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DeepSeek vs Factory

Features, pricing, ratings, and pros and cons, side by side.

Factory logo

Factory

Agent-native software development platform where Droids handle full engineering tasks end to end

Paid
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Verdict

DeepSeek is listed under AI Assistants and Factory under Coding AI. DeepSeek scores higher in FinderAtlas's editorial review (8.8 vs 8.2 out of 10), led by ease of use. Only DeepSeek has a free plan or trial. Only DeepSeek is available on iOS and Android. Only Factory is available on Linux and CLI.

Best overall

DeepSeek

  • Software developers
  • Researchers and analysts
  • Students
  • AI engineers

Choose DeepSeek if

  • You want a tool built for Low-cost API integration.
  • Web chat and mobile apps are free.
  • API output costs from $0.60 per 1M tokens (Flash, off-peak), well below most frontier providers.

Choose Factory if

  • You want a tool built for delegating backlog tickets, automated pull request review, test generation, incident investigation and long-running refactors or migrations.
  • Covers the full delivery loop: implementation, review, testing, incident response and documentation.
  • Model independence, with a router and bring-your-own-key support for custom models.
Best value
DeepSeek
Best for beginners
DeepSeek
Best for business
Factory

Features

18 features compared.

  • V4 model family
    DeepSeek
    Available
    Factory
    Not available
  • Thinking mode
    DeepSeek
    Available
    Factory
    Not available
  • Open weights
    DeepSeek
    Available
    Factory
    Not available
  • OpenAI and Anthropic compatible API
    DeepSeek
    Available
    Factory
    Not available
  • Tool calls and JSON output
    DeepSeek
    Available
    Factory
    Not available
  • Search and Fetch APIs
    DeepSeek
    Available
    Factory
    Not available
  • Agent tool integrations
    DeepSeek
    Available
    Factory
    Not available
  • DeepSeek Harness
    DeepSeek
    Available
    Factory
    Not available
  • Vision on Flash
    DeepSeek
    Available
    Factory
    Not available
  • Droids
    DeepSeek
    Not available
    Factory
    Available
  • Droid CLI
    DeepSeek
    Not available
    Factory
    Available
  • Missions
    DeepSeek
    Not available
    Factory
    Available
  • Automations
    DeepSeek
    Not available
    Factory
    Available
  • Droid Computers
    DeepSeek
    Not available
    Factory
    Available
  • Model Independence
    DeepSeek
    Not available
    Factory
    Available
  • Human Approval Checkpoints
    DeepSeek
    Not available
    Factory
    Available
  • Analytics
    DeepSeek
    Not available
    Factory
    Available
  • Public API
    DeepSeek
    Not available
    Factory
    Available

Pricing

Plans as listed by each vendor. Check their sites for current prices.

  • Pricing model
    DeepSeek
    Freemium
    Factory
    Paid
  • Free plan
    DeepSeek
    Yes
    Factory
    No
  • Starting price
    DeepSeek
    $0
    Factory
    $20
  • Plans
    DeepSeek
    3 plans
    Factory
    6 plans

DeepSeek plans

  • Chat and App

    Most popular

    $0

    Free access to DeepSeek models on web, iOS and Android

    • Web chat
    • iOS and Android apps
    • Thinking mode
    • Web search
    • File upload

  • API: deepseek-flash

    $0.15/1M input tokens

    Pay as you go; $0.15 cache-miss input and $0.60 output per 1M tokens off-peak, double at peak

    • 1M context
    • 384K max output
    • Vision
    • Tool calls
    • JSON output

  • API: deepseek-v4-pro

    $0.66/1M input tokens

    Pay as you go; $0.66 cache-miss input and $1.98 output per 1M tokens off-peak, double at peak

    • 1M context
    • 384K max output
    • Tool calls
    • JSON output

Factory plans

  • Pro

    $20/month

    Individual developers

    • Desktop
    • CLI and SDK access
    • cloud and local background agents
    • billing and usage stats
    • agent-readiness dashboard

  • Plus

    $100/month

    Heavier individual usage

    • Everything in Pro
    • rolling rate limits about 5x Pro
    • Droid Computers

  • Max

    $200/month

    Highest individual usage

    • Everything in Plus
    • rolling rate limits about 10x Pro
    • early access to new features

  • Teams

    $40/user/mo

    Small teams of up to 10 seats

    • Everything in Pro for the whole team
    • centralized billing
    • plus a $60/month base fee per team

  • Business

    Custom/contact sales

    Organizations needing security and admin controls

    • SSO
    • SAML/SCIM provisioning
    • zero data retention
    • audit logging
    • model access controls
    • org-level deny lists
    • network policy

  • Enterprise

    Custom/contact sales

    Large enterprises

    • Everything in Business
    • unlimited team members
    • dedicated compute
    • on-premise options
    • sub-organizations
    • data residency
    • SLAs

Our ratings

Scored out of 10 by the Finder Atlas editorial team. Last reviewed October 2026.

