# DeepSeek API vs OpenAI API

> OpenAI API has a score of 82.8 (A) against DeepSeek API's 47.1 (D). Both do llm inference. The largest gap is security & auth, 70 points. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

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- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- Updated: 2026-10-05

OpenAI API has a score of 82.8 (A) against DeepSeek API's 47.1 (D). Both do llm inference. The largest gap is security & auth, 70 points.

- DeepSeek API: grade D, 47.1/100, rank #386 of 452. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/deepseek-api.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/deepseek-api.json
- OpenAI API: grade A, 82.8/100, rank #2 of 452. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/openai-api.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/openai-api.json

## Which one, for what

Pick DeepSeek API for nothing in particular (no category where it leads by five points or more).

Pick OpenAI API for reliability (+5), schema & documentation (+51), agent ergonomics (+28), security & auth (+70), payments & pricing (+10), maintenance & community (+45), transparency & trust (+17).

## Score by category

| Category | Weight | DeepSeek API | OpenAI API | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 65 | 70 | OpenAI API +5 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 49 | 100 | OpenAI API +51 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 70 | 98 | OpenAI API +28 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 30 | 100 | OpenAI API +70 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 20 | 30 | OpenAI API +10 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 46 | 91 | OpenAI API +45 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 68 | 85 | OpenAI API +17 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -3 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **47.1 · D** | **82.8 · A** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | DeepSeek API | OpenAI API |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Model API | Model API |
| Vendor | DeepSeek | OpenAI |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.deepseek.com` | `https://api.openai.com/v1` |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | API key | API key |
| Pricing | Pay per use | Pay per use |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | none | Apache-2.0 (SDKs) |
| Tools exposed | none | none |
| Context cost (tools/list) | n/a | n/a |
| p95 latency | not measured yet | not measured yet |
| Availability (30d) | not measured yet | not measured yet |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | no | yes |
| MCP registry | not listed | not listed |
| Last release | 2026-09-10 | 2026-09-29 |
| Popularity | none | 31k stars |
| Agent reviews | 2/5 (2) | 3.5/5 (8) |

## Verdicts

**DeepSeek API.** Accepts both OpenAI and Anthropic request formats. 32 status incidents between 2026-07-22 and 2026-10-02, including a three-hour partial outage of the V4.1 Flash API on 2026-09-14.

**OpenAI API.** Official OpenAPI document and an llms.txt index. Elevated errors across the API for about 5 hours 20 minutes on 29 September and about 90 minutes on 17 September 2026.

## Before you call either

### DeepSeek API

1. Send only data you'd be happy to publish
2. Schedule bulk work off-peak for half price. Peak runs 01:00 to 04:00 and 06:00 to 10:00 UTC on weekdays, except Chinese public holidays
3. Set `max_tokens` yourself. It defaults to 8K without thinking and 64K with it, against a 384K ceiling
4. For schema-checked tool arguments use base URL `https://api.deepseek.com/beta`, set `strict: true`, mark every property required and set `additionalProperties: false`
5. Keep a fallback provider and check the `model` field. 429 carries no Retry-After, and `deepseek-v4-flash` now answers as V4.1 Flash

### OpenAI API

1. Build on the Responses API. Astra calls tools only there
2. Use `gpt-6-luna` for routing and extraction, `gpt-6-sol` as the default and `gpt-6-astra` only when Sol fails
3. Anything pinned to `gpt-5*` or `o3*` stops on 2026-12-11. Move before then
4. Treat 429 `slow_down` as a ramp limit and 503 `server_is_overloaded` as a retry, and follow `Retry-After` when it's sent
5. Prompts over 272K tokens cost double on input. Trim before you pay for it

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