Last refreshed 2026-06-29. Next refresh: weekly.
Why use DeepSeek R1 on Vercel AI Gateway?
Vercel AI Gateway offers DeepSeek R1 with pay-as-you-go pricing at $1.35/1M input tokens. Vercel AI Gateway is a unified AI proxy providing a single OpenAI-compatible API endpoint to 275+ models from 25+ providers including Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, Meta, Mistral, DeepSeek, xAI, Alibaba, Amazon, ByteDance, Cohere, MiniMax, MoonshotAI, KwaiPilot, Black Forest Labs, Recraft, Voyage AI, NVIDIA, and more.
Compare DeepSeek R1 across 14 providers to find the best fit for your use caseInput / 1M
$1.35
Output / 1M
$5.40
Cache
Not sourced
Batch
Not sourced
Setup recipe
Python + curlInstall
pip install openaiAuth
export AI_GATEWAY_API_KEY=...Call
import os
from openai import OpenAI
client = OpenAI(
api_key=os.environ["AI_GATEWAY_API_KEY"],Model ID
deepseek/deepseek-r1Request example
import os
from openai import OpenAI
client = OpenAI(
api_key=os.environ["AI_GATEWAY_API_KEY"],
base_url="https://ai-gateway.vercel.sh/v1"
)
response = client.chat.completions.create(
model="deepseek/deepseek-r1",
messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Hello"}]
)
print(response.choices[0].message.content)Gotchas
- Use provider model ID "deepseek/deepseek-r1", not the LLMReference slug "deepseek-r1".
- creator/model-name e.g. kwaipilot/kat-coder-pro-v2
- The examples expect AI_GATEWAY_API_KEY; rename it only if your application config maps the new variable.
Compare DeepSeek R1 Across Providers
| Provider | Input (per 1M) | Output (per 1M) |
|---|---|---|
| DeepSeek Platform | $0.55 | $2.19 |
| OpenRouter | $0.70 | $2.50 |
| Together AI | $3.00 | $7.00 |
| Fireworks AI | $0.56 | $1.68 |
| NVIDIA NIM | — | — |
Pricing
| Type | Price (per 1M) |
|---|---|
| Input tokens | $1.35 |
| Output tokens | $5.40 |
Capabilities
ReasoningStructured OutputsCode Execution
About DeepSeek R1
DeepSeek R1: Reasoning-optimized model with extended thinking capabilities. 128K context.
Get Started
Model Specs
Released2025-01-20
Parameters671B, 37B Active
Context128k
ArchitectureDecoder Only
Knowledge cutoff2023-12