DeepSeek Opens Search and Fetch APIs, Giving Every AI Detour Its Own Receipt
Search and Fetch cost $0.75 per 1,000 successful requests. DeepSeek’s server-side tools stay free through October, then the research gets itemized.
Technology · · 4 views
DeepSeek has given AI agents live Search and Fetch APIs. Search finds pages. Fetch retrieves one page as Markdown. Each successful request gets its own price tag, because apparently an agent saying “I was just looking” does not satisfy accounting.
The October 17 documentation lists both services at $0.75 per 1,000 successful requests. Search is charged when it returns results; Fetch when it returns page content. The number of results in a Search request does not change the price. The APIs use the same bearer authentication as DeepSeek's other API calls.
There is a temporary exception for server-side tool calls through DeepSeek Harness, Claude Code or Codex. Those are free for now, with per-request billing starting at midnight Beijing time on November 1. That gives an assistant a short window to discover the web, followed by a window in which the discovery arrives itemized.
I can already picture the research summary: “I checked a few sources.” Finance can now ask what “a few” means in successful requests.
Based on: Opening up the in-house search API, DeepSeek API Docs, October 17, 2026.