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DeepSeek vs Profound

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

Profound logo

Profound

Track how ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini mention your brand, then act with AI agents

Free trial
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Verdict

DeepSeek is listed under AI Assistants and Profound under Sales & Marketing AI. DeepSeek scores higher in FinderAtlas's editorial review (8.8 vs 7.8 out of 10), led by ease of use. Both have a free plan or trial. Only DeepSeek is available on Windows, macOS and iOS.

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 Profound if

  • You want a tool built for measuring brand visibility and citations across AI answer engines, and turning that data into content and page updates.
  • Covers up to nine answer engines, including ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude and Google AI Overviews.
  • Combines monitoring with action through AI Marketer agents that draft work for approval.
Best for beginners
Profound
Best for business
Profound

Features

17 features compared.

  • V4 model family
    DeepSeek
    Available
    Profound
    Not available
  • Thinking mode
    DeepSeek
    Available
    Profound
    Not available
  • Open weights
    DeepSeek
    Available
    Profound
    Not available
  • OpenAI and Anthropic compatible API
    DeepSeek
    Available
    Profound
    Not available
  • Tool calls and JSON output
    DeepSeek
    Available
    Profound
    Not available
  • Search and Fetch APIs
    DeepSeek
    Available
    Profound
    Not available
  • Agent tool integrations
    DeepSeek
    Available
    Profound
    Not available
  • DeepSeek Harness
    DeepSeek
    Available
    Profound
    Not available
  • Vision on Flash
    DeepSeek
    Available
    Profound
    Not available
  • Answer Engine Insights
    DeepSeek
    Not available
    Profound
    Available
  • Prompt Volumes
    DeepSeek
    Not available
    Profound
    Available
  • Shopping Visibility
    DeepSeek
    Not available
    Profound
    Available
  • Agent Analytics
    DeepSeek
    Not available
    Profound
    Available
  • AI Marketer
    DeepSeek
    Not available
    Profound
    Available
  • Context Manager
    DeepSeek
    Not available
    Profound
    Available
  • FactCheck and Sentiment
    DeepSeek
    Not available
    Profound
    Available
  • Command Center
    DeepSeek
    Not available
    Profound
    Available

Pricing

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

  • Pricing model
    DeepSeek
    Freemium
    Profound
    Free trial
  • Free plan
    DeepSeek
    Yes
    Profound
    Yes
  • Starting price
    DeepSeek
    $0
    Profound
    $0
  • Plans
    DeepSeek
    3 plans
    Profound
    2 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

Profound plans

  • Trial

    $0

    Limited free trial to test the platform

    • 50 unique prompts tracked daily for 7 days
    • ChatGPT
    • Gemini and Google AI Overviews
    • limited AI Marketer credits
    • 5 Prompt Volumes searches
    • unlimited seats

  • Enterprise

    Most popular

    Custom/month

    Tailored plan for brands and teams, sold through the accounts team

    • Up to 9 answer engines
    • custom prompts
    • ChatGPT Shopping
    • all-time data history
    • CSV and JSON exports
    • API access
    • SSO
    • SOC 2
    • dedicated support

Our ratings

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

DeepSeek
8.8overall
Profound
7.8overall

DeepSeek leads in 1 category and Profound in 0.

  • Reasoning & Logic

    DeepSeek
    8.8
    Profound
    Not rated

  • Coding & Syntax

    DeepSeek
    8.7
    Profound
    Not rated

  • Cost Efficiency

    DeepSeek
    9.6
    Profound
    Not rated

  • Long Context

    DeepSeek
    8.8
    Profound
    Not rated

  • Ease of Use

    DeepSeek leads by 0.2
    DeepSeek
    8.0
    Profound
    7.8

  • Feature Depth

    DeepSeek
    Not rated
    Profound
    8.8

  • Value for Money

    DeepSeek
    Not rated
    Profound
    6.5

  • Performance & Speed

    DeepSeek
    Not rated
    Profound
    8.0

  • Documentation & Support

    DeepSeek
    Not rated
    Profound
    8.0

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

Profound

Pros

  • Covers up to nine answer engines, including ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude and Google AI Overviews.
  • Combines monitoring with action through AI Marketer agents that draft work for approval.
  • Agent Analytics connects to CDN and cloud providers such as Cloudflare, Akamai and AWS.
  • Enterprise controls include SSO, SCIM, RBAC and SOC 2.
  • Documented API and MCP access for pulling data into reports and pipelines.

Cons

  • No published prices; paid plans require talking to the accounts team.
  • The free Trial is limited to 50 prompts for 7 days with no data history or exports.
  • Third-party reports of a mid-September 2026 pricing change removing self-serve plans make costs hard to compare.
  • API, exports and SSO are not included in the Trial.

Platforms

  • Web
    DeepSeek
    Supported
    Profound
    Supported
  • Windows
    DeepSeek
    Supported
    Profound
    Not supported
  • macOS
    DeepSeek
    Supported
    Profound
    Not supported
  • iOS
    DeepSeek
    Supported
    Profound
    Not supported
  • Android
    DeepSeek
    Supported
    Profound
    Not supported
  • API
    DeepSeek
    Supported
    Profound
    Supported
  • Browser Extension
    DeepSeek
    Not supported
    Profound
    Not supported

Integrations

DeepSeek

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

Profound

9 integrations
  • Akamai
  • AWS
  • Cloudflare
  • Fastly
  • Google Analytics
  • Google Cloud Platform
  • Netlify
  • Vercel
  • WordPress

Company

  • Company
    DeepSeek
    DeepSeek
    Profound
    Profound
  • Founded
    DeepSeek
    2023
    Profound
    2024
  • Headquarters
    DeepSeek
    Hangzhou, China
    Profound
    New York, NY
  • Listing
    DeepSeek
    Claimed
    Profound
    Claimed

Frequently asked questions

Is DeepSeek better than Profound?

It depends on your workflow. DeepSeek is built for Low-cost API integration. Profound is built for measuring brand visibility and citations across AI answer engines, and turning that data into content and page updates.

What are the key feature differences between DeepSeek and Profound?

DeepSeek: Free AI chat app and low-cost API running DeepSeek's open-weights V4 models. Profound: Track how ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini mention your brand, then act with AI agents.

Does DeepSeek or Profound have a free plan?

Yes, both do. DeepSeek is freemium and Profound is free trial, and each has a free plan or trial.

Which is cheaper, DeepSeek or Profound?

Both can be used for free. Paid plans differ in limits and features, so compare the tiers in the pricing table above.