DeepSeek API Billing Adjustment: Weekend Rates to Use Off-Peak Pricing All Day

Odaily News, "Science and Technology Board Daily" has learned that the DeepSeek API open platform will optimize its peak-off-peak billing rules starting from 00:00 on August 23, 2026 (Sunday). After the adjustment, weekends (Saturday and Sunday) will no longer differentiate between peak and off-peak periods, with all-day charges calculated at the off-peak rate. Fees incurred before the new rules take effect will still be settled according to the original billing standards. Previously, DeepSeek announced an API pricing adjustment, adopting peak-off-peak pricing where peak-hour rates are twice the off-peak rates, making the maximum price for deepseek-v4-pro output at peak hours reach 27 yuan per million tokens. The peak periods are 9:00–12:00 and 14:00–18:00 Beijing time (with all other times considered off-peak).