How to Get Free DeepSeek API Credits: A Step-by-Step Guide

Why Developers Need Free AI API Credits

For independent developers, students, and AI enthusiasts, the cost of calling large language model APIs has always been a barrier. While models like DeepSeek are already competitively priced, having access to free credits during prototype development, feature testing, and exploratory learning is still incredibly valuable.

This article is based on a hands-on tutorial shared by a Bilibili creator, covering how to obtain free DeepSeek API access through the third-party aggregator platform enrai.web.id, along with the $1 trial credit offered to new users upon registration. It's worth noting upfront that the stability and long-term availability of third-party platforms like this are uncertain — this article is purely for informational purposes, and you should evaluate the risks before use.

Full Registration and Login Walkthrough

The first step is to visit enrai.web.id and find the latest relevant article on the site. The creator noted that the site includes a detailed step-by-step documentation, making it easy even for beginners to follow along.

For the login process, the platform supports two options: email registration/login, or quick sign-in via a Google account. The creator explicitly recommends the latter — Google OAuth is faster and skips the hassle of email verification.

Once logged in, the platform automatically grants new users a free balance worth $1. This credit can be used to generate images or test various paid API endpoints — essentially giving users a "try before you pay" experience window.

Creating and Testing Your API Key

After setting up your account, you can create your own API Key just like you would on any other API platform. Once created, no additional environment setup or coding is required — the platform has a built-in online testing tool.

Through the test entry in the site's menu, you can send requests directly to the model and view the responses. The creator specifically highlighted the data privacy aspect: the platform claims it does not store any user data, and is essentially a standard landing page with an API forwarding service. That said, users should still apply their own judgment to such claims.

In terms of free access, DeepSeek is the primary recommendation in this tutorial, as its corresponding API endpoint is completely free. Beyond that, the platform aggregates many other AI API services that users can select based on their needs.

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An API Key is a string credential used for authentication when calling AI services — typically in the format sk-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx. Each time a request is sent, the key is included in the request header so the server can identify the caller and track usage and billing. For this reason, API Keys should be kept secure and never exposed in public code repositories or screenshots — if someone else obtains your key, they could consume your credits or generate unexpected charges. API Keys generated by third-party aggregator platforms are essentially a re-wrapped forwarding layer over the upstream official keys, which is how these platforms can manage multiple model services under one roof — but it also means your requests pass through an additional intermediary node.

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What Can You Do With the $1 Credit?

Beyond the free DeepSeek endpoint, the $1 new-user credit opens up additional possibilities. According to the platform, this balance can be used to test paid models for image generation and video generation.

However, the creator also ran into a few limitations during testing. When switching between different models, you need to refresh the page to clear the session state from the previous model — otherwise the new model won't load properly. It's a small but easy-to-miss operational detail.

Each time you call a paid model, the corresponding balance is automatically deducted, and users can monitor credit consumption in real time. This pay-as-you-go transparency is helpful for evaluating the cost-effectiveness of different models.

Usage Limitations and Practical Recommendations

At the end of the tutorial, the creator candidly pointed out a key limitation: the platform cannot deliver full output from image generation models. This is because enrai.web.id is architecturally designed to handle chat-type responses, not full multimodal generation. So while the credit technically supports image and video testing, actual image generation capability is constrained by the platform's architecture.

Overall, the core value of third-party aggregator platforms like this lies in a few areas:

• Zero-cost DeepSeek access: Get conversational API access to a leading large model without any top-up required
• Quick side-by-side comparison: Use the $1 credit to test multiple paid models and rapidly identify the best fit for your project
• Deployment-free online testing: Validate API behavior directly in the browser without setting up a local environment

At the same time, it's important to be aware of the limitations: functionality is primarily centered on text-based chat, with limited multimodal capability; and as a third-party forwarding service, its stability, data security, and long-term availability cannot be compared to official channels.

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An API Aggregator is a middleware service that wraps the APIs of multiple AI providers under a single unified interface. Users only need one account and one API Key to switch between models from OpenAI, DeepSeek, Anthropic, and others. The typical business model involves charging a markup over official pricing, or leveraging aggregated traffic volume to negotiate discounted upstream rates. The convenience lies in reducing the integration overhead of connecting to multiple models — but the risks are real: if the platform shuts down or changes its pricing, your workflows are directly impacted. Additionally, since requests and responses are routed through a third-party server, there are potential privacy and compliance concerns in use cases involving sensitive data.

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Final Thoughts

For users looking to get started with AI development at low cost, free API resources like these do meaningfully lower the barrier to entry. However, from an engineering best-practices perspective, once a project moves into serious development or production, it's still recommended to use DeepSeek's official API or another reliable, reputable provider — to ensure interface stability and data compliance.

Free resources are great for learning and validating ideas. But for production-grade deployment, you need more dependable infrastructure. Using free credits wisely is the smartest approach.