# DeepSeek overtakes Google on volume, cost per token falls 13.6%

DevFeed: [DeepSeek overtakes Google on volume, cost per token falls 13.6%](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/deepseek-overtakes-google-on-volume-cost-per-token-falls-13-6-731.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://vercel.com/blog/deepseek-overtakes-google-on-volume-cost-per-token-falls>)

Author: Harpreet Arora

Published: 2026-08-11T04:00:00Z

Content type: news

Language: en

Sources: [Vercel News](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/vercel-news.md>)

Topics: [AI Chat](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/ai-chat.md>)

Tags: [agent](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/agent.md>), [ai](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/ai.md>), [ai-gateway](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/ai-gateway.md>), [anthropic](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/anthropic.md>), [applications](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/applications.md>), [claude](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/claude.md>), [cost](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/cost.md>), [data](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/data.md>), [deepseek](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/deepseek.md>), [enterprise](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/enterprise.md>), [google](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/google.md>), [gpt](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/gpt.md>), [launch](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/launch.md>), [leaderboards](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/leaderboards.md>), [media](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/media.md>), [models](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/models.md>), [openai](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/openai.md>), [production](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/production.md>), [video](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/video.md>), [work](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/work.md>)

## AI overview

The August AI Gateway Production Index reports that token prices fell 13.6% in July while token use and spending grew. DeepSeek surpassed Google for second place by token volume, while Kimi K3 and other open-weight models gained usage and spending.

## Source excerpt

AI Gateway Production Index -- August 2026 Every month, AI Gateway routes tens of trillions of tokens between production applications and AI labs. That traffic gives us a view of what AI usage actually looks like in today's enterprise, and we publish it here monthly. See the Production Index reports from May, June, and July. August 2026 Summary The August index reports on AI Gateway data collected through July 2026. The average price paid per token fell 13.6% in July, after rising almost 20% in May and holding steady in June. Token consumption grew so quickly that even with 37% growth in spend, cost per token saw a double-digit drop. DeepSeek became the second-largest lab by token volume, now running more than twice Google's volume. Anthropic collected 65% of gateway spending on 30% of token volume, at 4.4 times the average price of every other lab's tokens. Both media leaderboards changed hands. Google's Nano Banana took the lead in image volume from OpenAI's GPT Image, and ByteDance's Seedance led video in both volume and dollars. Kimi K3 launched into agent work Moonshot released Kimi K3 on July 16. Like Z.ai's GLM 5.2 released in June, it is built for long-horizon agent work, so its usage was heavy from the start at about twelve times the tokens per request of its predecessor, K2.5. It scaled quickly. K3's daily volume tripled between launch week and the final week of July, and by month end its requests were as heavy as Claude Opus 4.8's. On the last full day of July it ranked eighth on the gateway by token volume. The demand was new rather than diverted. K3 processed nearly two-thirds of all Kimi tokens within two weeks and 82% by the final week, while the rest of the family's volume fell only slightly. Open weight's share of gateway spend more than doubled in July to 8.6%. More than 90% of that growth is Moonshot and Z.ai. Moonshot's share of total gateway spend quadrupled, to 2.3%. Cheap open-weight models have been taking volume for months without taking reve