DeepSeek vs K-EXAONE (K-엑사원) comparison

DeepSeek and K-EXAONE (K-엑사원) compared side by side in AI.

CurrencyUSD KRW EUR

What is different

Main models

DeepSeekDeepSeek-V4.1-Flash-1017 (multimodal) / DeepSeek-V4-Pro

K-EXAONE (K-엑사원)K-EXAONE 2.0 750B-A37B (750B total, 37B active MoE) / FP8/NVFP4 quantized versions / DSpark variant

DeepSeek

A high-performance Chinese AI chatbot that is free to use. The models are also released as open source

What is good

Chatbot fully free
Good at math and reasoning
API is very cheap

What could be better

Controversy over overseas transfer of personal data
Slows down when traffic is heavy

DeepSeek official site

K-EXAONE (K-엑사원)

A 750 billion-parameter Korean open model made by LG AI Research under the government's independent AI foundation model project (the largest in Korea, free for commercial use)

What is good

Korea's largest open model at 750B
No commercial use restrictions under Apache 2.0
262K long context, strong on the Korean long-text benchmark (Ko-LongBench 89.6)

What could be better

Running it yourself needs about 16 H200-class GPUs, so it is hard for individuals
LG has no paid API of its own or app for general users yet

K-EXAONE (K-엑사원) official site

At a glance

Item	DeepSeekVisit site	K-EXAONE (K-엑사원)Visit site
Starting price	FreeNot applicable	FreeNot applicable
Free tier	Free	Free
Korean support	Good	Good
Main models	DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash-1017 (multimodal) DeepSeek-V4-Pro	K-EXAONE 2.0 750B-A37B (750B total, 37B active MoE) FP8/NVFP4 quantized versions DSpark variant
Type	AI services	AI services
Category	Chatbot/Assistant, Open Models	Open Models
Company	DeepSeek, China	LG AI Research (LG AI연구원), South Korea
Plans	Web and app fully free API pay-as-you-go (50% off off-peak)	Model weights free (Apache 2.0, commercial use allowed) Web demo k.exaone.ai Hosted API is pay-as-you-go from outside providers such as FriendliAI (prices set by each provider)
Pros	Chatbot fully free Good at math and reasoning API is very cheap	Korea's largest open model at 750B No commercial use restrictions under Apache 2.0 262K long context, strong on the Korean long-text benchmark (Ko-LongBench 89.6) High safety rating in the Korean context Reasoning mode can be turned on and off, tool calling supported
Cons	Controversy over overseas transfer of personal data Slows down when traffic is heavy Censorship of sensitive topics	Running it yourself needs about 16 H200-class GPUs, so it is hard for individuals LG has no paid API of its own or app for general users yet Text only LG itself says it is only a 'starting point'

Prices and benefits may change. Check the official site before you pay.

Prices converted at 1 USD = ₩1,327.84 (2026-10-20). Original price shown in brackets. Taxes as listed by each provider.

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