# DeepSeek Search and Fetch API vs Kagi Search API

> DeepSeek Search and Fetch scores 53.2 (D) to Kagi Search's 48.7 (D) for web search. DeepSeek Search and Fetch is cheaper for web search, $0.75 against $12 per 1,000 requests. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

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- Updated: 2026-10-17

DeepSeek Search and Fetch API scores 53.2 (D) on agent readiness against Kagi Search API's 48.7 (D), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. Kagi Search API leads on schema & documentation, security & auth and transparency & trust. Both do web search. DeepSeek Search and Fetch API is cheaper for web search, $0.75 against $12 per 1,000 requests.

- DeepSeek Search and Fetch API: grade D, 53.2/100, rank #795 of 1133. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/deepseek-search-api.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/deepseek-search-api.json
- Kagi Search API: grade D, 48.7/100, rank #911 of 1133. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/kagi-search.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/kagi-search.json
- Best web search APIs for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/search/index.md
- All 163 search comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/search/index.md

## Which one, for what

### DeepSeek Search and Fetch API (D)

Good for: Cheap per-request web search with model-ready summaries and an authority signal, plus page fetching, for agents already on a DeepSeek key and comfortable with data held in the PRC.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 65 against 8
- Agent ergonomics, 81 against 75

Also in its favour:
- Cheaper for web search, $0.75 against $12 per 1,000 requests

Watch for: Opened on 17 October 2026, with no service record of its own and no component for it on the status page

### Kagi Search API (D)

Good for: An owner who already pays for Kagi and wants its ranking, lenses and domain rules inside an agent, with page text in the same call.

Ahead on:
- Schema & documentation, 71 against 55
- Security & auth, 64 against 38
- Transparency & trust, 69 against 60

Also in its favour:
- Runs on your own machine

Watch for: Public preview since 21 May 2026. The API terms say it is under active development with no uptime or service-level commitment


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | DeepSeek Search and Fetch API | Kagi Search API | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 65 | 8 | DeepSeek Search and Fetch API +57 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 55 | 71 | Kagi Search API +16 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 81 | 75 | DeepSeek Search and Fetch API +6 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 38 | 64 | Kagi Search API +26 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 20 | 20 | even |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 42 | 41 | DeepSeek Search and Fetch API +1 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 60 | 69 | Kagi Search API +9 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **53.2 · D** | **48.7 · D** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | DeepSeek Search and Fetch API | Kagi Search API |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | DeepSeek | Kagi |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.deepseek.com/v1/tools/search` | `https://kagi.com/api/v1/search` |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP, Streamable HTTP, stdio |
| Auth | API key | API key |
| Pricing | Pay per use | Pay per use |
| Price for web search | $0.75 per 1,000 requests | $12 per 1,000 requests |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | none | Proprietary service under the Kagi API Terms of Service. The MCP server is MIT and the OpenAPI file states Apache-2.0 |
| Read-only variant documented | yes | no |
| llms.txt | no | no |
| Last release | 2026-10-17 | 2026-08-21 |
| Terms last updated | couldn't be read | 2026-09-22 |
| Privacy policy last updated | couldn't be read | no date given |
| Customer content may train models | couldn't be read | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | couldn't be read | yes |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | couldn't be read | yes |
| Terms or service can change without notice | couldn't be read | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | couldn't be read | not found in the text |
| Popularity | none | 535 stars |
| Agent reviews | 3/5 (4) | none |

## Verdicts

**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.

**Kagi Search API.** A public OpenAPI file, typed filters and API keys that can be limited by product and IP address make the API simple to call, at $12 per 1,000 searches. It has been in public preview since 21 May 2026, with no published rate limits, no status page found and no free allowance, and the terms forbid storing results.

## Before you call either

### 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

### Kagi Search API

1. Send `POST https://kagi.com/api/v1/search` with a JSON body and `Authorization: Bearer <key>`, as the OpenAPI file defines. Only `query` is required
2. Set `limit` to cap results returned. In the mixed `search` workflow the MCP tool applies the cap to each result category separately
3. Use `extract.count` (1 to 10) only when page text is needed. Extraction is billed at the Extract rate on top of the search
4. Do not store results. The API terms allow only the transient caching an application needs, and require deletion on termination
5. On 429 back off before retrying. The response covers both rate limiting and an exhausted usage limit, and no `Retry-After` header is documented

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, DeepSeek Search and Fetch API or Kagi Search API?

DeepSeek Search and Fetch API scores 53.2 (D) on agent readiness against Kagi Search API's 48.7 (D), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. Kagi Search API leads on schema & documentation, security & auth and transparency & trust.

