chinese government and intelligence agencies may be able to access everything you enter.  If you only use DeepSeek for email writing, this might not be a major issue.  However, DeepSeek is probably out of the question if you're utilizing it for sensitive or professional purposes.  Relying on DeepSeek could be a bad choice because there is a non-zero risk that the US or EU will crack down on it in the coming months. 

 In a similar vein, all chatbots filter and restrict information to some extent.  For example, ChatGPT will refrain from instructing you on how to commit fraud or violent acts.  DeepSeek's censorship includes subjects that the Chinese....

Is ChatGPT inferior than DeepSeek?
 DeepSeek exhibits some impressive technological feats.  It's very thrilling if you know how to download the models and run them yourself.  Likewise, it's worth a look if you simply want to test out a potent AI chatbot for free. 

 But in the majority of cases, ChatGPT truly prevails.  The $20/month ChatGPT Plus plan is a terrific deal, however the free plan has some restrictions.  It's much more useful, has many more capabilities, can be used professionally, and handles data more transparently than DeepSeek.  I intend to keep using it on a daily basis.