DeepSeek: peak-hour billing now excludes Chinese public holidays
What happened
Between the Sep 14, 2026 and Sep 21, 2026 captures of DeepSeek's pricing page, Pulse recorded one change: peak/off-peak billing window redefined so Chinese public holidays (and weekends) are always billed at off-peak (50% discount) rates, previously holidays fell under normal Mon-Fri peak pricing. In detail: Peak/off-peak billing window redefined: Chinese public holidays are now explicitly off-peak (50% discount), previously they fell under normal Mon-Fri peak-hour pricing. Pulse files it as a packaging change (metric change). Pulse's latest capture (Nov 15, 2026) lists DeepSeek Flash at $0.15 per 1M input tokens (cache miss) + $0.30 per 100M input tokens (cache hit) and DeepSeek V4 Pro at $0.66 per 1M input tokens (cache miss) + $2.20 per 100M input tokens (cache hit).
This weekly roll-up includes the change Pulse first recorded in a shorter period: "DeepSeek extends 50% off-peak API discount to Chinese public holidays all day" (Day 263, 2026, saved Sep 20, 2026). It is the same change, not a new one. Before that, DeepSeek's previous recorded change was "DeepSeek reverses V4 Pro retirement, keeps API billing unchanged past Sept 14" (Sep 12, 2026). DeepSeek has been tracked since 2026-05-16.
In the same window Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, X and Metabase also changed their AI & Machine Learning pricing pages. Those moves are listed further down, and the Pulse Agent can compare them side by side.
- Metric change—Pricing model
Peak/off-peak billing window redefined: Chinese public holidays are now explicitly off-peak (50% discount), previously they fell under normal Mon-Fri peak-hour pricing.
| Plan | Field | Before | After | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | Pricing model | Peak/off-peak billing window redefined: Chinese public holidays are now explicitly off-peak (50% discount), previously they fell under normal Mon-Fri peak-hour pricing. | Metric change | |
Values as written on DeepSeek's public pricing page in the two captures Pulse compared; where the page states no number, the cells give the wording before and after.
Evidence
The two captures Pulse comparedFull-page captures of DeepSeek's pricing page (deepseek.com) from Sep 14, 2026 and Sep 21, 2026; the change is marked in the lower part of the page.
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The two full-page captures with this change marked up are free with an account.
DeepSeek, the last 90 days
Full historyDates are the day each change was detected, Eastern time.
- Nov 5, 2026PackagingDeepSeek ends free Search/Fetch calls via Claude Code, now $0.75/1K requests
- Oct 18, 2026PackagingDeepSeek launches Search and Fetch APIs at $0.75 per 1K requests from Nov 1
- Oct 17, 2026PackagingDeepSeek launches Search and Fetch APIs at $0.75 per 1,000 requests
- Sep 20, 2026PackagingDeepSeek: peak-hour billing now excludes Chinese public holidays This change
- Sep 20, 2026PackagingDeepSeek extends 50% off-peak API discount to Chinese public holidays all day
- Sep 13, 2026PackagingDeepSeek merges v4-flash and vision-exp into cheaper Flash V4.1
- Sep 12, 2026PackagingDeepSeek reverses V4 Pro retirement, keeps API billing unchanged past Sept 14
- Sep 11, 2026Price decreaseDeepSeek slashes Flash pricing up to 57%, retires V4 Pro Sept 14
- Aug 23, 2026PackagingDeepSeek adds vision model, exempts weekends from peak pricing
- Aug 17, 2026Price increaseDeepSeek: API pricing restructured to peak/off-peak billing, prices roughly double
Across AI & Machine Learning in the same window
All AI & Machine Learning changes- AnthropicSep 21Anthropic boosts context window to 1M across all Claude plans
- OpenAISep 20OpenAI refreshes ChatGPT plan taglines across Free, Go, Plus, Pro
- GoogleSep 7Google Workspace: promo discount cut from 50% to 30%/20% off
- XAug 24X drops grok-4.5, adds Imagine image/video models and free Playground perk
- MetabaseAug 24Metabase quietly reveals Enterprise-only paid air-gapped deployment option
Questions about this change
Did DeepSeek raise prices in September 2026?
No list-price increase was recorded between Sep 14, 2026 and Sep 21, 2026 UTC. The change Pulse detected was a packaging change: metric change.
What changed on DeepSeek's pricing page between Sep 14, 2026 and Sep 21, 2026 UTC?
Peak/off-peak billing window redefined: Chinese public holidays are now explicitly off-peak (50% discount), previously they fell under normal Mon-Fri peak-hour pricing. Pulse compared the captures it took on Sep 14, 2026 and Sep 21, 2026 UTC; the before/after table above lists each item as written on the page.
How often does DeepSeek change its pricing?
This weekly roll-up includes the change Pulse first recorded in Day 263, 2026 (saved Sep 20, 2026), not a new one; Pulse recorded 6 other pricing-page changes for DeepSeek in the 90 days before this one; the previous change was "DeepSeek reverses V4 Pro retirement, keeps API billing unchanged past Sept 14" on Sep 12, 2026; DeepSeek has been tracked since 2026-05-16.