Web search and scraping APIs for AI agents
Search engines and scrapers that return LLM-ready results, so an agent can find and read current web pages.
4 tools, listed alphabetically. Prices and features checked 2026-10-17 on each vendor's own pages; “not verified” means we could not confirm it.
Short answer: Every tool here has a monthly free allowance: Firecrawl 1,000 credits, Tavily 1,000 credits, Exa $10 of credit and Brave $5 per API plan. Paid search starts at $4 per 1,000 requests (Exa) and $5 per 1,000 (Brave). Tavily's Project plan is $30/month for 4,000 credits, and Firecrawl Hobby is $19/month for 5,000. Firecrawl's core is open source (AGPL-3.0).
| Tool | Free tier | Entry paid price | Meter | MCP server | Open source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brave Search API | $5 in free credits every month per API plan (up to $20 a month across plans, per the page) [source, checked 2026-10-17] | Search $5 per 1,000 requests [source, checked 2026-10-17] | Per 1,000 requests, prepaid credits [source] | Official MCP server [source] | not verified |
| Exa | $10 credits every month plus a $10 onboarding bonus, no payment method [source, checked 2026-10-17] | Search from $4 per 1,000 requests; contents $1 per 1,000 pages; deep search $12–15 per 1,000 [source, checked 2026-10-17] | Per 1,000 requests (search) or pages (contents) [source] | Official MCP server (MIT) [source] | not verified |
| Firecrawl | Free: 1,000 credits/month (about 500 searches or 1,000 pages), no card [source, checked 2026-10-17] | Hobby $19/month billed monthly ($16 billed annually): 5,000 credits [source, checked 2026-10-17] | Credits: search results and pages scraped draw on one balance [source] | Official MCP server (MIT) [source] | AGPL-3.0 [source] |
| Tavily | Researcher: 1,000 API credits/month, no card [source, checked 2026-10-17] | Pay as you go $0.008 per credit; Project $30/month: 4,000 credits [source, checked 2026-10-17] | API credits; heavier requests use more credits [source] | Official MCP server (MIT) [source] | not verified |
| Tool | Best for | Compliance | Data retention |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brave Search API | Agents that need results from an independent web index, prepaid with no subscription. | not verified | Zero data retention stated on the API page [source] |
| Exa | Agents that need fast web search with full page contents, priced per request. | not verified | not verified |
| Firecrawl | Turning web pages and whole sites into clean markdown or structured data for an agent, with an open-source core. | not verified | not verified |
| Tavily | Agents that want search, extract and crawl behind one credit balance with a simple free tier. | not verified | not verified |
What to check before you pick one
- Search or read: Exa, Tavily and Brave start from search; Firecrawl starts from scraping and crawling pages into markdown.
- Credits versus requests: Tavily and Firecrawl charge credits that vary by request type, while Exa and Brave price per 1,000 requests.
- Index: Brave runs its own web index.
- Retention: Brave states zero data retention.
- MCP: all four publish official MCP servers.
FAQ
Which web search API is best for AI agents?
There is no single best one. Exa and Brave price per request, Tavily bundles search, extract and crawl under credits, and Firecrawl is strongest when you need full pages as markdown.
Is there a free web search API?
All four have monthly free allowances: Tavily 1,000 credits, Firecrawl 1,000 credits, Exa $10 of credit and Brave $5 per plan.
Can I self-host one?
Firecrawl's core is AGPL-3.0 and self-hostable. The others are hosted APIs.
Comparisons and alternatives
Other categories: Social posting · Email · Payments · Phone, SMS and voice · Browser automation