Alternative
A DeepSeek alternative that answers the data question
DeepSeek’s models are genuinely strong and very cheap, and the concern people have is not the models but the hosted service — an account, stored conversations, and data handling under a jurisdiction many users have specific worries about. The models themselves are open-weight, so you can use them without that hosting.
Separate the model from the host
This is the distinction most coverage misses. DeepSeek publishes open-weight models that anyone can run; deepseek.com is one company’s hosted service wrapped around them, with its own account system, retention and jurisdiction.
Objecting to the second is not a judgement about the first. You can keep the model quality and change who runs it — by running it locally, or by using a host that keeps nothing.
What changes on nokeep
No account, so there is no profile for a conversation to attach to. Nothing stored after the answer. Every engine runs under a no-retention agreement, and that tier is re-checked daily against the provider’s live catalogue rather than trusted once.
And no moderation layer added on top, which also removes the topic-specific refusals the hosted service applies.
| DeepSeek (hosted) | nokeep | |
|---|---|---|
| Account required | Yes | No |
| Conversation stored | Yes | No |
| Data residency | A specific jurisdiction | No stored data to reside anywhere |
| Topic refusals | Applied by the service | None added |
| Model quality | Strong and cheap | Same class of open-weight models |
Asked before you asked
Is DeepSeek safe to use?
The open-weight models are just files — running them locally raises no data question at all. The hosted service is where the account, retention and jurisdiction concerns apply, and that is what people usually mean.
Can I use DeepSeek models without the DeepSeek app?
Yes. They are open-weight, so they run locally or on any host that serves them. What changes is who holds the conversation.
Does nokeep send anything to China?
No. It routes to providers running under no-retention agreements, and the engines it serves are chosen with that tier as a hard requirement.