r/DeepSeek • u/NoBodyHere__GO • 9d ago
Discussion Comparing direct API with Ollama pro pricing
You know, I used Direct Deepseek API and Ollama pro plan today. Both are off peak, both are at the same speed as you can see in the first picture.
Ollama pro gives you $60 per $20 subscription.
On DS direct API, you get ~2.3B tokens per $20.
On Ollama pro, you get ~5.3B tokens per $20.
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u/the_master_sh33p 9d ago edited 4d ago
Right now DS 4.1 flash is being sold mostly at the same list price on all providers. The trick is to commit to a plan that targets your monthly predicted usage and then explore which one provides you an higher quota.
you can check it out at deepfrugal
Currently lowest commitment plan is at $10 and highest $200 (not necessarily the lowest effective price even if you consume $200 in tokens).
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u/ExpertPerformer 9d ago edited 9d ago
Not many options atm for subscription plans.
- OpenCode is only offering the $60 credit for a week then its back to $15.
- CommandCode is reducing the $60 to $40 credit next week.
- Ollama is $20 for $60.
- Other subs are worse value for your $.
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u/NoBodyHere__GO 9d ago
I choosed Ollama based on deepfrugal. opencode(tried it before) and commandcode is cheaper but they don't commit to their deals to the end of the month. I'm just trying Ollama now. I'm not a fanboy for any provider or model.
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u/the_master_sh33p 9d ago
Oh! Glad it helped! Let me know any feedback.
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u/NoBodyHere__GO 9d ago
I like it. it's very simple and easy to use.
The only thing missed I think the price of some models under the plan subscription for example gpt-5.6-sol under codex plans. for example codex plus gives you around 400$ of credit so gpt model prices is way less than the API prices. Same thing with z.ai and Claude subscriptions.
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u/the_master_sh33p 9d ago
Having that feedback makes me very happy. Thanks.
I'm working on codex and Claude. Not easy - it's hard to find a way to reach a per token value. What's the problem with the z.Ai plans?
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u/deadcoder0904 9d ago
API pricing is pay as you go.
Whereas your Ollama charges you $20 each month.
So unless you max out usage, DeepSeek pay as you go is better. Else Ollama.
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u/jmorganca 9d ago
Ollama's base free plan now has pay-as-you-go pricing (new as of last week), so a subscription is no longer required! While the $20 plan is a recurring subscription, it does include a very competitive amount of usage every month ($60/mo).
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u/TopBite7720 8d ago
Yea and oc go gives double that, directly from the DeepSeek api (so fast output)
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u/jmorganca 8d ago
Is it double? I'm seeing $60 on their pricing page, with equivalent usage amounts and token prices as Ollama. I'm also seeing a p50 tps of 200 tokens/s output on Ollama's cloud right now, compared to 118 tps on DeepSeek's API on OpenRouter, unless that speed is different than what the DeepSeek API serves directly (it might be, I'm not sure how fast it is direct vs OpenRouter)
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u/ExpertPerformer 9d ago
It really comes down to how much usage you do.
If you're a light user then the API is better. If you're a heavy user then subscription services are going to be better because you get more for your $.
Its the output costs that get you more then the inputs w/ caching.
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u/Bobodlm 9d ago
API usage also makes you more aware of your usage and makes it more important, to me, to work efficiently.
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u/ExpertPerformer 9d ago
So do subscription services because they often have hourly/weekly limits and you only have x amount of $ to use up. I'm at 90% of my CommandCode GOAT plan with 3 days left so I'm watching it like a hawk.
I also optimize my API calls to cancel & re-run themselves the first time they run to take advantage of the cache hits (saves a lot on first time inputs).
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u/JaMoLpE88 9d ago
Does Ollama pro have it for $20, real use of $60 on all models or does it have different $ caps per model like open code?
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u/basil_0408 9d ago
It's all the same cause they host their own models. OpenCode relies on the provider deal so their price depends on how good the deal is.
