DeepSeek vs Scaleway: Token Pricing, Speed & Intelligence

Full comparison of DeepSeek and Scaleway — live token pricing, latency, throughput, context window, strengths, weaknesses, and best use cases. Updated July 2026.

DeepSeek

Chinese frontier lab — DeepSeek V3 and R1 at remarkably low prices

DeepSeek is a Chinese AI lab that has released highly capable open-weight models at prices far below Western competitors. DeepSeek V3 matches GPT-4 class performance at $0.27/1M input tokens, while DeepSeek R1 is a reasoning model competitive with o1 at a fraction of the cost. Both models are open-weight.

Cost-efficiencyReasoningCodingOpen-sourceSelf-hosting

Proprietary models

Scaleway

French cloud provider with sovereign EU LLM inference

Scaleway is a French cloud provider offering GPU compute and LLM inference with a focus on European data sovereignty. Their Generative APIs service hosts Llama 3.3 and other open-weight models, making them a strong choice for European businesses with data residency requirements.

European complianceFrench data sovereigntyGDPROpen-sourceGPU compute

Open-weight hostHosts open weights

Key metrics

Cheapest input ($/1M)

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Cheapest output ($/1M)

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Peak throughput

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Best latency (TTFT)

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Intelligence score

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Context window

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Live token pricing

Strengths & weaknesses

DeepSeek

DeepSeek V3 matches GPT-4 class at $0.27/1M input — 10× cheaper

R1 reasoning model competitive with o1 at a fraction of the cost

Both V3 and R1 are open-weight — can be self-hosted

Mixture-of-Experts architecture for efficient inference

Strong coding and math benchmarks

Data residency in China — may not meet compliance requirements

API reliability can lag Western providers during peak demand

Limited multimodal capability vs. Gemini or GPT-4o

Scaleway

French cloud — strongest EU data sovereignty credentials

GDPR-compliant with data centres in France and Netherlands

GPU compute + LLM inference from one provider

Competitive pricing for European market

Long-established cloud provider (founded 1999)

Smaller model catalog than US-based inference providers

Lower throughput than speed-optimised providers

Less developer tooling than OpenAI or Anthropic

Key differentiators

DeepSeek

DeepSeek V3 delivers GPT-4 class intelligence at $0.27/1M input tokens — the most disruptive price-to-performance ratio in the LLM market.

Scaleway

The strongest European data sovereignty credentials — a French company with French data centres, ideal for organisations with strict EU data residency requirements.

Frequently asked questions

DeepSeek FAQs

How much does DeepSeek cost?

DeepSeek V3 costs $0.27/1M input and $1.10/1M output tokens — roughly 10× cheaper than GPT-4o for comparable capability. DeepSeek R1 is $0.55/1M input and $2.19/1M output.

Is DeepSeek open-weight?

Yes. Both DeepSeek V3 and DeepSeek R1 are open-weight models available on Hugging Face. You can self-host them on your own GPU infrastructure, though they require significant compute (671B parameters for R1).

How does DeepSeek R1 compare to OpenAI o1?

DeepSeek R1 scores comparably to OpenAI o1 on math and coding benchmarks at a fraction of the cost. R1 is open-weight and can be self-hosted, while o1 is proprietary. R1 is available via multiple inference providers including Fireworks AI and Together AI.

Scaleway FAQs

Is Scaleway GDPR-compliant?

Yes. Scaleway is a French company with data centres in France and the Netherlands. All data stays within the EU, making it one of the strongest options for GDPR compliance and French data sovereignty requirements.

What LLM models does Scaleway offer?

Scaleway's Generative APIs service hosts Llama 3.3 and other open-weight models. Their catalog is focused on the most widely-used open-source models.

How does Scaleway compare to Nebius AI for European inference?

Both are European providers with GDPR-compliant infrastructure. Scaleway has stronger French data sovereignty credentials (French company, French data centres) while Nebius AI has a larger model catalog and more inference-focused infrastructure.

Provider resources

DeepSeek

Provider page Website Pricing Docs

Scaleway

Provider page Website Pricing Docs

DeepSeek — Chinese frontier lab — DeepSeek V3 and R1 at remarkably low prices

DeepSeek V3 delivers GPT-4 class intelligence at $0.27/1M input tokens — the most disruptive price-to-performance ratio in the LLM market.

Scaleway — French cloud provider with sovereign EU LLM inference

The strongest European data sovereignty credentials — a French company with French data centres, ideal for organisations with strict EU data residency requirements.

Key strengths compared

DeepSeek

▸DeepSeek V3 matches GPT-4 class at $0.27/1M input — 10× cheaper
▸R1 reasoning model competitive with o1 at a fraction of the cost
▸Both V3 and R1 are open-weight — can be self-hosted

Scaleway

▸French cloud — strongest EU data sovereignty credentials
▸GDPR-compliant with data centres in France and Netherlands
▸GPU compute + LLM inference from one provider

Provider category context

DeepSeek is a frontier lab, founded in 2023. Scaleway is a cloud, founded in 1999. The category difference means these providers serve partially overlapping use cases — compare the model lists and pricing tables above to find the best fit for your specific workload.

How to choose between them

Choose DeepSeek if you need deepseek v3 matches gpt-4 class at $0.27/1m input — 10× cheaper. Choose Scaleway if you need french cloud — strongest eu data sovereignty credentials. For high-volume production workloads, run a cost comparison using the token pricing table above with your actual prompt/completion token ratio — the cheapest provider depends heavily on your input-to-output token ratio.