One API for search, scrape, and research

One API for search, scrape, and research means a single API key that covers three jobs developers normally buy from three vendors: web search, full-page scraping, and multi-source research with citations. DeepAPI provides all three with one key, one bill, and one JSON schema — and failed calls are free, with a maxCostUsd cap you can set on every request. This page explains what breaks when you stitch together separate search and scraping APIs, how the unified workflow runs, and what it costs.

Why teams stitch together three APIs — and why it breaks

Most agent stacks today combine a SERP-style web search API with a separate web scraping API, because each covers only half of the retrieval problem. A search API returns links and snippets; a scraping API returns content from URLs you already have. Neither synthesizes across sources. The result is three contracts, three schemas, and retry logic duplicated per vendor.

The comparison posts that rank for this topic exist precisely because buyers must choose between categories — a scraping API pulls raw page content from target sites, while a search API returns pre-structured results from indexed content (NewsCatcher, 2026, https://www.newscatcherapi.com/blog-posts/web-scraping-api-vs-web-search-api). What none of those comparisons evaluate is the alternative: one API that does all three, so the search step and the scrape step share one schema and one bill.

Search, scrape, and research in a single request

DeepAPI runs the full retrieval chain — discover sources, extract content, synthesize with citations — under one key. A typical agent workflow:

1. Search: send a query, get ranked results as structured JSON.
2. Scrape: pass result URLs to the scraping endpoint and get clean page content, not raw HTML.
3. Research: send a question to the research endpoint and get a synthesized answer with source URLs attached.

Here is a working request against the research endpoint:

curl -X POST https://api.deepapi.co/v1/research \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $DEEPAPI_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "query": "What changed in web search API pricing in 2026?",
    "maxCostUsd": 0.25
  }'

The maxCostUsd field is optional but works on every request. If the call fails, you pay nothing. See the docs at https://deepapi.co/docs for the search and scrape endpoints, which use the same key and the same JSON response envelope.

For deeper dives on each mode, read our guides on the best web search API for AI agents, the best scrapers for AI agents, and the best deep research API for AI agents.

Built for AI agents and RAG pipelines

DeepAPI returns structured JSON with clean content and source URLs, which is what agent frameworks and RAG pipelines need. Three properties matter for agent use:

• One schema. Search, scrape, and research responses share the same envelope, so your parsing code does not fork per vendor.
• Citations. Research responses include the source URL behind each finding, so agent outputs are attributable rather than unsourced text.
• Cost control. maxCostUsd per request means an autonomous agent loop cannot run away on spend, and failed calls cost zero.

If your agent needs adjacent capabilities, we also cover the best X search API for AI agents, the best YouTube transcript API, and the best GitHub API for AI agents.

How one API compares to a separate search and scraping stack

The table below compares the unified approach against the three archetypes that currently rank for this query: a SERP API, a scraping-only API, and a scrape-for-AI tool.

Criterion	SERP API archetype	Scraping API archetype	Scrape-for-AI archetype	DeepAPI (unified)
Web search	Yes (SERP JSON)	No	Partial	Yes
Full-page scraping	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Research with citations	No	No	No	Yes
Schemas to integrate	1	1	1	1 (covers all modes)
Vendors to pay	1+ (plus a scraper)	1+ (plus a search API)	1+ (plus a search API)	1
Per-request cost cap	Varies	Varies	Varies	maxCostUsd on every request
Failed calls	Usually billed	Usually billed	Usually billed	Free

The honest qualification: if you only ever need SERP data — rank tracking, SERP monitoring — a dedicated SERP API is a reasonable choice. The unified approach wins when your workflow crosses categories, which is exactly what agent research does.

Use cases

• Agent grounding. An agent searches, scrapes the top results, and answers with citations. Start with how to scrape a website with an AI agent.
• RAG pipelines. Ingest clean page content as structured JSON instead of raw HTML.
• Competitive and market research. The research mode synthesizes across sources and returns attribution.
• Monitoring. Search on a schedule, scrape the results, diff the content.

Pricing: one bill instead of three subscriptions

DeepAPI charges per request with transparent pricing across all three modes, instead of three stacked subscriptions for search, scraping, and research tooling. Two guarantees apply to every plan:

1. Failed calls are free. You are never billed for a request that returns an error.
2. Every request can set maxCostUsd. A single call cannot exceed the cap you set.

Current per-mode prices are listed at https://deepapi.co. We do not publish a total-cost-of-ownership figure for a three-vendor stack here because the numbers vary too much by vendor and volume to state honestly — but the structural argument holds: one vendor means one subscription line, one integration, and no duplicated retry logic.

Limits you should know about

DeepAPI handles proxies, CAPTCHAs, and JavaScript rendering as part of the scraping mode, but no scraping service guarantees 100% success on every public page. Heavily protected sites can still fail — which is why failed calls are free rather than billed as successes. Research mode synthesizes only from sources it can reach, so answers on obscure topics may cite fewer sources than answers on well-covered topics.

Sign up

Get one API key for search, scrape, and research at https://deepapi.co — no OAuth setup, failed calls free, and a maxCostUsd cap on every request.