DeepSeek vs Hob
DeepSeek and Hob are both AI assistants tools. DeepSeek is aimed at developers and small businesses, while Hob is aimed at freelancers and small businesses. Both have a free plan.
Free AI chat app and low-cost API built on open-weight models
Free open-source desktop AI coworker that runs models on your computer
| Pricing | Freemium | Open source |
| Starting price | Not published | Not published |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Built for | Developers, Small businesses, Enterprise, Freelancers | Freelancers, Small businesses, Developers |
| Platforms | web, ios, android | macos, windows, linux |
| Country | CN · 2023 | — |
| Rating | — | — |
Choose DeepSeek if
Developers and cost-conscious teams who want strong reasoning and coding models at very low API prices or as open weights.
- Consumer chat is completely free
- Among the cheapest frontier-class API token prices
- Open weights allow self-hosting and fine-tuning
Look elsewhere if: Organisations with strict data residency or public-sector rules (Mistral Le Chat, Claude, ChatGPT Enterprise).
Choose Hob if
Professionals and small teams who want a Claude-style desktop assistant for files and documents without sending data to the cloud.
- Completely free and MIT licensed with no account
- Chats and files stay on your computer, no telemetry
- Picks and installs a suitable model automatically
Look elsewhere if: Users who need the strongest reasoning or team features, or who have low-memory machines (Claude, ChatGPT).
DeepSeek vs Hob pricing
DeepSeek
- Chat app$0Web, iOS and Android; no paid consumer tier
- deepseek-flash API$0.30/1M input tokensPeak cache-miss rate; output $1.20/1M; off-peak rates are half
- deepseek-v4-pro API$1.32/1M input tokensPeak cache-miss rate; output $3.96/1M; off-peak rates are half
- Search & Fetch API$0.75/1,000 requestsBilled per successful request
Hob
- Free$0MIT licensed, no account, subscription or usage limits
DeepSeek · Key features
- Free chat app with thinking and instant modes on web and mobile
- 1M-token context window on V4 models
- API compatible with OpenAI and Anthropic request formats
- Automatic context caching with much cheaper cache-hit pricing
- Off-peak API rates at half the peak price
- Tool calls, JSON output and FIM completion for coding tools
Cons
- Hosted service stores user data on servers in China
- Banned on government devices in several countries
- Answers on politically sensitive Chinese topics are censored
Hob · Key features
- Automatic hardware check and download of a fitting open-weight model
- Works on attached files or project folders with their own instructions
- Sandboxed Python with pandas, openpyxl and on-demand PyPI packages
- Reads PDFs including scans and fills PDF forms on Mac
- Image understanding with a local Qwen vision model
- Local metasearch web search and on-device dictation
Cons
- Local models are weaker than frontier cloud models on hard tasks
- Needs at least 8 GB RAM and 10 to 25 GB of disk
- PDF form filling is Mac only
DeepSeek vs Hob: FAQ
Do DeepSeek and Hob have a free plan?
Yes, both DeepSeek and Hob have a free plan; paid plans add more usage and features.