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DeepSeek V4 preview ends mid-July 2026. Official launch adds peak-hour pricing (2Γ baseline, Beijing 9β12 & 14β18). Full CNY/USD tables, refund policy, what changes vs preview.
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What changed in DeepSeekβs April 2026 V4 preview: model IDs, open-weight drops, agent integrations, and the scheduled end-of-life for legacy chat/reasoner aliasesβsourced from DeepSeek API docs.
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On June 28, 2026, a thread with 200K+ views argued China's AI playbook is simple: ship great models for free, export cheap inference powered by low-cost electricity, and wait for Huawei to close the chip gap. Here's what the skeptics push back on β and what it means if they're wrong.
Jun 29, 2026
China's AI industry has consolidated around ten serious providers plus the Six Tigers startup cohort. This guide maps every major lab β what they ship, who they serve, how they price, and which models developers actually use in production.
Update β July 1, 2026: DeepSeek's official announcement confirms mid-July 2026 for V4 official β not a new model name, but the graduation from preview with peak-hour pricing and stated εθ½δΌεεζ§θ½ζε (feature optimization and performance improvements). Live pricing docs Β· V4 preview migration guide. Last updated: July 1, 2026.
If you have been calling deepseek-v4-pro or deepseek-v4-flash since April 2026, you were on preview β not the official release. Teortaxes (@teortaxesTex) put it bluntly on June 29: "Yeah yeah you might think we had V4 for over 2 months already, but no, that was 'preview of V4.'"
DeepSeek now expects heavy demand at official launch and is introducing peak-hour pricing: 2Γ baseline during defined Beijing business windows. Off-peak rates stay the same as today's preview pricing.
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Launch window | Mid-July 2026 (7ζδΈζ¬) β official V4 |
| What you had since April | V4 Preview β same model IDs, not final release |
| Peak hours (Beijing) | 9:00β12:00 and 14:00β18:00 daily |
| Peak multiplier | 2Γ off-peak baseline on all listed token prices |
| Off-peak baseline | Unchanged from current preview pricing |
| Notice | Email 24 hours before pricing takes effect |
| Opt-out | Stop service + apply for refund of remaining balance |
| Stated improvements | εθ½δΌε + ζ§θ½ζε (feature optimization + performance lift) |
| Legacy IDs | deepseek-chat / deepseek-reasoner still retire July 24, 2026 |
DeepSeek's Chinese notice (June 29, 2026) states:
The official version of DeepSeek V4 is planned to launch in mid-July. This version update will bring more feature optimizations and performance improvements. To ensure stable service quality and reasonable resource allocation, the API will introduce a peak and off-peak pricing mechanism.
| Window | Beijing time |
|---|---|
| Morning peak | 09:00 β 12:00 |
| Afternoon peak | 14:00 β 18:00 |
| Off-peak | All other hours |
During peak hours, listed prices double. During off-peak, prices match the current baseline.
Baseline = off-peak. Peak = 2Γ baseline.
| Billing item | Off-peak (Β₯/M) | Peak (Β₯/M) |
|---|---|---|
| Input (cache hit) | Β₯0.025 | Β₯0.05 |
| Input (cache miss) | Β₯3.00 | Β₯6.00 |
| Output | Β₯6.00 | Β₯12.00 |
| Billing item | Off-peak (Β₯/M) | Peak (Β₯/M) |
|---|---|---|
| Input (cache hit) | Β₯0.02 | Β₯0.04 |
| Input (cache miss) | Β₯1.00 | Β₯2.00 |
| Output | Β₯2.00 | Β₯4.00 |
| Model | Input (cache hit) | Input (cache miss) | Output |
|---|---|---|---|
| deepseek-v4-flash | $0.0028 | $0.14 | $0.28 |
| deepseek-v4-pro | $0.003625 | $0.435 | $0.87 |
Peak USD: multiply off-peak by 2Γ during Beijing peak windows.
Even doubled, Teortaxes and replies note V4 remains "dirt cheap" vs US frontier APIs β especially Flash for high-volume agent loops. See our V4-Pro economics deep-dive for agent workload math.
Since April 24, 2026 preview launch, developers have used:
deepseek-v4-pro β 1.6T MoE class, 49B active (vendor-reported)deepseek-v4-flash β 284B / 13B active, economical tierOfficial launch does not rename these IDs. It adds:
Teortaxes read the announcement phrasing as "no new features, just continued infra optimization and model polish."
