Cloudflare Web Search API vs DeepSeek Search and Fetch API

Cloudflare Web Search API

One endpoint that sends a search to Ceramic.ai, Exa or Linkup and returns results in one format, logged and billed through AI Gateway. Ceramic.ai costs $0.25 per 1,000 searches. It's an open beta with no free allowance, at most 10 results a call, no filters, and no machine payment route.

DeepSeek Search and Fetch API

Search returns up to 50 results with a model-length summary, an authority tier and optional full text, and only successful non-empty calls are billed, at $0.75 per 1,000. It opened on 17 October 2026, with 5 requests a second per account, no OpenAPI file, no free tier, and data held in the PRC under a policy that permits training.

Cloudflare Web Search API

1. Set options.gateway.id. Every account has a gateway named default
2. Pass provider explicitly. It defaults to Ceramic.ai, whose descriptions can run to 8,000 characters a result
3. Set limit to the results you'll read, between 1 and 10
4. Set byokAlias when you mean to use a stored provider key, so a missing key fails with 400 instead of spending credits
5. Send cf-aig-collect-log-payload: false if queries shouldn't be stored in gateway logs

DeepSeek Search and Fetch API

1. Keep query to 128 characters and put filters in it as operators, such as site:github.com lang:en after:2026-01-01
2. Leave need_content false and read summary first, then call Fetch on the URLs you keep
3. Stay under 5 requests a second per account across all keys. On 408, 429 or 5xx wait and retry, since no Retry-After is documented
4. Don't retry a Fetch 403 or 404 unchanged. The page is blocked by policy, unreachable or has no Markdown
5. Don't send private queries or an end user's IP in localization. Data is stored in the PRC