DeepSeek review: a strong free assistant, with your data stored in China
Official site: deepseek.com
DeepSeek is a free assistant from Hangzhou-based DeepSeek, running on the company's own open-weight models. It handled our reasoning and coding tasks well, and the app costs nothing. The trade-off is where your data goes, and for some readers that settles it.
What we liked
- Free web and mobile app, with no in-app purchases in the Canadian App Store
- DeepThink reasoning and web Search modes
- 1M-token context across official DeepSeek services since the V4 launch
- Photo and file uploads in the app
- Open-weight models that anyone can download
What could be better
- Personal data is processed and stored in the People's Republic of China
- Ottawa restricted the app on Government of Canada mobile devices in February 2025
- Image creation, voice mode and memory are not listed as features
- Usage limits for the free app are not published
Key facts
| Maker | Hangzhou DeepSeek Artificial Intelligence Co., Ltd., Hangzhou, China |
|---|---|
| Founded | July 17, 2023 |
| Ownership | Owned and funded by the hedge fund High-Flyer |
| Price | Free app; the API is billed per token |
| Platforms | Web, iOS, Android, DeepSeek Harness desktop app for macOS and Windows |
| Languages | English plus 71 more in the Canadian App Store, including French |
| Minimum age | Meant for adults; under 18 only with a guardian's consent (App Store rating 13+) |
| Governing law | People's Republic of China |
Price
The consumer app is free; the download page promises you can "chat with leading AI models for free." We found no paid consumer plan, and DeepSeek doesn't publish usage limits for the app. Developers pay per token on the API platform, where off-peak hours cost 50% of the peak rate. API rates themselves were outside the scope of our review.
What DeepSeek does well
DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash, announced September 10, 2026 and since updated, is a 552B-parameter mixture-of-experts model that understands images natively. The chat app offers Expert and Instant modes, and the models run in Thinking or Non-Thinking mode. In our tests, it was strongest on maths and code.
The DeepSeek Harness desktop app runs long coding and file tasks on your own computer; it needs an Apple silicon Mac on macOS 13 or later, or Windows. Developers can call the models through an API that is compatible with the OpenAI ChatCompletions format.
Privacy and the Canadian context
DeepSeek's privacy policy, updated February 10, 2026, says your text, voice, prompts, uploads and chat history may be used to "train and improve our technology." You can opt out by turning off "Improve the model for everyone", or by writing to the privacy team. Account data is kept for as long as you have an account, and the data is stored in the People's Republic of China.
In February 2025, the Treasury Board's chief information officer restricted DeepSeek on Government of Canada mobile devices over "serious privacy concerns", as Global News reported. UBC also barred it on university devices. We found no consumer ban.
Support and help
Help comes by email to service@deepseek.com or through the "Contact us" feedback form in the app and on the web. When the service slows down, the status page at status.deepseek.com is the first place to look. Privacy requests, including a request to opt out of training, go to privacy@deepseek.com. For a simple bug report, the form is the quicker route.
Who should choose DeepSeek
It is a good free option for maths, logic and coding questions where nothing personal is involved. Keep work documents and personal details out of it. If you need a free assistant for everyday writing as well, try a second app for that side of your life and use DeepSeek only for the puzzles.
How DeepSeek scored
Privacy controls pulled the average down; answer quality and price pushed it up.
| Criterion | Score out of 10 |
|---|---|
| Answer quality | 10 |
| Writing help | 9 |
| Research and web search | 9 |
| Voice mode | 8 |
| Memory | 8 |
| Files and images | 9 |
| Free plan | 10 |
| Pricing clarity | 9 |
| Privacy controls | 6 |
| Apps and platforms | 10 |
| Ease of use | 9 |
| Help and support | 9 |
| Average | 8.8, shown as 4.4/5 |