That is one fair reading of εθ½δΌε (functional optimization β smoother API, stability, caching). But ζ§θ½ζε is ambiguous in Chinese AI product language:
| Term | Narrow read | Broad read |
|---|---|---|
| εθ½δΌε | API polish, bug fixes, UX | Refined tool-calling, JSON modes |
| ζ§θ½ζε | Faster TPS, lower latency | Higher benchmark accuracy, better reasoning |
| ηζ¬ζ΄ζ° | Software patch | New model deployment |
Community replies like @xhyctf asked directly: "performance improvement should be pretty significant, right?" DeepSeek has not attached new benchmark tables to the pricing notice β treat performance claims as directional until weights/docs update.
| Capability | Preview (Apr 2026 β mid-Jul 2026) |
|---|---|
| 1M context | Default on official API |
| Open weights | Hugging Face collection |
| Agent integrations | Claude Code, OpenClaw, OpenCode (per DeepSeek) |
| Legacy mapping | deepseek-chat β v4-flash non-thinking |
Official mid-July is the production billing and stability milestone β not necessarily a wholly new architecture drop.
Peak windows are Beijing time. That creates predictable pain:
| Region | Local overlap with Beijing peak |
|---|---|
| China | Business hours β peak |
| US East (EDT) | Roughly 21:00β02:00 and 02:00β06:00 β mixed |
| US West (PDT) | Evening/night β often off-peak for US devs |
| Europe (CEST) | Morning/afternoon β partial peak overlap |
@Shoier__ noted the squeeze: "During the day in China it's peak hour. During the day in 'Murica it's also peak hour. So it leaves not so many hours where it is cheap."
@GeorgeBisbas countered optimistically: "Europe can fully have non-peak at their working hours."
Practical takeaway: US West Coast and late-shift EU teams can batch heavy agent jobs off-peak. China-native production traffic pays peak by design β DeepSeek's revenue model targets domestic business-hour demand.
Teortaxes' June 29 post (153K+ views) framed the move in DeepSeek pricing history:
DeepSeek undercut Western APIs for two years. Peak pricing is the first widespread surge-pricing mechanism on V4 β still cheap at 2Γ, but no longer flat-rate infinite scale at preview prices during CN business hours.
From DeepSeek's Models & Pricing page (current preview docs):
| Spec | deepseek-v4-flash | deepseek-v4-pro |
|---|---|---|
| Context | 1M tokens | 1M tokens |
| Max output | 384K | 384K |
| Thinking modes | Both (default thinking) | Both (default thinking) |
| Tool calls / JSON | Yes | Yes |
| FIM completion (beta) | Non-thinking only | Non-thinking only |
| Concurrency limit | 2,500 | 500 |
Legacy retirement: deepseek-chat and deepseek-reasoner β July 24, 2026 (migration guide).
Model agent workloads that run during Beijing 9β12 / 14β18 at 2Γ token cost. Cache hits stay cheap even at peak (e.g. Pro cache hit peak = Β₯0.05/M).
Embeddings sweeps, eval runs, dataset generation β schedule outside peak if your timezone allows.
DeepSeek promises 24-hour notice β do not get surprised on billing day.
Disagree with surge pricing? Withdraw balance per official policy before running production peaks.
Official may improve prompt following (community complaint: "super smart kid with ADHD"). Re-benchmark on your tasks when mid-July drops β not X speculation.
July 24 retirement still looms independent of mid-July official launch.
Mid-July V4 official lands in a crowded open-weight market:
DeepSeek's move is monetize demand at peak while keeping off-peak floor that already disrupted Western pricing in Q1 2026 (pricing disruption post).
Is DeepSeek V4 "new" in mid-July?
Commercially yes, technically incremental. Preview β official with peak pricing and stated optimizations. Do not expect a surprise V5 name change.
Will prices go up?
Yes, half the day. Peak = 2Γ. Off-peak = same as today.
Will the model get smarter?
Maybe. Announcement language allows it; no new public benchmarks shipped with the pricing notice. Wait for mid-July docs and re-run your evals.
Is it still worth it?
For most agent builders, even peak Flash pricing undercuts US frontier APIs by an order of magnitude. Pro at peak is still a fraction of Claude/GPT tier pricing β with 1M context and open weights.
Pricing tables reflect DeepSeek's June 29, 2026 announcement and api-docs.deepseek.com Models & Pricing page. Peak hours, dates, and rates may change β verify official docs before production budgeting.