What is a web search API?
A web search API takes a query and returns web results as structured data: links, titles and snippets, and on many of them the text of each result page, so an app or an AI agent can read the web without a browser. Some run their own index of the web; others pass the query to a search engine and clean up what comes back.
Web search API across the APIs we track
| API | Per 1,000 searches | Monthly bill | Plan | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TinyFish | $0.00 | $0.00 | Search | Oct 12, 2026 |
| Search1API | $0.99 | $99.00 | Professional | Oct 12, 2026 |
| Parallel Web Systems Search API | $1.00 | $100.00 | Turbo Search | Oct 12, 2026 |
| Perplexity Search API | $1.00 | $100.00 | Search API with Fast Search | Oct 12, 2026 |
| Nimble | $1.10 | $110.00 | Pay as you go | Oct 12, 2026 |
| Desearch | $1.79 | $179.00 | Starter | Oct 12, 2026 |
| Firecrawl | $3.49 | $349.00 | Standard | Oct 12, 2026 |
| Exa | $4.00 | $400.00 | Instant Search | Oct 12, 2026 |
| Valyu | $4.49 | $449.00 | Serious Business | Oct 12, 2026 |
| Brave Search API | $5.00 | $500.00 | Search | Oct 12, 2026 |
| Google Custom Search JSON API | $5.00 | $500.00 | Additional queries for existing customers | Oct 12, 2026 |
| Linkup | $5.00 | $500.00 | Fast or Standard Search Results | Oct 12, 2026 |
| You.com API | $5.00 | $500.00 | Web Search API | Oct 12, 2026 |
| Scavio | $5.00 | $500.00 | Growth | Oct 12, 2026 |
| ScrapeGraphAI | $5.00 | $500.00 | Pro | Oct 12, 2026 |
| Hyperbrowser | $5.00 | $500.00 | Startup | Oct 12, 2026 |
| Tavily | $5.00 | $500.00 | Growth | Oct 12, 2026 |
| Browserbase | $7.13 | $713.00 | Developer — Search | Oct 12, 2026 |
| Kagi Search API | $12.00 | $1,200.00 | Search API | Oct 12, 2026 |
3 more web search APIs have no exact bill for this job; their pricing pages say why.
In more detail
The vendor examples below were read on the dates given in the text; the table above holds each vendor's current figure.
How it differs from a SERP API
A SERP API returns a copy of one search engine’s results page, ads, maps and answer boxes included, because its buyers want to see what that engine shows: rank trackers, SEO tools, price monitors. A web search API returns the results themselves, often with the page content, because its buyers want the information: AI assistants grounding an answer, research agents, retrieval pipelines. The two are priced in the same unit, per 1,000 queries, but a query buys different things.
What changes the bill
The standard search is the base price. Deeper search modes, more results per query, full page text and generated answers usually cost more per query, and a few vendors include a monthly allowance free. The table prices the standard search for 100,000 queries a month; the web search API page prices any volume with deep search on or off.