What is a deep research API?
a deep research API automates the full research loop: it issues multiple search queries, reads source pages, extracts relevant information, and synthesizes findings into a coherent, cited report. The caller submits a research question and the API handles query planning, source discovery, content extraction, and synthesis internally. This is distinct from a standard search API, which returns ranked URLs but leaves reading and synthesis to the caller. Deep research APIs are built on agentic search principles: the system iterates, evaluates gaps, and continues gathering sources until it has enough evidence to produce a complete answer.
| Factor | Search API | Scrape API | Deep research API |
|---|---|---|---|
| Output | Ranked URLs | Extracted page content | Synthesized report with citations |
| Caller effort | Query design, reading, synthesis | URL management, parsing | Question only |
| Source count | One result set | One page at a time | Many pages, adaptive |
| Latency | Low | Low | High (multi-step) |
| Best for | Discovery | Single-page extraction | Multi-source research tasks |
Use a deep research API for tasks that involve synthesizing information across many sources: competitive analysis, due diligence on a company or technology, literature review, or market mapping. A single web search API call is faster when you only need to locate a specific fact or find a page to scrape. Deep research is the right choice when the question requires reading and reconciling many sources before an answer is possible.
Firecrawl's deep research mode accepts a research question and returns a cited report built from dozens of sources, handling query planning, source discovery, content extraction, and synthesis in one request.
Last updated: Apr 20, 2026.