DeepSeekLive (opened 2026-10-17)Verified 2026-10-17

DeepSeek Search & Fetch API

Two paid web-access endpoints for agents and RAG: Search returns ranked results from DeepSeek’s own search engine, and Fetch turns one URL into Markdown. $0.75 per 1,000 successful calls on each, billed per call rather than per token. Opened to all API users on Oct 17, 2026.1

CompareDocs

PricingUSD, as published

ItemValue
List price$0.75/1k calls each34
Free tierNo

Search $0.75 and Fetch $0.75 per 1,000 successful requests. Only HTTP 200 responses with a result are billed: empty searches, failed fetches and timeouts are free, and count does not change the price. Charges come out of your topped-up or granted balance.34 [Verified 2026-10-17 on https://api-docs.deepseek.com/quick_start/pricing and https://api-docs.deepseek.com/guides/search]

Search and Fetch calls made as server-side tools through DeepSeek Harness, Claude Code or Codex are free until per-request billing starts at 16:00 UTC on Oct 31, 2026 (00:00 Beijing time, Nov 1). There is no free tier for direct calls.42 [Verified 2026-10-17 on https://api-docs.deepseek.com/guides/search and https://api-docs.deepseek.com/news/news261017]

Estimate cost in the calculator.

LimitsPer request

LimitValue
Context windowN/A (query ≤128 chars)
Rate limit5 QPS per endpoint

5 requests per second for Search and 5 for Fetch, per account across all keys, counted separately and apart from model concurrency limits. Fetch also has a per-domain limit (number not published). Over-limit requests get HTTP 429.4 [Verified 2026-10-17 on https://api-docs.deepseek.com/guides/search]

Search query 1–128 characters and 1–50 results per call; Fetch URL up to 8,192 characters. Oversized bodies return 413.56 [Verified 2026-10-17 on https://api-docs.deepseek.com/api/search and https://api-docs.deepseek.com/api/fetch]

StatusLive (opened 2026-10-17)

  • Opened to everyone on Oct 17, 2026 (DeepSeek changelog and news post). The docs and news post attach no early-access or test-release label, and publish no SLA; a status page is at status.deepseek.com.12 [Verified 2026-10-17 on https://api-docs.deepseek.com/updates and https://api-docs.deepseek.com/news/news261017]
  • Data terms: the DeepSeek Open Platform Terms are governed by mainland PRC law, and DeepSeek’s privacy policy says it collects, processes and stores personal data in the People’s Republic of China. The Search & Fetch docs publish no data-retention, region or residency options.78 [Verified 2026-10-17 on https://cdn.deepseek.com/policies/en-US/deepseek-open-platform-terms-of-service.html and https://cdn.deepseek.com/policies/en-US/deepseek-privacy-policy.html]

Auth

MethodAPI key (Bearer)
DetailsDeepSeek API key as Authorization: Bearer <key> with Content-Type: application/json, the same key used for DeepSeek’s model API.4 [Verified 2026-10-17 on https://api-docs.deepseek.com/guides/search]

FeaturesFrom lib/apiFeatures.js

YesNoN/ANot published
CapabilityStateNote
Tool / function callingServer-side web search in Claude Code, Codex, HarnessYesServer-side web search in Claude Code, Codex, Harness
Free tierNo free tier for direct callsNo42No free tier for direct calls
Structured JSON outputSearch/fetch API: returns fixed JSON results, no model output to shapeN/ASearch/fetch API: returns fixed JSON results, no model output to shape
StreamingSearch/fetch API: one JSON response per call, nothing to streamN/ASearch/fetch API: one JSON response per call, nothing to stream
Fine-tuningSearch/fetch API: no model of its own to tuneN/ASearch/fetch API: no model of its own to tune
BatchNot in DeepSeek docsNot published456Not in DeepSeek docs
MCP supportNot in DeepSeek docsNot published456Not in DeepSeek docs
Official SDKscurl/requests examples onlyNot published456curl/requests examples only
Open source / self-hostNot in DeepSeek docsNot published456Not in DeepSeek docs
SLA publishedNot in DeepSeek docsNot published456Not in DeepSeek docs
EU / data residencyNo residency options; PRC termsNot published78No residency options; PRC terms

Fit and safety

Good for

  • Cheap flat per-call pricing for agent web access, and Search can return page content inline (need_content), which can save a separate Fetch call.
  • 5 requests per second per endpoint is low for crawling or high-concurrency agents.

Watch out

  • Data is processed under PRC terms with no residency option, which may rule it out for regulated workloads.

How it works

  1. Search: POST https://api.deepseek.com/v1/tools/search with query (1–128 characters; supports site:, -site:, quoted phrases, lang:, after:, before:), count (1–50, default 10), optional ori_question, localization (an IP address) and need_content.
  2. Search results carry title, url, snippet (about 100–200 characters), summary (about 600–800 characters, meant for a model), optional full content, site_name, date, a rerank_score from 0 to 3 (1.5 or above is high quality) and an authority tier from 0 to 4.
  3. Fetch: POST https://api.deepseek.com/v1/tools/fetch with a url (HTTP or HTTPS, up to 8,192 characters, no embedded credentials); returns the page title and its content as Markdown. A 404 means no usable content, and a 403 means DeepSeek’s security policy rejected the URL.
  4. Standalone JSON APIs you call from your own code. DeepSeek’s model API also uses them as server-side tools: web search in Claude Code, built-in web search in Codex (deepseek-v4-pro only) and DeepSeek Harness. The Chat Completions tool-calls guide does not describe a server-side search tool.
  5. Errors use the OpenAI-compatible error format. DeepSeek says to retry 408, 429 and 5xx, top up after a 402, and not retry other 4xx errors unchanged.

Compare

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SourcesFootnotes

  1. 1DeepSeek change log (2026-10-17)api-docs.deepseek.com/updatesVerified 2026-10-17
  2. 2api-docs.deepseek.com/news/news261017api-docs.deepseek.com/news/news261017Verified 2026-10-17
  3. 3DeepSeek Models & Pricingapi-docs.deepseek.com/quick_start/pricingVerified 2026-10-17
  4. 4DeepSeek docs: Search & Fetch guideapi-docs.deepseek.com/guides/searchVerified 2026-10-17
  5. 5DeepSeek API reference: Searchapi-docs.deepseek.com/api/searchVerified 2026-10-17
  6. 6DeepSeek API reference: Fetchapi-docs.deepseek.com/api/fetchVerified 2026-10-17
  7. 7DeepSeek Open Platform Termscdn.deepseek.com/policies/en-US/deepseek-open-platform-terms-of-service.Verified 2026-10-17
  8. 8cdn.deepseek.com/policies/en-US/deepseek-privacy-policy.htmlcdn.deepseek.com/policies/en-US/deepseek-privacy-policy.htmlVerified 2026-10-17
  9. 9DeepSeek Claude Code integration (web search)api-docs.deepseek.com/quick_start/agent_integrations/claude_codeCited
  10. 10DeepSeek Codex integrationapi-docs.deepseek.com/quick_start/agent_integrations/codexCited