DeepSeek V4 Is Live in Preview: Official API Models, Pricing, and What Changed

That means the correct operating posture has changed:

• DeepSeek V4 is now publicly available in preview through the API
• Pricing and model IDs are now officially documented
• Preview does not mean final GA behavior is locked

What changed since April 6, 2026

• New official API model IDs are listed: deepseek-v4-flash and deepseek-v4-pro now appear directly in DeepSeek's quick-start docs. DeepSeek API Docs
• Official V4 pricing is now public: the pricing page now includes separate API pricing for Flash and Pro. DeepSeek Models & Pricing
• Official V4 context and output limits are now public: the pricing page lists 1M context length and 384K max output for both V4 variants. DeepSeek Models & Pricing
• Legacy aliases now have a deprecation path: deepseek-chat and deepseek-reasoner are marked for deprecation on July 24, 2026, and the docs state that they map to the non-thinking and thinking modes of deepseek-v4-flash for compatibility. DeepSeek API Docs
• DeepSeek is treating the launch as a preview phase: Reuters reported on April 24, 2026 that the V4 release is a preview and that DeepSeek did not provide a timeline for finalization. Reuters via Investing.com

The short version is simple:

What is officially available now

The table below uses only what is currently documented on official DeepSeek API pages.

Official pricing for DeepSeek V4 Flash and Pro

DeepSeek's pricing page now lists public API pricing for both V4 variants.

Two practical implications matter for teams:

1. You no longer need to model V4 costs off V3.2 assumptions.
2. The decision is now Flash vs Pro, not "wait for V4 pricing."

What "live in preview" means in practice

The current evidence supports a precise framing:

• Publicly accessible through the API: yes, because DeepSeek now lists V4 model IDs and pricing on its official API docs
• Final production-stable release with fixed behavior and final roadmap: not yet guaranteed, because Reuters reports the current launch as a preview phase and DeepSeek has not provided a finalization timeline

For engineering teams, that means:

• you can start real API evaluation now
• you should still treat behavior, routing, and performance tuning as subject to change during preview
• you should avoid assuming that preview behavior equals final long-term GA behavior

This is very different from the April 6 situation, where the most responsible guidance was to treat V4 as unreleased.

What to do if you are already using deepseek-chat or deepseek-reasoner

This is the biggest operational change for existing DeepSeek API users.

The official docs now say:

• deepseek-chat will be deprecated on July 24, 2026
• deepseek-reasoner will be deprecated on July 24, 2026
• both names remain available for compatibility
• they map to the non-thinking and thinking modes of deepseek-v4-flash

That suggests a clean migration plan:

1. Do not wait until July 24, 2026 to start testing.
2. Benchmark deepseek-v4-flash directly against your current alias-based route.
3. Use a rollback path while preview behavior settles.
4. Separate Flash and Pro use cases instead of treating V4 like a single undifferentiated upgrade.

If your workloads are mostly latency-sensitive and cost-sensitive, Flash is the likely first route to test. If your workloads depend on stronger reasoning quality, Pro is the route to evaluate next.

Updated timeline

Here is the shortest trustworthy timeline now:

• April 6, 2026: DeepSeek's official API docs still exposed only deepseek-chat and deepseek-reasoner, both tied to DeepSeek-V3.2. DeepSeek Models & Pricing
• April 24, 2026: DeepSeek's official API docs now list deepseek-v4-flash and deepseek-v4-pro, plus official pricing, 1M context, and 384K max output. DeepSeek API Docs DeepSeek Models & Pricing
• April 24, 2026: Reuters reported that DeepSeek launched preview versions of V4 and is using the preview period to gather feedback before finalizing the model. Reuters via Investing.com
• July 24, 2026: deepseek-chat and deepseek-reasoner are scheduled for deprecation according to the official API docs. DeepSeek API Docs

What this means for teams evaluating DeepSeek V4

The decision is no longer "should we keep waiting for public V4?"

The real decision now is:

• Should we test Flash or Pro first?
• Which workloads belong on preview routes today?
• How do we migrate off alias-based V3.2 naming before July 24, 2026?

The most practical next step is:

• use official docs as your source of truth
• test Flash and Pro separately
• keep your evaluation set focused on your real workloads
• treat preview as deployable for testing, but not as a promise that every behavior is final

FAQ

Sources

• DeepSeek API Docs
• DeepSeek Models & Pricing
• China's AI darling DeepSeek previews new model | Reuters via Investing.com