DeepSeek
8.8overall
Factory
8.2overall

DeepSeek leads in 1 category and Factory in 0.

  • Reasoning & Logic

    DeepSeek
    8.8
    Factory
    Not rated

  • Coding & Syntax

    DeepSeek
    8.7
    Factory
    Not rated

  • Cost Efficiency

    DeepSeek
    9.6
    Factory
    Not rated

  • Long Context

    DeepSeek
    8.8
    Factory
    Not rated

  • Ease of Use

    DeepSeek leads by 0.2
    DeepSeek
    8.0
    Factory
    7.8

  • Feature Depth

    DeepSeek
    Not rated
    Factory
    9.0

  • Value for Money

    DeepSeek
    Not rated
    Factory
    7.5

  • Performance & Speed

    DeepSeek
    Not rated
    Factory
    8.2

  • Documentation & Support

    DeepSeek
    Not rated
    Factory
    8.3

Scores weigh documented features, plan value, platform coverage, integrations and user feedback. A missing score means we have not rated that area yet.

Pros and cons

DeepSeek

Pros

  • Web chat and mobile apps are free
  • API output costs from $0.60 per 1M tokens (Flash, off-peak), well below most frontier providers
  • Open weights for V4 and earlier models on Hugging Face
  • 1M-token context and 384K max output on both API models
  • API works with both OpenAI and Anthropic SDKs and several coding agents

Cons

  • Peak-hour API rates are double the off-peak rates on weekday mornings UTC
  • deepseek-v4-pro does not support vision input
  • No image generation
  • Data is processed by a company based in China, which some organizations cannot accept

Factory

Pros

  • Covers the full delivery loop: implementation, review, testing, incident response and documentation.
  • Model independence, with a router and bring-your-own-key support for custom models.
  • Available in desktop, CLI, web and several IDEs, so work is not tied to one editor.
  • Enterprise controls including SSO, audit logging, zero data retention and on-premise options.
  • Public API and OpenAPI specification for building on top of the platform.

Cons

  • No free tier or trial is listed; the entry plan is $20 per month.
  • Usage limits are given only as multiples of Pro, so actual capacity is hard to estimate.
  • Business and Enterprise pricing is contact-sales only.
  • Droid Computers are limited to Plus and higher plans.

Platforms

  • Web
    DeepSeek
    Supported
    Factory
    Supported
  • Windows
    DeepSeek
    Supported
    Factory
    Supported
  • macOS
    DeepSeek
    Supported
    Factory
    Supported
  • iOS
    DeepSeek
    Supported
    Factory
    Not supported
  • Android
    DeepSeek
    Supported
    Factory
    Not supported
  • API
    DeepSeek
    Supported
    Factory
    Supported
  • Browser Extension
    DeepSeek
    Not supported
    Factory
    Not supported
  • Linux
    DeepSeek
    Not supported
    Factory
    Supported
  • CLI
    DeepSeek
    Not supported
    Factory
    Supported

Integrations

DeepSeek

6 integrations
  • OpenAI SDK
  • Anthropic SDK
  • Claude Code
  • Codex
  • OpenCode
  • Hugging Face

Factory

11 integrations
  • Slack
  • Microsoft Teams
  • Jira
  • Linear
  • GitHub
  • GitLab
  • VS Code
  • Cursor
  • Windsurf
  • JetBrains IDEs
  • Zed

Company

  • Company
    DeepSeek
    DeepSeek
    Factory
    Factory
  • Founded
    DeepSeek
    2023
    Factory
    2023
  • Headquarters
    DeepSeek
    Hangzhou, China
    Factory
    San Francisco, CA
  • Listing
    DeepSeek
    Claimed
    Factory
    Claimed

Frequently asked questions

Is DeepSeek better than Factory?

It depends on your workflow. DeepSeek is built for Low-cost API integration. Factory is built for delegating backlog tickets, automated pull request review, test generation, incident investigation and long-running refactors or migrations.

What are the key feature differences between DeepSeek and Factory?

DeepSeek: Free AI chat app and low-cost API running DeepSeek's open-weights V4 models. Factory: Agent-native software development platform where Droids handle full engineering tasks end to end.

Does DeepSeek or Factory have a free plan?

DeepSeek has a free plan or trial; Factory is paid only.

Which is cheaper, DeepSeek or Factory?

DeepSeek starts at $0 and Factory starts at $20. See the pricing table above for what each tier includes.