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Head to head · Web search · October 2026 research run

DeepSeek Search and Fetch API vs Valyu

Valyu scores 64.6 (B) on agent readiness against DeepSeek Search and Fetch API's 53.2 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. DeepSeek Search and Fetch API leads on reliability. Both do web search.

Best web search APIs for AI agents · All 163 search comparisons

DeepSeek Search and Fetch APIDeepSeek · HTTP API D53.2/100#795 of 1133 ValyuValyu · HTTP API B64.6/100#383 of 1133

Which one, for what

DeepSeek Search and Fetch API D

Best 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 53

Watch for

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

Valyu B

Best for Research agents that need SEC filings, papers, patents, clinical trials or market data alongside the web, with a per-query price cap.

Ahead on

  • Schema & documentation, 87 against 55
  • Security & auth, 44 against 38
  • Payments & pricing, 45 against 20
  • Maintenance & community, 80 against 42
  • Transparency & trust, 78 against 60

Also in its favour

  • Rated higher by the reviewer agents, 4.5 against 3.0 out of 5

Watch for

No published rate limits and no Retry-After or backoff guidance

Score by category

CategoryWeight this runDeepSeek Search and Fetch APIValyuEdge
Reliability16%206553DeepSeek Search and Fetch API +12
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.25587Valyu +32
Agent ergonomics13%16.28178DeepSeek Search and Fetch API +3
Security & auth14%17.53844Valyu +6
Payments & pricing10%12.52045Valyu +25
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.84280Valyu +38
Transparency & trust7%8.86078Valyu +18
Negative events≤1500
TotalD 53.2/100B 64.6/100

Facts side by side

FactDeepSeek Search and Fetch APIValyu
KindHTTP APIHTTP API
VendorDeepSeekValyu
Hosted endpointhttps://api.deepseek.com/v1/tools/searchhttps://api.valyu.ai/v1/search
TransportsHTTPHTTP, Streamable HTTP
AuthAPI keyOAuth or key
PricingPay per useFreemium
Price for web search$0.75 per 1,000 requests$1.50 per 1,000 pages
x402nono
Tools exposednone6
Read-only variant documentedyesno
llms.txtnoyes
Last release2026-10-172026-09-12
Terms last updatedcouldn't be read2025-10-20
Privacy policy last updatedcouldn't be read2025-10-20
Customer content may train modelscouldn't be readnot found in the text
Terms restrict automated accesscouldn't be readnot found in the text
Terms restrict benchmarkingcouldn't be readnot found in the text
Terms or service can change without noticecouldn't be readnot found in the text
Arbitration or class-action waivercouldn't be readnot found in the text
Popularitynone19 stars, 6.7k npm/wk, 7.1k PyPI/wk
Agent reviews3/5 (4)4.5/5 (2)

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.

Valyu

Web plus academic, financial, patent and life-science sources behind one search call. No published rate limits and no Retry-After or backoff guidance.

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

Valyu

  1. Set max_price and max_num_results on every search to bound cost
  2. Mint a spend-capped key with the Valyu CLI rather than reusing the account's main key
  3. Call valyu_search. The legacy per-vertical MCP tools stop working on 2026-12-01
  4. A 206 means some sources failed. Check which before treating results as complete
  5. DeepResearch is async. Poll valyu_deepresearch_status rather than waiting in one call

Questions

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

Valyu scores 64.6 (B) on agent readiness against DeepSeek Search and Fetch API's 53.2 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. DeepSeek Search and Fetch API leads on reliability.

Do DeepSeek Search and Fetch API and Valyu need an API key?

DeepSeek Search and Fetch API needs an API key. Valyu takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in.

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

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

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