Context. Theory predicts, and observations confirm, that the column density ratio of a molecule containing D to its counterpart containing H can be used as an evolutionary tracer in the low-mass star formation process.

Aims. Since it remains unclear if the high-mass star formation process is a scaled-up version of the low-mass one, we investigated whether the relation between deuteration and evolution can be applied to the high-mass regime.

Methods. With the IRAM-30 m telescope, we observed rotational transitions of N₂D⁺ and N₂H⁺ and derived the deuterated fraction in 27 cores within massive star-forming regions understood to represent different evolutionary stages of the massive-star formation process.

Results. The abundance of N₂D⁺ is higher at the pre-stellar/cluster stage, then drops during the formation of the protostellar object(s) as in the low-mass regime, remaining relatively constant during the ultra-compact HII region phase. The objects with the highest fractional abundance of N₂D⁺ are starless cores with properties very similar to typical pre-stellar cores of lower mass. The abundance of N₂D⁺ is lower in objects with higher gas temperatures as in the low-mass case but does not seem to depend on gas turbulence.

Conclusions. Our results indicate that the N₂D⁺-to-N₂H⁺ column density ratio can be used as an evolutionary indicator in both low- and high-mass star formation, and that the physical conditions influencing the abundance of deuterated species likely evolve similarly during the processes that lead to the formation of both low- and high-mass stars.