The AI world has been growing by leaps and bounds ever since OpenAI launched ChatGPT in November 2022. While ChatGPT has managed to reign supreme as the ultimate AI chatbot despite the rise of several other competitors like Google’s Gemini, Microsoft’s Copilot, and Meta AI, there’s a new player in town that seems to be shaking things up. For those of you who have been living under a rock and have no inkling of what this new tool is, let me help you- it’s DeepSeek!
Within a week of the release of its latest version, DeepSeek had already surpassed ChatGPT as the most downloaded free app on the iOS App Store in the USA by 27th January. Therefore, it was no surprise to see the incoming US President Donald Trump calling it a “wake-up call” for the US tech industry.
But is this Chinese AI model really as effective as people are making it out to be or is it just the initial hype that will expectedly die down on its own in a matter of time? Well, the answer to that question can only be found by pitting DeepSeek against the highest benchmark in the AI chatbot market i.e., ChatGPT.

So, here we are with a thorough comparison between the two AI tools wherein we will explore their features, test some real-world scenarios, and then give a verdict on which among them is the ultimate AI chatbot. Let’s dive in and unearth the AI king.
DeepSeek vs. ChatGPT: Key Differences
While most DeepSeek vs ChatGPT comparisons would begin with a brief overview of what these AI chatbots are, we’d like to believe every marketer worth their salt has an idea of what these terms mean. And since we cater to such proactive marketers, like yourself, let’s do away with those AI-generated definitions and dive straight into some of the major differences between these tools.
1. Pricing
DeepSeek is free and open source, which makes it quite accessible for budget users. On the other hand, ChatGPT’s version 3.5 is free and quite effective. It also offers two paid plans, Plus and Pro, which provide unlimited prompt access, opportunities to test new features before free users, and complex queries.
2. Prompt Limit
DeepSeek’s R1 is somewhat similar to ChatGPT’s 01 model but doesn’t come with the limitation of 50 prompts, which is the case with ChatGPT’s 01 model.
3. Purpose
Both DeepSeek and ChatGPT are potent AI chatbots but they have been designed to serve different purposes. While DeepSeek is meant for specific businesses and industries to offer accurate solutions, data analysis, and specialized problem solving, ChatGPT is an all-around AI that generates human-like text, which makes it an awesome tool for everything from content writing and editing to coding and market research.
While both these platforms can execute a number of tasks, the limited scope of this article means that we will only concentrate on a few key areas like content creation, market research, and brainstorming ideas, which are most likely to benefit our audience. So, now let’s see how DeepSeek stacks up against ChatGPT as far as these capabilities are concerned.
DeepSeek vs. ChatGPT: A Comparison of Their Capabilities
Let’s do a thorough comparison between DeepSeek and ChatGPT based on a few common scenarios like content creation (creating a blog outline), market research, and brainstorming ideas (ideas for a children’s story).
1. Content Creation
To assess their content creation capabilities, I asked both ChatGPT and DeepSeek to write an article on the topic “How to Find the Perfect Career Counselor for Your Goals” and used the following prompt.
I own a counseling centre that advises students on which career paths they should choose after their high-school studies. Please generate the outline for an article on the topic “How to Find the Perfect Career Counselor for Your Goals”, with opportunities to link to services offered by my counseling centre. The article must be informative, engaging, and include a call-to-action to encourage students to seek my centre’s help.
DeepSeek vs. ChatGPT: Content Creation Results
While both DeepSeek and ChatGPT generated quite comprehensive outlines, I felt like DeepSeek’s content creation capabilities had an edge over those of ChatGPT’s simply based on how it instructed me to hook the audience with a relatable scenario at the very start of the article. That’s pure writer’s stuff!

On the other hand, ChatGPT suggested the much tried-and-tested formula of laying down the importance of career counseling in helping students shape up their careers. Also, ChatGPT suggested that I introduce my counseling centre as a reliable source for students at the very start of the article, which I would refrain from doing so that the article doesn’t seem too promotional.

Also, I loved how DeepSeek guided me on how to highlight my centre’s services in each section without making it seem too obvious.

On the contrary, ChatGPT offered no roadmap on how I can link to my services and merely mentioned a couple of areas wherein I could highlight my centre’s potential in shaping up students’ careers.

Finally, DeepSeek suggested that I also offer an incentive to students in the form of a limited-time discount or resource for maximum engagement apart from the CTA that I had asked both these AI models to add in the outline.

