DeepSeek: R1 0528 API Pricing
DeepSeek: R1 0528 costs $0.500 per 1M input tokens and $2.15 per 1M output tokens (cache reads: $0.350). Context window: 164K. Prices verified 2026-10-21 · source
Alternatives to consider
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Cheapest deepseek model — 92% less per month
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Token economics
| Token type | Price | vs base input |
|---|---|---|
| Standard input | $0.500 | — |
| Cache read | $0.350 | −30% |
| Output | $2.15 | — |
Prompt caching stores repeated context server-side: reads cost far less, but writes carry a one-time premium.
Higher effort = deeper thinking = more reasoning tokens billed as output.
Training data ends here — newer events require retrieval or web search.
What would DeepSeek: R1 0528 cost you per month?
| Workload | Requests/mo | Avg tokens (in/out) | Est. monthly cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Light chatbot | 10,000 | 800 / 400 | $12.60 |
| Coding agent | 5,000 | 8,000 / 2,000 | $41.50 |
| RAG pipeline | 30,000 | 4,000 / 500 | $92.25 |
| Doc summarizer | 2,000 | 20,000 / 1,000 | $24.30 |
Estimates use list prices without prompt caching. Caching can cut input cost by up to 90% on repeated context.
About DeepSeek: R1 0528
May 28th update to the [original DeepSeek R1](/deepseek/deepseek-r1) Performance on par with [OpenAI o1](/openai/o1), but open-sourced and with fully open reasoning tokens. It's 671B parameters in size, with 37B active...
Compare DeepSeek: R1 0528 with
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- R1 0528 vs OpenAI: GPT-5.6 Sol
Popular head-to-heads — see all on the comparisons index.
Frequently asked questions
How much does DeepSeek: R1 0528 cost?
DeepSeek: R1 0528 costs $0.500 per 1M input tokens and $2.15 per 1M output tokens; cached input tokens cost $0.350 per 1M. Verified 2026-10-21 — provider source.
What is the context window?
164K tokens, with up to 33K output tokens per response. That's roughly 205 pages of text in a single request.
Does it support prompt caching?
Yes — cached input is $0.350/1M, about 30% cheaper than standard input. Agents and RAG workloads with repeated context benefit most.
What's a cheaper alternative?
ScaleDown: Summarize saves about 97% on a typical workload with comparable quality.
Official resources
- DeepSeek: R1 0528 on OpenRouter — live endpoint, pricing source of record.
- Artificial Analysis leaderboard → — independent intelligence and performance rankings.
- DeepSeek platform → — first-party API documentation and pricing.
- Shred your current bill — paste a CSV and see if switching saves money.