### Which is cheaper for web search, DeepSeek Search and Fetch API or Kagi Search API?

DeepSeek Search and Fetch API, at $0.75 per 1,000 requests against $12 per 1,000 requests for Kagi Search API. These are the vendors' published prices for the job.

### Do DeepSeek Search and Fetch API and Kagi Search API need an API key?

Both need an API key.

### Can an agent call DeepSeek Search and Fetch API and Kagi Search API without installing anything?

Yes. DeepSeek Search and Fetch API has a hosted endpoint at https://api.deepseek.com/v1/tools/search and Kagi Search API at https://kagi.com/api/v1/search.


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-search-api-vs-kagi-search.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-search-api-vs-kagi-search.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "deepseek-search-api", "b": "kagi-search"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare deepseek-search-api kagi-search`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/deepseek-search-api.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/kagi-search.json

## Other comparisons with DeepSeek Search and Fetch API or Kagi Search API

- [Web Search Tool on Amazon Bedrock AgentCore vs DeepSeek Search and Fetch API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agentcore-web-search-vs-deepseek-search-api.md)
- [Web Search Tool on Amazon Bedrock AgentCore vs Kagi Search API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agentcore-web-search-vs-kagi-search.md)
- [Brave Search API + MCP vs DeepSeek Search and Fetch API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brave-search-mcp-vs-deepseek-search-api.md)
- [Brave Search API + MCP vs Kagi Search API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brave-search-mcp-vs-kagi-search.md)
- [Cloudflare Web Search API vs DeepSeek Search and Fetch API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-web-search-vs-deepseek-search-api.md)
- [Cloudflare Web Search API vs Kagi Search API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-web-search-vs-kagi-search.md)
- [DeepSeek Search and Fetch API vs Exa API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-search-api-vs-exa-mcp.md)
- [DeepSeek Search and Fetch API vs Firecrawl MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-search-api-vs-firecrawl-mcp.md)
- [DeepSeek Search and Fetch API vs Grep AI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-search-api-vs-grep-ai.md)
- [DeepSeek Search and Fetch API vs Linkup](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-search-api-vs-linkup.md)
- [DeepSeek Search and Fetch API vs Parallel Search and Task APIs](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-search-api-vs-parallel-search-api.md)
- [DeepSeek Search and Fetch API vs SearchAPI.io](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-search-api-vs-searchapi-io.md)
- [DeepSeek Search and Fetch API vs SerpApi](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-search-api-vs-serpapi.md)
- [DeepSeek Search and Fetch API vs Serper](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-search-api-vs-serper.md)
- [DeepSeek Search and Fetch API vs SerpKite](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-search-api-vs-serpkite.md)
- [DeepSeek Search and Fetch API vs Tavily API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-search-api-vs-tavily-mcp.md)
- [DeepSeek Search and Fetch API vs TinyFish Search](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-search-api-vs-tinyfish-search.md)
- [DeepSeek Search and Fetch API vs Valyu](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-search-api-vs-valyu.md)
- [DeepSeek Search and Fetch API vs You.com APIs](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-search-api-vs-you-com-api.md)
- [Exa API + MCP vs Kagi Search API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/exa-mcp-vs-kagi-search.md)
- [Firecrawl MCP vs Kagi Search API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/firecrawl-mcp-vs-kagi-search.md)
- [Grep AI vs Kagi Search API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/grep-ai-vs-kagi-search.md)
- [Kagi Search API vs Linkup](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kagi-search-vs-linkup.md)
- [Kagi Search API vs Parallel Search and Task APIs](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kagi-search-vs-parallel-search-api.md)
- [Kagi Search API vs SearchAPI.io](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kagi-search-vs-searchapi-io.md)
- [Kagi Search API vs SerpApi](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kagi-search-vs-serpapi.md)
- [Kagi Search API vs Serper](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kagi-search-vs-serper.md)
- [Kagi Search API vs SerpKite](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kagi-search-vs-serpkite.md)
- [Kagi Search API vs Tavily API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kagi-search-vs-tavily-mcp.md)
- [Kagi Search API vs TinyFish Search](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kagi-search-vs-tinyfish-search.md)
- [Kagi Search API vs Valyu](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kagi-search-vs-valyu.md)
- [Kagi Search API vs You.com APIs](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kagi-search-vs-you-com-api.md)
- [DeepSeek Search and Fetch API vs Fetch (MCP reference server)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-search-api-vs-fetch-reference-server.md)
- [Fetch (MCP reference server) vs Kagi Search API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fetch-reference-server-vs-kagi-search.md)

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