However, ChatGPT’s outline included a very plain CTA without any suggestions on how I could drive engagement.
Winner: DeepSeek
As far as their content creation abilities are concerned, DeepSeek seems like a clear winner to me. I found DeepSeek’s outline more structured with a logical and reader-friendly flow. On the other hand, ChatGPT focuses more on general information, which might not prove to be of much help to students looking for career counseling services.
Additionally, DeepSeek’s suggestion on linking to my services seems much more reasonable to me, which would serve the article’s purpose of encouraging students to seek my centre’s guidance.
2. Market Research
To gauge their market research abilities, I asked both DeepSeek and ChatGPT to generate a brief overview of the car rental market and supporting statistics for the launch of a cryptocurrency called MotoCoin, which can be used by potential investors to rent high-end cars like Lamborghini, Cadillac, and BMW. I gave the following prompt to both the AI tools.
I am a keen blockchain and cryptocurrency enthusiast and wish to launch my cryptocurrency called MotoCoin, which would help users rent high-end cars like Rolls-Royce, Lamborghini, Bentley, Cadillac, and BMW. I want you to generate a brief overview of the car rental market and come up with statistics that I can include in my whitepaper to convince potential investors to invest in my idea.
DeepSeek vs. ChatGPT: Market Research Results
While DeepSeek generated a holistic market overview focused on the use of cryptocurrencies and blockchain in the high-end car rental business, ChatGPT again came up with a rather generic overview of the market.

It was probably because of my inadequate prompt, asking the chatbots to generate only a market overview of the car-rental business.

However, DeepSeek delivered better results with key statistics like market size, consumer demand, geographic hotspots, technology integration, and even sustainability trends to better support the whitepaper. I found this level of detail missing in the result generated by ChatGPT.

Moreover, DeepSeek also generated a brief introduction to the white paper highlighting some of MotoCoin's benefits that I could use in the document to further ease my load. It included another section on the potential investment opportunities to create a sense of urgency among potential investors to invest in the project. I found no such thing in ChatGPT’s response, which mostly contained a surface-level rundown of the car rental market.
Winner: DeepSeek
It must be noted that since these AI chatbots don’t have real-time internet access, their knowledge is limited. While DeepSeek’s information is current as of July 2024, ChatGPT’s information is only limited to September 2021, even for premium users. However, more than their lack of real-time data, I was more concerned about the significant difference in the quality of data and statistics that they dug up.
While one can always argue that the prompt given to the chatbots wasn’t specific enough to elicit a satisfactory response, the fact remains that I gave both the chatbots the same prompt. While DeepSeek’s response was more detailed, market-specific, and centralized around the purpose of the whitepaper, ChatGPT’s response was somewhat vague and barely addressed the need for such research.
Hence, I feel like DeepSeek again has an upper hand over ChatGPT as far as their market research potential is concerned.
3. Brainstorming Ideas
Finally, I decided to check the two chatbots’ creative potential and assess their abilities to brainstorm ideas.
So, I asked them to generate children’s story ideas revolving around a boy who had found magical shoes.
DeepSeek vs. ChatGPT: Results for Brainstorming Ideas
Honestly, I found the results generated by both the chatbots more or less the same with the sole exception that DeepSeek generated ten ideas against ChatGPT’s seven.

Moreover, the two chatbots generated six similar ideas, which had me wondering if both the chatbots had access to the same set of data available online.

And guess what? I was right! It is possible that both these chatbots were trained on similar datasets, which resulted in them drawing from the same pool of information.

Also, limited originality could have been a factor for similar responses. That doesn’t inspire much confidence!

However, being more specific with your prompts can help avoid the overlapping of responses.
Winner: It’s a DRAW!
Yup, both these chatbots generated similar ideas and I don’t think I can rate DeepSeek higher than ChatGPT for better brainstorming simply because it generated three more ideas. But as I said above, you can consider being more specific with your queries to elicit better responses from the two chatbots.
DeepSeek vs. ChatGPT: Which One’s Better?
With two straight wins, DeepSea looks like a clear winner. However, as someone who’s been using ChatGPT ever since it was launched two years ago, I can vouch for its reliability. As far as the performance for different functionalities is concerned, I’d caution against being too fixated on it. I mean, passing a verdict based on three prompts doesn’t seem too practical.
DeepSea is still new and we are yet to find out how it was trained or what is included in its dataset. If you have been using ChatGPT Pro, I’d advise you to wait and see how DeepSea develops before switching to it permanently. However, if you haven’t been acquainted with AI chatbots, both these tools could be excellent starting points. You can try both of them and see which one works best for you. Or you could always try Alibaba’s AI chatbot Qwen 2.5. Yes, Alibaba has joined the AI race too.
We’ll be back with a detailed comparison between DeepSeek and Qwen 2.5 in our next blog. Till then, stay tuned!
Comments