Commencing at the stroke of midnight on August 17, DeepSeek has rolled out a peak-valley time-of-use pricing strategy for its DeepSeek API. Under this new system, peak hours span from 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM and again from 2:00 PM to 6:00 PM daily, while all other times are classified as off-peak. Notably, the cost during off-peak periods is a mere 50% of the peak-hour rate. The pricing structure for DeepSeek's flagship models, V4 Flash and V4 Pro, has been unveiled, revealing a significant hike in V4 Pro's peak-hour pricing compared to its original rates. This strategic move is designed to leverage pricing as a tool to encourage enterprise developers to schedule their tasks during off-peak hours, thereby easing computational bottlenecks and bolstering the platform's overall stability.