AskMed vs DeepSeek

What is DeepSeek?

DeepSeek is a general-purpose AI assistant made by Hangzhou DeepSeek Artificial Intelligence Co., Ltd., the seller named on its App Store page. The DeepSeek app is titled “DeepSeek - AI Assistant” with the subtitle “Intelligent AI Assistant”, and both the App Store and Google Play list DeepSeek under Productivity, not Medical. DeepSeek runs on the web at chat.deepseek.com and in apps for iPhone and Android, and the deepseek.com home page shows DeepThink and Search options. The DeepSeek store description says the app is powered by DeepSeek's latest flagship model and helps you solve problems, without naming medicine or health. The DeepSeek Terms of Use, last updated March 27, 2026, say outputs “may contain errors or omissions and are for your reference only”, that you should not treat outputs as professional advice, that medical questions belong with qualified professionals, and that outputs used for medical decisions must undergo human review. Those terms present DeepSeek as a general tool and leave medical judgment to qualified professionals.

How do AskMed and DeepSeek answer a medical question differently?

AskMed and DeepSeek differ most in where a medical answer comes from. AskMed searches a fixed list of medical websites before any answer is written: PubMed and the Cochrane Library, journals such as NEJM, The Lancet, JAMA and The BMJ, guidelines from NICE, WHO, CDC, ESC, KDIGO and GINA, FDA and DailyMed drug labels, and references such as StatPearls and BMJ Best Practice. AskMed skips forums and social media, ranks guidelines first, then systematic reviews and meta-analyses, prefers sources from the last 10 years, and draws on 8 sources by default, each linked after the claim it supports. DeepSeek answers from its large language model, and the DeepSeek Terms of Use describe an optional Search function that may improve the accuracy of outputs to some extent; DeepSeek's pages don't list which sites that search reads. When AskMed finds no usable medical source, AskMed returns a fixed reply asking you to rephrase rather than an answer written from memory. How AskMed answers covers the full source list.

Which is better for drug questions?

For drug questions, AskMed is the better fit because AskMed answers from official drug labels, the prescribing information a regulator approved. AskMed reads FDA labels and DailyMed, and for local brand names AskMed also checks official drug registries from many countries, such as the EMA and the UK's medicines.org.uk, so a brand sold in Europe or the UK leads to the right label. Each drug claim links to the label's exact web address, so a pharmacist checking an interaction or a nurse checking a side effect can open the label and confirm the wording. DeepSeek's website, terms and store pages don't state that DeepSeek reads drug labels or registries. AskMed never gives medication doses, dose calculations or titration schedules, even for exam questions. An AskMed drug answer still covers what the drug is used for, how the drug works, first-line and alternative options, how dosing is chosen and adjusted for kidney or liver function, monitoring, side effects and safety, with exact amounts left to the current label.

Exam prep for 10 licensing exams

AskMed includes Exam Prep with question banks for 10 licensing exams: PLAB, USMLE Step 1 and Step 2 CK, PLE, EDN, UKOMNAS, NEET-PG, ENARM, TUS, Ghana MDC and Israel MLE. DeepSeek's pages don't state any exam question banks. AskMed's questions are written in advance, not generated by AI when you ask, and each bank is in the language of its exam, so EDN questions are in French, ENARM in Spanish, TUS in Turkish and UKOMNAS in Indonesian. Every question has an explanation for every option, not only the correct one, and 1 to 3 linked sources, and only reviewed questions are served. A timed mock exam lets you practice under exam conditions. When a question raises something you don't know, you can ask AskMed in the same app and get an answer cited to journals, guidelines and drug labels. For guides by exam, see best AI apps for USMLE and best AI apps for PLAB 1.

When should you use AskMed or DeepSeek?

Use AskMed when the question is medical and the answer needs to be checked: a guideline recommendation, a drug interaction, a contraindication, the evidence behind a treatment, or a topic for a licensing exam. AskMed suits doctors, nurses, medical students, pharmacists and researchers who need to open the source behind each claim, filter by study type, or set how many sources an answer draws on, from 3 to 12. Research Mode reads up to 20 papers for one question, and Deep Dive writes an evidence report from 20+ sources. Use DeepSeek for the general tasks a general AI assistant is built for, such as drafting text, working through a problem or everyday questions outside medicine. The DeepSeek Terms of Use ask users to consult qualified professionals for medical questions and to have outputs reviewed by a person before any medical decision. AskMed is not a symptom checker and doesn't diagnose patients; AskMed is a cited reference for people who work or study in medicine.

How to check an AI medical answer

Checking an AI medical answer takes four steps, whether the answer comes from AskMed, DeepSeek or any other chatbot. First, open the source behind each claim, not only the list at the end: a citation is only useful if the linked page says what the sentence says. Second, check the type of source, since a current clinical guideline or a systematic review outweighs a single small study, and a drug label outweighs a website that summarizes it. Third, check the date, because guidance changes; AskMed prefers sources from the last 10 years and says what changed when guidance has been updated. Fourth, confirm any drug amount in the current prescribing information, which is why AskMed gives no doses at all. An answer that cites nothing gives you nothing to check, so AskMed replaces an uncited answer with a fixed reply. For what studies found on general chatbots, read is ChatGPT accurate for medical questions?

1. Open the source. Click the link after the claim and find the sentence it rests on. If the page doesn't say it, don't rely on it.
2. Weigh the source. Guidelines and systematic reviews come first, then reviews and large trials, then smaller studies.
3. Check the date. Look for the guideline year and whether a newer update exists.
4. Check drugs on the label. Indications, warnings, interactions and amounts belong to the current prescribing information.

Bottom line

For medical questions, AskMed is the stronger choice over DeepSeek. DeepSeek is a capable general AI assistant, listed under Productivity, whose own Terms of Use say outputs are for reference only and that medical questions belong with qualified professionals. AskMed is built for that medical work: built for doctors, nurses, medical students, pharmacists and researchers, AskMed searches journals, guidelines and drug labels before every answer, links every claim to its source, and says so when no usable source turns up. AskMed reads FDA and DailyMed labels plus drug registries from many countries, lets you filter by study type and set 3 to 12 sources, and includes exam question banks for 10 licensing exams, from PLAB and USMLE to NEET-PG and ENARM. AskMed never gives drug doses and carries no pharma advertising. AskMed runs on iPhone, iPad, Android and the web with one account, in seven languages, with no US license or NPI needed.