Best web search API for AI agents
For grounding AI agents with live web results, Brave Search API is the strongest all-rounder here: it owns an independent index and topped the one independent agent-search eval on both relevance and measured latency, at a low $5 per 1000 queries. Exa returns cleaner LLM-ready content with page text and offers a far larger free tier. A light estimate leaning on a single benchmark, June 2026.
DefaultBrave Search API (Data for AI)priceBrave Search API (Data for AI)relevanceBrave Search API (Data for AI)latencyBrave Search API (Data for AI)llm_clean_outputExafree_tierExa
Provider offerings
| Offering | Price ($/1000 queries) | Relevance | Latency | Free/mo | Capabilities |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brave Search API (Data for AI)Brave Software | 5 | 14.89 | 669 ms | 1000 | — |
| ExaExa Labs | 7 | 14.39 | 1200 ms | 20000 | LLM-ready |
| Tavily Search APITavily (acquired by Nebius, Feb 2026) | 8 | 13.67 | 998 ms | 1000 | LLM-ready |
| LinkupLinkup | 5 | — | — | 4000 | LLM-ready |
| Perplexity Sonar / Search APIPerplexity AI | 5* | 12.96 | 11000 ms | — | LLM-ready |
| SerpAPI (Google SERP API)SerpApi LLC | 25* | 12.28 | 2400 ms | 250 | — |
* token-/credit-priced — the headline understates real per-unit cost, so it is excluded from the cheapest ranking.
Sources
- Brave Search API — Pricing (provider docs)2026-06-22
- Exa — API Pricing (provider docs)2026-06-22
- Tavily — Credits & Pricing (provider docs)2026-06-22
- Linkup — Pricing (provider docs)2026-06-22
- Perplexity — API Pricing (provider docs)2026-06-22
- SerpApi — Plans and Pricing (provider docs)2026-06-22
- AImultiple — Agentic Search: Benchmark 8 Search APIs for Agents (independent eval, updated 2026-05-25)2026-06-22
- Nebius announces agreement to acquire Tavily2026-02-10