Add a DeepSeek API key to SCM and write articles with DeepSeek Flash for about a quarter of a cent each. Rates halve off peak.
Pay as you go, no subscription.
Why use this?
- Cheapest of the big labs. 1,500 words is about 0.25c on Flash. Half that off peak
- 1M token context. A whole article fits into the 1 prompt, you get proper memory based rewrites
<think>tag handling on older models- Model list refreshes from your account. New releases show up without an SCM update
Requires a DeepSeek platform account with credit on it. No free tier.
DeepSeek is also on OpenRouter. Direct is cheaper.
How SCM handles the think tag:
https://forum.seocontentmachine.com/t/601
Notes
Per 1M tokens, peak rate. Off peak is half.
- deepseek-flash $0.30 in, $1.20 out
- deepseek-v4-pro $1.32 in, $3.96 out
- Cached input is close to free, so repeated prompts cost less
- Peak is 01:00 to 04:00 and 06:00 to 10:00 UTC, Monday to Friday. Everything else is off peak
- Use Flash. Pro costs 4x and DeepSeek has said it stays up only until further notice
Schedule big runs off peak and pay half.
DeepSeek direct or OpenRouter?
Both give you the same DeepSeek models in SCM. The price is about the same, the difference is what sits around it.
- Price. OpenRouter serves DeepSeek Flash at $0.15 in and $0.60 out per 1M tokens all day. That is DeepSeek’s off peak rate. Direct is double that at peak
- Fee. OpenRouter takes 5.5% on every top up. DeepSeek takes nothing
- Who serves it. Direct goes to DeepSeek’s servers. OpenRouter picks the cheapest host and moves to the next one if it fails
- Free models. OpenRouter has 25 or so free models, 50 requests a day, 1,000 after a $10 top up. DeepSeek has no free tier
- Other models. OpenRouter has Claude, GPT and Gemini on the same key. DeepSeek has DeepSeek
Go direct if you run big jobs off peak. Go OpenRouter if you want 1 key and 1 bill for everything.
Where to get DeepSeek
DeepSeek Platform:
https://platform.deepseek.com
Sign up, top up under Billing, then create a key under API Keys.
Key is shown once. Copy it.
How to connect DeepSeek
Settings > API Logins > AI > DeepSeek
Leave the Url as is.
Paste in your API key.
Adjust retry count and timeout if deepseek can’t finish in time.
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How to use DeepSeek to generate articles
If you want DeepSeek to write pages in bulk, use Page pipeline.
Page pipeline > AI model
Select DeepSeek
Click refresh to pull the newest models from your account.
Select deepseek-flash and effort low for bulk.
Turn effort up if the articles need reasoning ie comparisons or maths.