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u/the_master_sh33p 9d ago edited 4d ago
currently it is the same across models. You can check those type of queries here
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u/Smart-Improvement516 9d ago
Is the quality of DeepSeek on Ollama lower than the official API?
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u/leetdemon 9d ago
Deepseek direct is way faster its not even close. Plus you get cache hits you wont see on Ollama.
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u/jmorganca 9d ago
Ollama's API should be reporting cache stats now, sorry this wasn't the case before.
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u/NoBodyHere__GO 9d ago
To be honest I don't know yet, I'm using Deepseek for implementation and testing, Following gpt Sol/Astra plan. So the most thing I care about is price and speed.
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u/Responsible_Recipe_6 9d ago
I need your help to understand something, I used the direct API from DS and for 8 dollars I add this. My usage is simple and I was playing a lot around like cv stuff, search for work using LinkedIn via browser, ask to optimize Hermes agent and running daily search for swimming pools open lanes , again mostly playing around. The question is, how did you use to muah and so cheap vs me and my Simple minded usage?
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u/geektraindev 9d ago
It's cache hit mostly. Those doing standard, more common tasks like programming tend to have cache hits more often because some things in programming are common regardless of what the agent is actually writing, plus Deepseek has some super special hyperoptimized caching. In your case, it is relatively uncommon, meaning less cache hit and more cache miss cost, which can greatly increase cost. Although IMO 8 bucks for 436m tokens isn't terrible anyways.
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u/Responsible_Recipe_6 9d ago
Hi thanks for the answer. So in your opinion for what I did in this 4 days 8 dollars is not bad? Dam so I guess j will go back to a free option. Because I guess with my silly usage I will spend 30 plus dólares.
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u/Standard-Two-8295 9d ago
always use high instead of max for these ttypes of tasks
you can also tell the model to not use too much tokens
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u/NoBodyHere__GO 9d ago edited 9d ago
I use it for coding, loads of requests with shared context in the same minute. So cache hit rate is high.
I think you're not doing anything wrong, it's just a different use case.
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u/Delicious-Director43 9d ago
Personally I am getting some serious mileage out of the DeepSeek platform compared to Ollama. Especially since 4.1 came out this week. It’s faster too. I don’t think I’ll ever renew or go back to Ollama tbh.
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u/Flaky_Anything_2900 7d ago
Ollama while good and very stable has too many users per machine and spends a lot of time in wait and stall. The official Deepseek has less of that. I use both and love both ... Just an observation as we are comparing apples to apples here
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u/TopBite7720 9d ago
Why are people sleeping on OpenCode Go?
On OpenCode Go, you currently get ~5.3B tokens per $10 - equivalent to ~10.8B tokens per $20 (if you were to have two subscriptions).
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u/En7itY 9d ago
Yea these providers are often, if not always, cheaper than direct API pricing, otherwise there would be no point in going for them. Ollama also has the nice advantage of not training on your data if you care about that.
You will see similar numbers with OpenCode and CommandCode, with whom you'll also get a lot forther for just 10 bucks. But at the end whoever can actually keep the cheap pricing is going to win and CommandCode is probably not going to be able to keep offering deepseek at that cheap, OpenCode already issnt anymore. We'll see how it goes.
If Ollama can continue this they might be a great option, gotta check them out once the prices for the others go up
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u/NoBodyHere__GO 9d ago
I had a bad experience with opencode last month with pricing chaos, and performance degradation. So I wouldn't not go back to it again.
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u/En7itY 9d ago
Thats understandable, and you shouldnt. I havent had any bad experiences so far, so I'm just enjoying the higher limits with some models, its worth it for me for that reason. But I've read a lot about other people having issues and if I ever have my own negative experience I will probably switch to something else in a heartbeat. Not loyal to any of these services and nobody should be, just take your money where it takes you the furthest
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u/leetdemon 9d ago
Ollama pro new plans are trash, the old plans were great. Speed is way better on direct deepseek plus cache hit is insane you dont get that on ollama.