Does the DeepSeek API return the same citations as chat?

No. The API is a different product with different retrieval. We collect the chat surface because that is what users see.

Why is DeepSeek more expensive per call?

Account health is an operating cost. We price it honestly rather than hiding it in a flat rate.

DeepSeek citations tracking

deepseekcitationsAccount required

DeepSeek cites through a reference list on search-enabled answers and often not at all on pure-model ones. Nostimates runs genuine accounts at low rate, records the answer mode, and reports URL frequency across n samples.

How it renders

A numbered reference list under search-enabled answers; absent on pure-model answers.

Sampling

Citation sets are the least stable field we return. The same prompt run n times will produce overlapping but non-identical URL sets, which is why we report frequency across samples rather than a list from one run.

Gotcha

Access is the hard part here, not parsing. Any dataset that claims cheap high-volume DeepSeek citations is either using the API — which does not match the chat product — or farming accounts.

What the API returns

A single collection call against DeepSeek for the citations field, sampled n times and returned as one object per prompt.

{
  "engine": "deepseek",
  "field": "citations",
  "prompt": "best ai visibility tracking tool",
  "country": "GB",
  "language": "en",
  "n": 30,
  "citations": [
    {
      "url": "https://nostimates.com/engines",
      "domain": "nostimates.com",
      "position": 1,
      "sample_frequency": 0.63
    },
    {
      "url": "https://example.org/guide",
      "domain": "example.org",
      "position": 3,
      "sample_frequency": 0.4
    }
  ]
}

GET /v1/collect?engine=deepseek&field=citations

Response fields

Key	Type	Notes
url	string	Absolute URL as the engine rendered it, redirects resolved.
domain	string	Registrable domain, normalised for grouping.
position	integer	Order within the citation set for that sample.
sample_frequency	float	Share of the n samples in which this URL appeared.
anchor_text	string \| null	Visible anchor or chip label, when the engine renders one.
first_seen	date	First run in which this URL appeared for this prompt.

What it costs

1 credit per prompt per sample. Citations are included in the base collection — no surcharge.

See credit pricing →

DeepSeek citations FAQ

Does the DeepSeek API return the same citations as chat?: No. The API is a different product with different retrieval. We collect the chat surface because that is what users see.
Why is DeepSeek more expensive per call?: Account health is an operating cost. We price it honestly rather than hiding it in a flat rate.

Get DeepSeek citations from the surface users actually use

Tell us your prompt set and we will quote chat-surface collection with the account cost stated openly.

Other DeepSeek data

Brand mentions Sources Answer text Share of voice Sentiment Prompt volatility Position Locale variance

Across every engine

Compare how citations behaves on every engine we track.

Citations across all engines →