Y-API vs the DeepSeek API
Y-API resells DeepSeek models, so this is not two labs competing — it is one question. For the DeepSeek builds you would actually call, does going through Y-API cost less than paying DeepSeek directly? Both columns below are cash per 1M tokens, and DeepSeek's side is its own cheapest published tier.
| Dimension | Y-API | DeepSeek API |
|---|---|---|
| API protocol | Y-APIOpenAI Chat Completions. Point base_url at https://api.y-api.bestvirtualgoods.com/v1, swap the key, leave the rest of your code alone. | DeepSeek APIOpenAI Chat Completions as well — its own quick-start documents the API as OpenAI-compatible. |
| DeepSeek builds you can call | Y-API4 DeepSeek model IDs, including 2 that are not on DeepSeek's current rate card: deepseek/deepseek-v3.2, deepseek/deepseek-chat-v3.1. | DeepSeek APIThe builds it currently sells. New releases land there first, and a retired build stops being callable. |
| deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash — input / 1M tokens | Y-API$0.0075 in cash | DeepSeek API$0.22 — 29.3× ours |
| deepseek/deepseek-v4-pro — input / 1M tokens | Y-API$0.025 in cash | DeepSeek API$0.66 — 26.4× ours |
| What a top-up converts to | Y-APILimited time: $1 becomes $20 of account credit, then credit is deducted at each model's own rate. Reverts to 1:10 afterwards. | DeepSeek APIYou pay the list price in cash. There is no credit multiplier. |
| Time-of-day pricing | Y-APIOne rate, every hour of the day. | DeepSeek APITwo tiers. The figures above are the cheaper off-peak tier; the peak tier on the same rate card is higher. |
| Cache-hit pricing | Y-APINo cache discount. A repeated prompt is billed exactly like a new one. | DeepSeek APIA discounted rate for cached input. Our cash price sits above that rate on 2 of our comparable builds — see "Where DeepSeek costs less" below. |
Against us
Where DeepSeek costs less
A comparison that only runs one way is an advertisement. These are the cases where paying DeepSeek directly is the cheaper choice, taken from the same rate card as the figures above.
deepseek/deepseek-v4-pro: cache hits
DeepSeek bills cached input at $0.022 per 1M tokens. Our cash price is $0.025, with no cache tier — on a workload where most of the prompt repeats, DeepSeek is cheaper on this build.
deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash: cache hits
DeepSeek bills cached input at $0.007 per 1M tokens. Our cash price is $0.0075, with no cache tier — on a workload where most of the prompt repeats, DeepSeek is cheaper on this build.
We have no cache discount at all
Every request is billed at the full rate, whether or not the prompt is identical to the last one. Long fixed system prompts and repeated document context are exactly where this hurts most.
Most of the gap is the top-up rate, not the model price
Our catalog rates in credit sit close to DeepSeek's own list prices. The gap above comes almost entirely from $1 converting to $20 of credit. When that reverts to 1:10, the same comparison becomes 14.7× on deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash and 13.2× on deepseek/deepseek-v4-pro.
Fit
Which one to call
Call it through Y-API if
- Your prompts are mostly fresh rather than repeated, so a cache discount would not apply anyway.
- You want one balance and one key across 16 models from several vendors, not one account per vendor.
- You need deepseek/deepseek-v3.2 or deepseek/deepseek-chat-v3.1 — builds that are in our catalog but not on DeepSeek's current rate card.
- You want the same rate at every hour instead of watching a peak window.
Go direct to DeepSeek if
- Your workload is cache-heavy. Their cached-input rate is below our cash price on 2 of our comparable builds.
- You need a new build the day it ships, or a capability that only exists in their own API.
- You want a billing relationship with the model vendor itself, with their SLA and their support.
FAQ
Questions people ask before switching
- Is Y-API cheaper than calling DeepSeek directly?
- On fresh input, yes, and by a wide margin: deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash runs $0.0075 against DeepSeek's $0.22, and deepseek/deepseek-v4-pro runs $0.025 against DeepSeek's $0.66. Two things narrow it. Cache hits go the other way — their discounted cached rate is below our cash price. And the margin depends on the limited-time 1:20 top-up rate; at 1:10 it roughly halves.
- Why is it cheaper — are you buying below DeepSeek's price?
- No, and the honest answer matters here. Our catalog rates, read as credit, are close to DeepSeek's own list prices. Almost the whole gap is the top-up conversion: $1 buys $20 of credit while the promotion runs. Treat it as a promotional rate with an announced revert to 1:10, not as a structural discount on DeepSeek's pricing.
- Can I call deepseek/deepseek-v3.2 and deepseek/deepseek-chat-v3.1?
- Yes — both are in the catalog, and neither is on DeepSeek's current rate card, which is why the price columns above leave them out. If your application depends on a specific build's behaviour, pin the model ID and test it; a build that a vendor has moved on from does not get new fixes.
- How much of my code has to change?
- Both speak OpenAI Chat Completions, so it is base_url, the key, and the model string — ours are prefixed, for example deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash. Nothing else in the request body changes.
Provenance
Sources
Every DeepSeek figure on this page was read from its own pricing page on 2026-08-26, at the off-peak, cache-miss tier. Our own figures are on our pricing and terms pages.
Point one DeepSeek call at it
Change base_url, the key, and the model string on a single call you already make. The request log will tell you what it costs before you move anything else.